What Do You Make of This?

The National Science Foundation collects data about foreign nationals who attend college in the United States.  A summary for 2010 shows that foreign students earn nearly half of the graduate degrees awarded in science, math and statistics, and engineering.  In the same fields, foreigners represent an insignificant percentage of recipients of bachelor's degrees.  Close to half of the foreign population in US colleges come from China and India, about equal numbers from each country.  You can learn much more about these students at the National Science Foundation website.  Ponder what to make of it.  Much is made of the importance of technology transfer from the developed nations to the developing world.  In my experience, little is noted in these discussions about the simultaneous transfer of English language fluency and state of the art knowledge that occurs with the award of each degree.  Now companies are pressing Congress successfully to allow easier green card access to these foreign graduates so they can remain in the US for post graduate work.  This should be a warning to our young and to those who pay for their education.  Those are the jobs they might otherwise have.