| Gleaning American Science |
Now that my son Zachary has completed his B. S. degree in chemistry (in two years) and gone on to graduate school,
Access to Energy readers have lost this source of humor from within the walls of undergraduate academia. This source has, however, been replaced by Noah and Arynne, who are now university undergraduates - with Noah also expecting to complete his B.S. in chemistry in two years. Zachary is in graduate school. The graduate schools - of science - in America are still quite good. They are in the hands of men in their 50s and 60s and the best younger scientists that these older teachers can find.Of interest, however, are the students studying in these graduate schools. Having passed half of his undergraduate courses by Advanced Placement examinations and three-fourths of his graduate school courses by examination (under the rules, the other fourth could not be passed without taking the courses because they are in organic chemistry, which is his field of specialization), Zachary is used to doing well on exams. In a recent organic chemistry exam, however, he was only 5th highest out of 18. The competition is serious. This is so because more than half of his fellow graduate students at this Midwestern university are foreign. The toughest competition in his class comes from students from Communist China. These students are well trained and capable, and they have a very strong work ethic.
This is generally true throughout America. In most science graduate schools the majority of the students are foreign. While our science graduate schools retain the quality of the generations of scientists who still control them, the students taking advantage of this quality come largely from other countries. These students, moreover, are often the very best that these countries have to offer.
American undergraduate universities are not generating many students with the ability, interest, and work ethic necessary to take advantage of American graduate schools. So, foreign students are receiving these opportunities. It is certainly good that these foreign students are being educated properly in the methods and traditions of science. Somewhere in the world these things will be perpetuated. This trend, however, bodes ill for the future of the United States.
As I reflect upon the paths that all three of my university students have followed, I realize that all three have intuitively chosen a similar way. In each case, the student has had no interest in the humanities faculty and little interest in his or her fellow students. Each of the three has sought and maximized contact with the professors of science and mathematics. Most of these men and women (but not all) have been from the one or two generations before the current one.
As America decays - and one need only look at the pathetic trash whom the people of the United States now tolerate as President to see the extent of this decay - other peoples are transferring the remains of American quality into their own cultures. To be sure, they have problems, too, but the trends do not look promising for the United States.