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Jan 17, 2004 Raymond Barone’s dad might say, “Holy crap!” after reading the Business Section of today’s “Advertiser”. “Shift of tech jobs to India accelerating”, is quite a headline to push into your senses before your first cup of morning coffee. It was not so much the headline, nor the fact of tech jobs leaving America. It was a sentence by a fellow named Bob Thibodeau, who owns a company that specializes in partnering up American and Indian Tech companies. He said, “Not only are Indian companies a third of the cost, but THEY ARE ACTUALLY BETTER.” (Caps are mine) Let’s let that one sink in a moment, shall we? The cost benefits to American companies that “outsource” to India, China and the like are known, palpable and undisputed. I don’t want to talk about lost jobs, lost tax revenue or lost anything. I want to talk about “They Are Actually Better”. I have written a few other things about education in America. What I see in this major movement of tech jobs is the end result of the lousy education in mathematics and science in America’s education system from grade school up. We are not competitive anymore with anyone in math and science. For American corporations to find enough qualified, intelligent people to compete, the corporations must either hire immigrants or move to where the expertise is. Money may play a role, but in this age of you-better-give-me-quality-or- I’ll-sue, a corporation needs highly skilled and very motivated people to deliver that quality. Americans may be highly paid, but many have become largely apathetic to a solid work ethic. Many are protected by unions or by tenure. Many more get massive periods of “unpaid” leave to attend families. Many more will not work unless they have complete major medical and 401K packages attending their overblown salaries. We are not willing anymore to accept a job for eight dollars an hour, even if it came with full benefits. Let me get back to the education aspect though. The anger evolves from the NEA and all the liberal voices screaming for “more money to fund No Child Left Behind”. That is their bottom line. It is all the fault of the Bush administration. He is not giving enough money to fund his own “No Child” program. What gall hath the NEA and Teddy K! Gall, because Teddy K. took credit for a massive increase in education outlay of which “No Child” was only a part. Somebody better begin reigning in the NEA and begin making them account for all the money; not just the pittance they dribble down to public schools. American tech jobs leave because foreign companies are gaining reputations of “better”. And Hey! Guess what? In case no one is paying attention, unemployment figures in America are actually dropping. How in the world is that possible if so many people are losing jobs to foreign competition? Well, for every tech job that leaves, America creates two or three service sector jobs to compensate. This is a major indication we are seriously “dumbing-down” the American work culture. We are not losing jobs. We are losing the intelligence to work at technical positions. America has to go out and find smart people. So who wants to blame whom here? Every year we see either “status-quo” or worsening test and achievement scores. Children cannot read or do simple math. And everyone is yelling that the Federal Government must do more. (Meaning, give more money) All of these problems can be laid at the feet of Worker’s Unions and the NEA. Worker’s Unions fight to get increased wages and benefits for their constituencies so they can collect more in dues to support their congressional lobbyists and fly to Reno or Tahiti for conferences. The NEA fights to increase wages, benefits, tenure and their lobbyists to battle against being accountable for giving themselves large salaries and taking trips to Rio and the Caribbean while children continue to fail in school. Workers continue to lose high paying jobs that migrate to India and all the unions and the NEA can do is scream for more federal intervention and money. Here’s where I should use John Kerry’s favorite expletive! I say let the jobs go. We are experiencing economic growth at the moment, with a lowering of the unemployment rate. The work situation seems to be leveling itself out. Alan Greenspan once explained that new jobs eventually replace old jobs. We should allow that is the case. It is an accurate, historical observation. Where America is hurting is in education. It is time to force NEA accountability. It is time to enforce educational standards. It is time to fire incompetent teachers, principals, and university professors. It is time for students to demand to be taught the math, science and engineering skills necessary to compete with those foreign companies that are now “Actually Better”. ------------ About the Author: Independent, Conservative, Christian. Married 29 years with 5 children raised and one grandson being raised. 30 year Army Veteran and published poet with www.poetry.com since Y2K. Email Michael John McCrae: michael.mccrae@us.army.mil Comment on this column in the forum. Tell a friend about this site! ------------ |
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