When Education isn’t Good….
Whenever I come across a magazine I haven’t seen for a while…like in a doctor’s office or some other room where I have to wait ungodly amounts of time…I always head for the Letters to the Editor section. If an article has generated a number of responses, it is likely to have been good or at least provocative. Then I dig for a back issue.
I came across a letter that said "China’s B-schools are giving away our (US) competitve advantage. This particular writer says that it is fine to provide high-quality education to students in the US but not so for India, China or other technically sophisticated European/ex-Soviet countries.
He writes that he is afraid this education could have an unfavorable impact on the lives and fortunes of workers in the US.
Huh!?
You mean education isn’t good for us, them and everyone else? I wonder, should we stop issuing student visas to these countries and close our doors, too?
I don’t think so. Education is still key to solving a multitude of problems in our ever shrinking world.
What do you think?
Tags: 3975, 4237
POSTED IN: All about China, Business in China, Doing Business in China, china
2 opinions for When Education isn’t Good….
ashok
Mar 13, 2006 at 6:11 pm
I don’t like playing devil’s advocate, but you remember the deal with Yamamoto - his degree from Harvard was in Economics (shortly before he declared, of course, that he would be dictating terms of surrender to us in Los Angeles).
I don’t mind giving a business education to people in China or India because I eat business majors for lunch. I don’t mind giving them a liberal arts education - which I feel is the real stuff - because when they can ask questions like “What is man?” and “What is justice?” it then becomes possible to bridge the gaps between nations, and build appreciation for the American way of life.
But I do understand some people’s concern about our giving away knowledge, esp. when some of these nations wouldn’t think twice about using it against us.
The question for me is: How do we give away the knowledge in such a way as to foster peace among nations?
Vote me President, I’ll give you the answer :)
Bill
Mar 13, 2006 at 6:35 pm
Thanks for your comments, Ashok.
All things considered, the more educated everyone is, the better for all of us.
Another question might be…but what should be the content of that education?
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