USA Strives for Mediocrity in S&T

[Soggy in NOLA]

LOL!!!!!!!!!! What'd ya expect... Obama is a picture of mediocrity. The man hasn't one accomplishment and look where he is!

 

[Soggy in NOLA]

His crowning achievement prior to becoming President is Associate Professor. Shit, I'd accomplished more than that by age 25!!!!

 

[Mr Natural]

LOL!!!!!!!!!! What'd ya expect... Obama is a picture of mediocrity. The man hasn't one accomplishment and look where he is!

I'd consider being President at 46 years of age with no real executive experience a pretty damn good accomplishment.

Let's see you top that.

 

[rightwinger]

LOL!!!!!!!!!! What'd ya expect... Obama is a picture of mediocrity. The man hasn't one accomplishment and look where he is!

Blah...blah...blah

Mediocrity.....not ONE accomplishment

It does get tiresome....doesn't it?

How about I start naming accomplishments and then you can post that they are not really accomplishments? That always makes for an entertaining thread

 

[Baruch Menachem]

It appears that our schools have a very high reputation throughout much of the rest of the world. The place I am going to school has a huge foreign contingent.

Of course, the foreign contingent is taking classes in physics, math and chemestry. The locals are doing sociology, basket weaving and the like.

And as the term progresses, you see fewer and fewer US kids, and the class becomes more united nations in style.

We have lots of smart folks, lots of resources, and we are open to new ideas. That is a winning combo. But given the way DC thinks, that is unsustainable. Our colleges will become more and more places where foreigners come to study under foreigners. Most of the TA's in the hard sciences have been foreigners for years.

 

[Richard-H]

Frankly, for all the hard work and frustration you have to deal with in being a scientist, as many of your experiments don't work, the publish or perish standards of success in science, and the low salaries for years and years of hard work, no wonder people don't strive to be scientists.
...

Speak for yourself. Scientists in private industry get paid well. I should know.

Scientists in private industry get paid well? Compared to who? Lawyers? MBAs? Doctors? Accountants? Marketing Managers? Bankers?

Scientist & engineers are the bottom of the barrel in the professional world.

Yes, they may get paid well as compared to cashiers, but that's about it.

The reason is simple - they are part of the productive end of any business, not part of the sales or administration. They are considered to be an 'expense' - not a money maker like salesman.

So in the name of holding down expenses, salaries for scientists and engineers are held down - they are also the first to get layed off.

 

[rightwinger]

Frankly, for all the hard work and frustration you have to deal with in being a scientist, as many of your experiments don't work, the publish or perish standards of success in science, and the low salaries for years and years of hard work, no wonder people don't strive to be scientists.
...

Speak for yourself. Scientists in private industry get paid well. I should know.

Scientists in private industry get paid well? Compared to who? Lawyers? MBAs? Doctors? Accountants? Marketing Managers? Bankers?

Scientist & engineers are the bottom of the barrel in the professional world.

Yes, they may get paid well as compared to cashiers, but that's about it.

The reason is simple - they are part of the productive end of any business, not part of the sales or administration. They are considered to be an 'expense' - not a money maker like salesman.

So in the name of holding down expenses, salaries for scientists and engineers are held down - they are also the first to get layed off.

Not when you compare the composite salaries of all engineering graduates against all graduates in other fields. Top lawyers, bankers, MBAs and accountants make big bucks. Most however, wallow in mediocrity.
Engineers and scientists are available in fewer numbers and demand a higher salary on average.

 

[MaggieMae]

U.S. teens have weak practical math skills
Test finds Americans score as well as top foreign kids but lag in real-world applications
By Greg Toppo, USA TODAY

U.S. high school students match their peers in other nations when it comes to math skills. But ask them to apply those skills to real-world situations and things begin to look a bit bleak, a new study suggests.

The nation's 15-year-olds make a poor showing on a newly released international test of practical math applications, ranking 24th out of 29 industrialized nations, behind South Korea, Japan and most of Europe. U.S. students' scores were comparable to those in Poland, Hungary and Spain.

Results of the test, known as the Program for International Student Assessment, were released Monday by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a group of industrialized nations. It's administered every three years, this time in 29 OECD nations and 10 others. This is the first time the test has included practical math applications.

U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige called the results "a blinking warning light" that shows the need to reform U.S. high schools. Most of the students tested were 10th-graders.

USA TODAY Education - Math, Science and Technology

Ask any person who can't afford college, and since we have lost most of our manufacturing base, where s/he intends to find work. High schools no longer offer "shop" in order to prepare middle- to lower-income kids for the job market when they graduate. It is an ABSOLUTE truth that not all kids can be scientists, astronauts, presidents. AND THEY KNOW IT.

 

[rdean]

Especially when our academic programs emphasise creationism,deny global warming and refuse to fund stem cell research

Ah, I see the source of your idiocy - your poor education.

I have over 30 years in R&D and testing of emerging technologies.

You?

Are you talking about sweeping and washing test tubes?

 

[Gatekeeper]

Why not?

Their thinking in Washington D.C. or should say, the "Obama Regime", is already through their redistribution of wealth agenda, are lowering the living standards of millions of hard working Americans, why not take the rest of what's left of the country down the toilet too?

What's wrong with these idiots running our lives today? What's more important why are we tolerating this bullshit for so long? The guy, (Obama), in my opinion, is doing more damage to this country than any of our so called enemies have been able to do for decades! No wonder the LOVE this guy.

Personally I think after another two years of this Obama regime, Mediocrity will be a higher standard than where we'll be in ranking throughout the world. I ask again, WHO is he working for, US or THEM? I really hope I am wrong, for all our sakes.

Another problem in this country, people who believe that whatever they want to believe is true, regardless of any facts. That they think making an argument is spouting bullshit without backing anything up with facts, if they even know what the difference between facts and opinion are

Yada Yada Yada, More Merd from Dr' Gregg, another 'genius' know-it-all who knows all the answers, all the facts, and all the inside chatter from the depths of Washington politics and cannot see the forest for the trees.

Dr.Gregg Quote:

Another problem in this country, people who believe that whatever they want to believe is true, regardless of any facts.

WTF's with that What a profound statement of nonsense. Did you look before you type at all? Blanket statements of total bullshit.

Okay genius, wallow in your delusions, and go apply for a job with Obama's team, if your not already employed by them in some manner. Don't bug me with the 'THEY' bullshit, who are THEY? Am I one of the 'THEY', then say so directly.

God, I love coming in here!
Okay Doc, we're all dumb, and your the only smart one in USMB, sorry! Gotta go, I have baskets to weave and meds to take, "coming Nurse Ratchet"!

 

[MaggieMae]

the obama administration’s top science and technology official, who has argued for the economic de-development of america, warned science students last friday that the united states cannot expect to be “number one” forever.

especially when our academic programs emphasise creationism,deny global warming and refuse to fund stem cell research

ah, i see the source of your idiocy - your poor education.

Uh oh...Is that a strawman comment? (Not for you, it isn't. It's the only type of comment you're capable of giving.)

 

[MaggieMae]

Why not?

Their thinking in Washington D.C. or should say, the "Obama Regime", is already through their redistribution of wealth agenda, are lowering the living standards of millions of hard working Americans, why not take the rest of what's left of the country down the toilet too?

What's wrong with these idiots running our lives today? What's more important why are we tolerating this bullshit for so long? The guy, (Obama), in my opinion, is doing more damage to this country than any of our so called enemies have been able to do for decades! No wonder the LOVE this guy.

Personally I think after another two years of this Obama regime, Mediocrity will be a higher standard than where we'll be in ranking throughout the world. I ask again, WHO is he working for, US or THEM? I really hope I am wrong, for all our sakes.

Seems to me people like you should have been working toward lifting up our academic standing in the world LONG before it became an issue so serious that it will take decades of catching up, if at all. That you now blame Obama for even this is ludicrous.

 

[MaggieMae]

His crowning achievement prior to becoming President is Associate Professor. Shit, I'd accomplished more than that by age 25!!!!

Finally graduating from grammar school doesn't count.

 

[rdean]

Frankly, for all the hard work and frustration you have to deal with in being a scientist, as many of your experiments don't work, the publish or perish standards of success in science, and the low salaries for years and years of hard work, no wonder people don't strive to be scientists.
...

Speak for yourself. Scientists in private industry get paid well. I should know.

Scientists in private industry get paid well? Compared to who? Lawyers? MBAs? Doctors? Accountants? Marketing Managers? Bankers?

Scientist & engineers are the bottom of the barrel in the professional world.

Yes, they may get paid well as compared to cashiers, but that's about it.

The reason is simple - they are part of the productive end of any business, not part of the sales or administration. They are considered to be an 'expense' - not a money maker like salesman.

So in the name of holding down expenses, salaries for scientists and engineers are held down - they are also the first to get layed off.

Where does this "fantasy" come from?

Say you have a company that makes some type of optical encoder with an analog to digital output and it's used for automation. Now suppose the economy sours. So the first people they get rid of are the engineers designing the encoders? What happens when the economy picks up? Are engineers who design optical encoders with an analog to digital output used for automation really that easy to find? Of course not.

You don't get rid of your "expertise". You would lay off factory workers and janitors. Take some of the factory workers and spread the janitor work to them. Changing paper towels, sweeping, that kind of stuff. You would get rid of the chronically ill. People that are poor team players. The habitually late.

Then, in engineering, you get rid of "documentation specialists", secretaries, managers, and finally, if the company is going bankrupt, the engineers. But that's when the company is going out of business. That's the sad, hard truth.

 

[LibocalypseNow]

I have said all along that the Socialists/Progressives were moving us rapidly towards Third World Misery. This is just more proof. It really is very sad.

 

[MaggieMae]

Frankly, for all the hard work and frustration you have to deal with in being a scientist, as many of your experiments don't work, the publish or perish standards of success in science, and the low salaries for years and years of hard work, no wonder people don't strive to be scientists.
...

Speak for yourself. Scientists in private industry get paid well. I should know.

Scientists in private industry get paid well? Compared to who? Lawyers? MBAs? Doctors? Accountants? Marketing Managers? Bankers?

Scientist & engineers are the bottom of the barrel in the professional world.

Yes, they may get paid well as compared to cashiers, but that's about it.

The reason is simple - they are part of the productive end of any business, not part of the sales or administration. They are considered to be an 'expense' - not a money maker like salesman.

So in the name of holding down expenses, salaries for scientists and engineers are held down - they are also the first to get layed off.

And in some cases can have their entire life's work trashed by a few headliners with political agendas.

 

[rdean]

The truth is, if the white wing has their way, the US won't stay anywhere near the top in science.

Replace science with mysticism.

Stop teaching any science that intrudes on "occult" beliefs, including paleontology, biology, physiology, botany, astronomy, and plate tectonics.

Once you dumb down the population enough, you can get them to do or believe anything. Look at Fox views and the followers of Sarah Palin. We are already half way there.

 

[MaggieMae]

Why not?

Their thinking in Washington D.C. or should say, the "Obama Regime", is already through their redistribution of wealth agenda, are lowering the living standards of millions of hard working Americans, why not take the rest of what's left of the country down the toilet too?

What's wrong with these idiots running our lives today? What's more important why are we tolerating this bullshit for so long? The guy, (Obama), in my opinion, is doing more damage to this country than any of our so called enemies have been able to do for decades! No wonder the LOVE this guy.

Personally I think after another two years of this Obama regime, Mediocrity will be a higher standard than where we'll be in ranking throughout the world. I ask again, WHO is he working for, US or THEM? I really hope I am wrong, for all our sakes.

Another problem in this country, people who believe that whatever they want to believe is true, regardless of any facts. That they think making an argument is spouting bullshit without backing anything up with facts, if they even know what the difference between facts and opinion are

Yada Yada Yada, More Merd from Dr' Gregg, another 'genius' know-it-all who knows all the answers, all the facts, and all the inside chatter from the depths of Washington politics and cannot see the forest for the trees.

Dr.Gregg Quote:

Another problem in this country, people who believe that whatever they want to believe is true, regardless of any facts.

WTF's with that What a profound statement of nonsense. Did you look before you type at all? Blanket statements of total bullshit.

Okay genius, wallow in your delusions, and go apply for a job with Obama's team, if your not already employed by them in some manner. Don't bug me with the 'THEY' bullshit, who are THEY? Am I one of the 'THEY', then say so directly.

God, I love coming in here!
Okay Doc, we're all dumb, and your the only smart one in USMB, sorry! Gotta go, I have baskets to weave and meds to take, "coming Nurse Ratchet"!

Doesn't say much for your own comprehension capabilities. I believe he took several words to simply describe gullible-itis, which is rampant in the right wing camp these days.

 

[LibocalypseNow]

In a Socialist/Communist society there can only be the very poor and the very rich. The Socialists/Progressives are going to try and destroy the Middle Class in this country. They're well on their way to achieving this. Socialists/Communists can only be successful when they're pitting the poor against the rich. It's all about their Class Warfare agenda. The Middle Class serves no purpose for them. It is very sad but it is what it is.

 

[Charles Stucker]

Are we really number 1 in S&T?

Yes, with the possible exception of consumer electronics - Japan has some really nifty toys.