SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
The Department of Homeland Security announced a rule change Wednesday that will transform the lottery that decides who gets the 85,000 H-1B visas granted to for-profit companies every year.
Previously, an initial lottery granted 20,000 visas only to those holding advanced degrees granted by U.S. institutions — master’s degrees or doctorates — and then a general lottery granted 65,000 visas to all qualified applicants.
The Department of Homeland Security switched the order of these lotteries, it said in a notice of the final rule change, which will bolster the odds for highly educated foreign nationals. The change reduces the likelihood that people with just a bachelor’s degree will win in the general lottery, said Lisa Spiegel, an attorney at Duane Morris in San Francisco and head of the firm’s immigration group.
The program shift could hurt technology staffing companies, also known as outsourcers, who have a reputation for flooding the lottery with applications. Three Indian firms — Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys and Wipro — often account for a majority of the H-1B applications, an analysis of government data shows.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Friday February 01 2019, @01:19PM (9 children)
"1/ Neocons didn't fuck up education, that was the leftist 'everyone must be equal' program that screwed up all the smart kids.*"
AND the conservatives squeezing all the money OUT of the schools.
--Who needs class sizes under 40 students per teacher. That's just idiotic!
What they should do is force private schools to only spend per student as much as the public system is allowed (or force rich kids to attend only the public system): you would see more spending in the school system.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 01 2019, @02:32PM (3 children)
The U.S. is #2 in the world [oecd.org] in spending on education and has been in the top 3 for as long as I can remember. Why should we give the schools a thin dime more when they completely waste what we give them?!
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Gaaark on Friday February 01 2019, @03:01PM (2 children)
https://data.oecd.org/eduresource/spending-on-tertiary-education.htm#indicator-chart [oecd.org]
You spend 35.2% of education money on public schools.
You spend 64.8% of education money on private schools.
Hmmm... why are the poor less educated than the rich? And why do the rich stay rich and the poor stay poor, EXACTLY as the rich want it?
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 01 2019, @03:46PM (1 child)
If the Indian education system churns out Doctorates and Masters in a manner similar to this https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-31998343/ [bbc.com] style of learning, accrediation, and validation of skills, then I fear that Americans have been doing it wrong all these years!
I mean... my parents grounded me when I received poor grades--something about learning from the experience and negative outcomes lead to bad results, etc. Maybe it didn't inspire me to study as much as they hoped, but it kept me in line at least.
The parents in the article seem to have taken a different (and very direct) approach to the educational system! Who needs to study when you can do that??
Anyway, I am incredibly curious how validation and attestation of the actual degrees involved will be verified on authenticated. We have all met people with degrees or certifications next to their names that might otherwise have left one wondering how someone so dumb could achieve that stuff (on paper, at least).
I hope we don't end up becoming jaded as a society that education isn't worth it, due to working with an influx of the best-of-the-best that really just meant as far as skills and education is concerned, they had rich parents with good connections, and everything else was learned on the job (or not even that, and instead outsourced to "lessers").
Heaven forbid they feel entitled; that arrogant expectation happens outside of the USA, too! https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-29950843/ [bbc.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 01 2019, @03:57PM
Argh it didn't log me in. Well. let it be known I thought that picture in the first link is classic; it's an old article but I still am amazed by it! My high chool wouldn't let us even listen to a transistor radio, let alone cds or tapes or anything pre-recorded, nor books or anything at all, and anyone humming or bouncing their knees or something to some internal beat would be visited and told to stop.
We got to sit and stare when we completed our tests ahead of anyone else, and had to do it quietly (groans of anguish were OK on occasion).
It seems like some other educational systems are more festive in nature compared to what I experienced with public schooling!
(Score: 1, Flamebait) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday February 01 2019, @04:27PM (4 children)
Meh, I'm personally in favor of demanding performance if you want state money (which I'm not in favor of to begin with). If your local school is doing a shitty job compared to similar districts, damned right they shouldn't get more money. They should either be closed down or everyone employed by the district should be fired and the whole shebang should be restaffed. Subsidizing something gets you more of it every single time. Subsidize failure and you get more failure, be it in life or education.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Friday February 01 2019, @04:53PM (1 child)
But if you knock something to the bottom and then start judging it from there, you will get bottom results.
If the school system got funding like the private system, they would be able to vet and hire better teachers, have smaller class sizes, get the 'slower' or 'problem' kids a '''separate but equal''' (however you want to define that) education...
Equal funding might see equal results: but that is not what the rich want. They want to pay for THEIR kids PRIVATE, well funded education; they do NOT want to pay for other kids PUBLIC education, which just helps the rich stay rich and the poor stay poor and uneducated.
Funding for smaller class sizes would allow a teacher to help more and maintain control better. Disallowing 'helicopter' parents would also be a help, probably: kids should be allowed to play outside AND if they get hurt by falling off the monkey bars, there are no lawsuits (except for reasonable negligence), just good life lessons (as well as lessons in physics, muscle control, logical thinking, etc).
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday February 01 2019, @05:42PM
Thus judging them vs their peers.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Gaaark on Friday February 01 2019, @05:25PM (1 child)
AND, we need more of this:
http://www.swanson.school.nz/Site/Free_Play.ashx [school.nz]
https://youtu.be/uADHiCuq1SI [youtu.be]
Kids actually playing in the school yard, NOT standing around bored and filled with frantic energy when they go back into the classroom.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday February 01 2019, @05:42PM
That ain't no shit.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.