America's Education Crisis

While channel-surfing yesterday (which I always do on lazy Saturday evenings for want of nothing better to do), I happened to watch an engaging program about America's education crisis by Fareed Zakaria on CNN. I think Fareed is one of those very few admirable CNN hosts with a lot of substance and merit, and I have great respect for the cerebral manner in which he analyzes issues and gets to the root of the problem, so to speak. The hour-long focus was on how America has lost its grip in the field of education, and how countries like China, India, South Korea, Finland and Singapore are giving America a run for its money, and have easily taken global dominance in education in recent years. While I was happy that the country of my birth was rated high for its education and is clearly emerging a global leader and trendsetter in education and jobs, I was equally alarmed that America is now grasping for oxygen to stay alive, mainly because higher education for my son in America has been on the cards for some time. Well, to be honest, with Fareed's analysis, we're now taking pause and beginning to reconsider if that would be a viable and rewarding option in the long term.

Growing up, for many Indian students, America was the chosen land, where one could have their professional dreams come true. An Ivy league education, climbing the rungs of the professional ladder with a green card and eventual citizenship, and living the ultimate American dream used to be on the average Indian student's dream horizon, but not so any more. Many Indian professionals in America have chosen to return to India, because that's where the jobs are, thanks to American outsourcing. And with America falling behind so dismally in education, that craze and rush for admission into American universities seem to be dwindling as well. Throw in the economic mess that America is in right now, and the US of A is no longer one's dream haven these days.

With its dearth of home talent due to an inefficient educational system, America needs to quickly ramp up and catch up with the other nations that are superseding it, as per the US Education Secretary, Arne Duncan. And with tech titan Bill Gates throwing in his weight into perking things up and reviving America's education, one hopes that America will do all the right things to stay on in the game. In the mean time, India and China are forging on full steam ahead. For immigrant parents like yours truly, the question remains if we are doing the right thing in having our children continue in the flailing American system, or pursuing their higher education in those once-hallowed halls of learning in the US.