Paul Krugman, former defender of offshoring, delivers a steel-toe boot to its Smeagol-like face.

[JDPriestly]

29. A lot of our jobs are going to India.

Does Romney think we should have an educational system like India's?

Challenged by posts on DU suggesting that Americans can't compete because, after all, we are not as well educated or trained to do the jobs that the Indians brought in on H-1B visas do.

So, here are articles on education in India.

However, India continues to face stern challenges. Despite growing investment in education, 25% of its population is still illiterate; only 15% of Indian students reach high school, and just 7%, of the 15% who make it to high school, graduate.[5] The quality of education whether at primary or higher education is significantly poor as compared with major developing nations. As of 2008, India's post-secondary institutions offer only enough seats for 7% of India's college-age population, 25% of teaching positions nationwide are vacant, and 57% of college professors lack either a master's or PhD degree.[6]

As of 2011, there are 1522 degree-granting engineering colleges in India with an annual student intake of 582,000,[7] plus 1,244 polytechnics with an annual intake of 265,000. However, these institutions face shortage of faculty and concerns have been raised over the quality of education.[8]

. . . .

World Bank statistics found that fewer than 40 percent of adolescents in India attend secondary schools.[3] The Economist reports that half of 10-year-old rural children could not read at a basic level, over 60% were unable to do division, and half dropped out by the age 14.[17]

. . . .



Our university system is, in many parts, in a state of disrepair...In almost half the districts in the country, higher education enrollments are abysmally low, almost two-third of our universities and 90 per cent of our colleges are rated as below average on quality parameters... I am concerned that in many states university appointments, including that of vice-chancellors, have been politicised and have become subject to caste and communal considerations, there are complaints of favouritism and corruption.

— Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 2007[23]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_India

Strongly recommending an immediate halt to the system of sitting for a pile of exams, C N R Rao, who heads the Scientific Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (SACPM), said in a letter sent last week that the American method of holding one national exam before joining university is the way.

Putting it bluntly, Rao told the PM that India is said to "have an examination system but not an education system... When will young people stop taking exams and do something worthwhile?"

Talking about the agony that the Indian higher education sector is in, the SACPM, in a brief document sent to the PM recently — accessed by TOI — noted, "Today there is not a single educational institution in India which is equal to the best institution in the advanced countries".

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-04-14/india/29417206_1_entrance-exams-exam-system-national-exam

I wonder whether India would grant special visas to American teachers who can't find jobs?

From this article, it sounds like India certainly needs the help.

Teachers: Children have the right to have at least 1 qualified and trained teacher for every 30 pupils. Currently, the national average is about 1 teacher to every 34 students, but in states such as Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal 1 teacher works with more than 60 students.

Approximately 1.2 million additional teachers need to be recruited to fill this gap. Currently, about 1 in 5 primary school teachers do not have the requisite minimum academic qualification to ensure children’s right to quality learning.

Sanitation: 84 out of 100 schools have drinking water facilities overall in India. But nearly half the schools in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Meghalaya do not. Sixty-five out of 100 schools have common toilets in India; however only one out of four schools in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Chandigarh, Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Orissa and Rajasthan have this facility.

Fifty-four out of 100 schools have separate toilets for girls. On average, only one in nine schools in Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur have separate toilets and one in four schools in Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand and Orissa.

http://www.unicef.org/india/education_196.htm

India has a larger population than we do, but the quality of their education and therefore the education of their people is probably not as good as ours. The H-1B visas are not really justified by the argument that workers from India are better educated than American workers. Some of them may be, but employers are taking their chances when they hire H-1B workers. Judging from the criticisms of Indian education that Indians themselves offer, employers hiring on H-1B visas and outsourcing jobs to India are buying a pig in a poke.

Nothing wrong with Indian workers in their own country, but it is absurd to think that American kids educated in our schools can't compete. Absurd.

Americans are unemployed because it's cheaper to hire people from third-world countries -- even if it is riskier in many respects including the quality of education overall.