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From: Bobbie Sellers <bliss-sf4ever@dslextreme.com>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: "Starter Villain" by John Scalzi
Date: Tue, 20 May 2025 19:13:52 -0700
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On 5/12/25 08:43, Paul S Person wrote:
> On Mon, 12 May 2025 08:38:01 -0400 (EDT), kludge@panix.com (Scott
> Dorsey) wrote:
> 
>> Lynn McGuire  <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> When I got into grad school in Mechanical Engineering at TAMU in 1982, I
>>> was the only USA citizen.  The rot has been going on that long.  I
>>> dropped out when I found a job that spring when I got my undergraduate
>>> degree.
>>
>> That's a different problem.  That's the lack of interested and qualified
>> American students for engineering programs.  Also... when
>> I was an undergrad I heard a lot of freshman engineering students talking
>> about how they had picked their major entirely because they expected to
>> make big money as engineers.  This is not the way to get good engineering
>> graduates.
>>
>> I blame this on a lot of things, not just middle and high school math
>> programs being pretty terrible, but also on stuff like the disappearance
>> of shop classes in school.  I deal with a lot of fresh-outs who have an
>> engineering degree but don't know how to pick the right size screwdriver
>> for a screw... but worse are the kids who never got interested in mechanical
>> stuff enough to consider engineering in the first place.
>>
>> If anything I am pleased at the number of foreign students in engineering
>> programs, because a lot of them decide to stay in the US and become
>> well-educated Americans.  But then, I think of engineering as a calling like
>> the priesthood and not just a fast-money job.  (It's true that I would
>> probably make a lot more money if I didn't.)
> 
> IIRC, something called "STEM" exists to ameliorate that problem.
> 
> Of course, since it isn't restricted to White Males it will shortly be
> halted as being part of DEI.
> 
> BTW, it was known in the 60s that there simply weren't enough White
> Males to fill all of the positions requiring something other than a
> Liberal Arts degree that would have to be filled. Ultimately, it is
> sheer economic necessity that is driving STEM and DEI.

	Not what the present Federal mal-adminstration wants to realize.
	
	bliss