Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watnot!watdcsu!brewster
From: brewster@watdcsu.UUCP
Newsgroups: can.politics
Subject: Re: Potshots
Message-ID: <3077@watdcsu.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 4-Mar-87 00:41:05 EST
Article-I.D.: watdcsu.3077
Posted: Wed Mar  4 00:41:05 1987
Date-Received: Wed, 4-Mar-87 03:38:33 EST
References: <206@fornax.uucp> <3063@watdcsu.UUCP> <241@pembina.alberta.UUCP>
Distribution: can
Organization: U of Waterloo, Ontario
Lines: 58


>From: cdshaw@alberta.UUCP (Chris Shaw)

>>	In terms of prestige there is no question the American schools far
>>	outrank Canadian schools.  Of course prestige is not necessarily
>>	highly correlated with quality, but in most cases at least some
>>	correlation exists.

>Nonsense. Michigan State (Lansing) outranks (my alma mater) Waterloo on the
>all-important prestige scale? Gimme one exact Very Large Scale Break!

	Not knowing Lansing I can't comment, but it will always be possible
	to choose specific examples where my general comment 
	regarding prestige will be wrong.

>OK, I'll admit that there are more Stanford/Berkeley/CMU/MIT's in the US.

	Crucial admission since I don't think USA without the institutions you
	mention is a shadow of it's current self.
	
>Big deal... as I have said before, if you multiplied Canada by 10, you'd get 
>the USA (only better). Imagine if there were 10 U Torontos, 10 Waterloos, 
>10 McGills, 10 UBC's, 10 U of A's, 10 Dalhousies.........

	That would be a good, solid, stable system, but I dispute the
	conclusion that it would be better than the USA.  It would still
	be lacking world class research institutions, if the current 
	state of the universities you mention were used as the prototypes.
	
	If instead of taking the current state of Toronto say, and cloning
	10 more, we took the current state, and produced 5 improved
	"super"-clones then I agree with your conclusion.

>What about all them Rhodes Scholars, eh? Where do THEY
>go??? (Oxford) Oh Nooooo!!! the UK brain drain!

	The majority return to Canada and become politicians if our current
	crop of politicians is any example.   
	
	As an aside, it always seemed to me that this scholarship was given
	in part for your ability to contribute to Oxfords teams (rowing, 
	soccer, rugby, etc.) and in part for your connections in the 
	English old boys network.   I knew of one person from RMC who was
	offerred the scholarship, but had the offer withdraw after a serious
	accident meant that he would not be able to participate in any serious
	athletic events during the tenure of the award.
	
	Seeing as this scholarsip is financed from money made by Cecil Rhodes 
	in South Africa at the turn of the century on the backs of black 
	workers, should people who are offerred this scholarship see the 
	situation as a moral dilemna, if so what should they conclude, should
	the Canadian government disallow this extremely indirect support of
	apartheid ?  
                                                   
						   Try not  to become  a  man
UUCP  : {decvax|ihnp4}!watmath!watdcsu!brewster    of success but rather  try
Else  : Dave Brewer, (519) 886-6657                to  become a  man of value.
                                                         Albert Einstein