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From: ian@shire (Ian Parberry)
Newsgroups: comp.edu
Subject: Re: Are Americans Intellectually Inferior?
Message-ID: <4248@psuvax1.cs.psu.edu>
Date: 29 Jan 89 21:42:54 GMT
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Reply-To: ian@shire (Ian Parberry)
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Paraphrasing my wife's Webster's (apologies: my OED is at work), intellect
is defined to be the ability to reason, perceive, or understand.

My experience leads me to believe that U.S. educated students are
not intellectually inferior.  However, they do have some educational
deficiencies which are balanced by other strengths.  The same can
probably be said of foreign educational systems.

What is "my experience"?  I was educated from grades 1-5 in England
(to be pedantic, the equivalent thereof; the nomenclature is different),
6-12 and B. Sc. in Australia, Ph. D. in England.  I have teaching
experience at the Undergraduate level in Australia and England (as a T.A.)
and 5 years of teaching at the Undergraduate and Graduate level in the
U.S., including the supervision of research Ph. D.'s.

The undergraduates that I see appear to have been let down
by their high-school education, compared to England and Australia.
It doesn't seem to have done them very great harm, however.
The B.S. here has great width, but is shallower.  The great catching-up
in depth is achieved at the M.S. and Ph.D. level with interminable
coursework (these degrees require only a thesis in England and
Australia).  The end-products of all three advanced degrees appear
to me to be equivalent in intellect and knowledge, although the
latter may be distributed differently.

Now, motivation is an issue which is different from intellect
and knowledge.  I have seen vast variation from student to student,
class to class, semester to semester, year to year.  I don't
think I can make any generalizations there.  Just when lack of
motivation amongst my incoming students gets me down, I get a
great class.

I give you my observations, but no conclusions.  The observations
of one person are simply not sufficient.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
			Ian Parberry
  "The bureaucracy is expanding to meet the needs of an expanding bureaucracy"
  ian@psuvax1.cs.psu.edu  ian@psuvax1.BITNET  ian@psuvax1.UUCP  (814) 863-3600
 Dept of Comp Sci, 333 Whitmore Lab, Penn State Univ, University Park, Pa 16802