Stardate 20010721.1745 (On Screen): "Everyone over the age of 45 in my lab was born in the United States. No one under the age of 45 in my lab is from the United States." What an unbelievably parochial and ethnocentric pronouncement. What's that got to do with anything? Since when did we start worrying about someone's nationality in engineering? (Isn't that against the law?)
If there is a problem of not enough creative American students going into engineering, then one ought perhaps to examine the question of why it is that the cost of a college education has been rising much faster than inflation for the last forty years. If fewer kids are going to college then it's because college is pricing itself out of the market, and that's where you start. In 1975 I managed to leave college without any debt which was extremely unusual even then, but that was only possible because I went to a state (subsidized) school and because things were cheaper in the 1970's, and also because I dropped out of school when my money ran out in my senior year. (And because of that I do not have a degree, not that it matters at this point.) Too many students leave school now owing as much as three years gross salary; they spend fifteen years digging out from under. It's not surprising that potential students view this prospect with distaste.
I think a per-head bounty is preposterous, if for no other reason than because it wouldn't result in lower tuition, but also because it's much too easy to abuse. Images of illiterate college graduates fill the head; if you're a bit unscrupulous or desperate and are paid for each graduate then you can get a lot more graduates by lowering graduation standards. A better answer would be to establish scholarship funds. (And I mean grants, not loans. GIVE them money; don't LOAN them money.)
But if you're trying to solve the problem on the cheap, how about a different approach: if you're concerned about all those Indian and Chinese engineers taking their knowledge back home, then how about making it easier for them to get green cards? If you don't want them to go home, then don't kick them out. (discuss)
