Coming To A Ballot Box Near You..

...the California Multilingual Education Act (2016)

The California Multilingual Education Act (Senate Bill 1174) will be on the California ballot as a legislatively referred state statute on November 8, 2016.

A "yes" vote is a vote in favor of repealing most of the 1998 Proposition 227, the "English in Public Schools" Initiative, thus effectively allowing non-English languages to be used in public educational instruction.

A "no" vote is a vote against repealing most of the "English in Public Schools" Initiative, which was designed to prohibit non-English langauges from being used in public schools.

The proposal doesn't have a Prop number yet. I'm not in favor of diluting English as the primary or even secondary language in American schools. I'm not sure exactly how this measure would impact the teaching staff in K-12 California schools or the university system for that matter. But it would seem hilariously just if proficiency in Spanish were to become a critical hiring credential at schools and universities in all fields.

I think this initiative is likely to draw pro-Trump people to the polls in droves in the fall as much as it draws pro-immigration people. It may even affect the primary in June if word gets out.

It's Not Rocket Science

"You know, I plan on traveling to the Moon at some time."
 ~ Wernher von Braun (1930)

It seems fitting that Trump will announce the endorsement of Sen. Jeff Sessions at a rally in Huntsville, Alabama where Wernher von Braun led a team of rocket scientists (initially all Germans). Von Braun  essentially drove our space program from the end of WW II through the Cold War. He is credited with inventing both the V-2 and Saturn V rockets.

But wasn't von Braun also a nasty foreigner who took STEM jobs away from Americans? Unfortunately for us, Robert Goddard had died. We have always attracted or taken (in von Braun's case) the very best scientific talent and probably always will. Years ago, I worked at a well-known science institute here in SoCal.  One day, an eminent chemistry professor named Sir Derek H. R. Barton, PhD, FRS, paid a visit. Now Sir Derek (RIP) had an interesting history. Schooled in Britain in her post war days, he made unprecedented contributions to the field of organic chemistry (you can read details here). After reaching mandatory retirement age in Britain, Barton left England to continue working, moving first to France and then eventually to Texas, that bastion of free enterprise.

I forget Sir Derek's lecture topic that day and my notes are buried somewhere, currently irretrievable. What stands out in my mind was his effusive praise for his graduate students and postdocs -- especially his Chinese ones. Not for their cleverness nor for their contributions -- for Sir Derek had an ego the size of Donald Trump's. Rather, he praised their willingness to work around the clock and through weekends for him for very little money. I still recall his quaint description of their microwaved noodle breakfasts, lunches, and dinners. And I remember thinking "this is who will rule the world." That was around 1997 or 1998.

Sessions Is Right

Overheard at Lem's:

ndspinelli said... 

Dot heads are taking all the chemistry jobs. 

November 10, 2015 at 11:37 PM

There's no need to single out one ethnic group -- Chinese nationals actually dominate foreign enrollment in chemistry graduate programs.

Here's an interesting factual depiction of wages in the chemical field for the last 10 years:

Link to original

As the chart shows, wages and salaries have steadily decreased over the last ten years. There is a strong downward pressure on salaries driven by the unfettered importation of foreign labor. This is basic economics. I suspect that a similar chart exists for IT workers, and data for careers at the "bottom" of the spectrum.  These data are interesting to add to the mix of the discussion of income inequality.

Now, there are strong patrician arguments for why ever-lower wages are good for business -- and ultimately that's what motivates the likes of Mark Zuckerberg.* But why then is there a strong push for STEM education in this country?  What sane student or parent would encourage their child down this pathway except for -- and this is a big except for -- a love or curiosity for science?
_________________________
* I single him out because he is the face of the problem. He is the cheerleader for more of the same.

The Magic Kingdom in Peril 2.0

(this post is a continuation-in-part of this one)

People who lost jobs there said they had to sit with immigrants from India, some on temporary work visas known as H-1B, and teach them to perform their jobs as a condition for receiving severance. But it remained unclear on Tuesday who had initiated the change of strategy at Disney/ABC or whether it was part of a larger change in direction, because Disney executives declined to discuss it.  h/t: r,l

Read the whole thing. I think the un- and under-employment situation will be the biggest driver of cross-party politics-- i.e., making people willing to cross party lines and to vote against the promulgators of open borders and limitless H-1B visas.

The Magic Kingdom In Peril

Disney CEO Bob Iger is one of eight co-chairs of the Partnership for a New American Economy, a leading group advocating for an increase in the H-1B visa cap. Last Friday, this partnership was a sponsor of an H-1B briefing at the U.S. Capitol for congressional staffers. The briefing was closed to the press.

Looking back through the comments on posts tagged H-1B visas, I can tell that the topic is contentious here at Lem's, with most people falling on the side of "we need more H-1B visas because it displaces all the lazy overpaid people. The logic is that it's purely market correction.

OK then. Consider the world to be at disequilibrium (look up that term if it befuddles you) with US borders being an artificial barrier. A much greater concentration of skilled workers exists outside the borders of the US and they are being kept out, artificially. Why not let those barriers down more uniformly so that foreign capital and influence can flow freely here too so that Bob Iger can feel a little anxious about his job too?

Retired people and people employed by government tend to be immune to the effects of H-1B visas. The former group because their income is often tied to retirement stock portfolios which benefit from open doors policies and the latter group because government work at all levels is a great guild which up until now, mostly excludes H-1B workers. Yet these two groups seem to populate comment forums on the internet.

[UPDATE]  America, you have been warned: link

'STEM Crisis' In American Workforce May Not Be Real

'The vast majority of workers who have been trained in science and engineering are not currently working in a STEM occupation,' the Census Bureau report said. In fact, an average of just 26 percent of science and engineering graduates, aged 25 to 64, worked in a STEM occupation in 2011, instead working in jobs such as management, health care, law, education, social work, accounting and counseling.  Link

There are lots of other choice phrases and truths at the link.

In the name of efficient economics, we do import STEM workers -- not because they are better than American workers but because they will often work for less, and employers get leverage, viz. visas. This is a brutal and harsh reality but also one which affects the on-going and relentless push for more H1-B visas. The policy figures into the grand immigration debate, but at the "high end" rather than the "low end."