By: Brooklyn Middleton / Assistant Opinion Editor
Brooklyn Middleton / Assistant Opinion Editor
India is a country that buzzes with paradoxes: it has more cell phones than toilets; McDonalds’ restaurants line the streets of the biggest cities, but sacred cows line the streets, too.
Ana Sippin, director of the office of student and scholar services at the University, said that in Fall 2010, according to the most recent data available, there are 224 Indian students studying at this University. While this a small number in comparison to the over 40,000 students attending the University, in 2009 The Economic Times reported that there were 95,000 Indian students studying in the United States. In addition to fixing the American economy, it is also key that immigration issues concerning visas and residency be quelled so students have an opportunity to stay here after graduation.
India is entering a historic time of excitement and hope in the future. This is contrasted with the States’ uncertain and grim economic future.
According to the BBC, “The return of highly skilled and educated graduates might be seen as a boost for India, but it is also a concern to America. Some 52% of Silicon Valley’s startups were founded by immigrants, according to research conducted by researchers from Harvard and Duke universities.” The article appropriately goes on to reference President Barack Obama’s concern that there needs be focus on retaining educated international students as asset to the American workforce and to America’s commitment to innovation.
It is unfortunate that America is proving to be incapable of competition with countries whose economies are thriving and whose middle classes are growing instead of shrinking.
The middle class that continues to emerge politically and economically is one of the reasons for the exodus back to India and while it is exciting that India is growing, the loss of international scholars to America is a detriment. Furthermore, India’s rapidly emerging middle class contrasts America’s shrinking one. According to The Economic Times, “the percentage of the middle class in the country’s total population will increase to 20.3 per cent by 2015-16 and 37.2 per cent by 2025-26.”
The state of the American middle class according to Michael Snyder, writer for “The Economic Collapse,” is far more abysmal. “We once had the largest, most vibrant middle class in the history of the world, but now way too much unemployment, way too much inflation, way too much greed and way too much debt are all starting to catch up with us. America is changing, and not for the better.”
As India, as well as other countries’ develop rapidly, America’s economy must become as competitive as it once was or we risk losing future scholars.
“Borderless with Brooklyn” is a biweekly column examining world events.
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