It's the Curse of Natural Resources
For 500 years the best, brightest, and bravest have left their home countries to come to America. They worked hard and expected a lot from their kids. And in the 20th century just look at the brain resources that flocked to our shores.
For example, if this were baseball and Albert Einstein was a free agent, how much do you think we'd have to pay? And we got him for free. The greatest economic boom in our country's history was fueled by Silicon Valley, which is based on the IC. Most people think the IC stands for Integrated Circuit, but it could just as well stand for Indians and Chinese.
That's our curse
The curse of natural resources. We've had bright people for free and didn't need to educate them: They came to the US already educated
That's changing: Today we've reached a tipping point. Up to now our public schools were mostly just a place to put our kids while the parents worked. Now these great minds are not coming - or staying - in the U.S. like they used to. For the first time in our nation's history our children now need to become world class students.
The good news is: We can break the curse.