
US computer science grads outperforming those in other key nations - ddacunha
https://arstechnica.com/?p=1479225
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Will_Do
This is something I never considered. I always assumed that the main reason US
software engineers are better paid is there is a (perceived? real?) benefit to
being close to businesspeople / close to the customers / close to the culture
/ some other benefit that depends solely on geography. I did not think that
the quality of education could be a significant driver. This paper opens that
possibility.

The elite schools are especially striking. I would have never guessed that CS
students from Stanford/MIT would be so substantially better than students from
Tsingua/Bombay. These schools draw from vastly larger talent pools (1.4
billion and 1.2 billion) than US undergrad programs. According to the study,
the results do not materially change when only native English speakers are
considered.

It’s worth investigating if the exams are biased in some way but if this holds
up to scrutiny, it will change my views on American Universities
significantly.

~~~
doctorpangloss
It seems pretty obvious, if everyone's trying to send their kids to get
higher-educated here in the US, and they're pretty smart, maybe it's for a
good reason?

I mean not everything is as reductionist as vanity or brain drain. That seems
to be the totally uninspired analysis from other commenters. It may be that
there are equally smart students everywhere, but actually you get the best
education here, and why?

One answer is that less conformity, greater social and political freedoms, and
greater economic resources all let students reach their potential better.

A nuanced view would look at what it means, really, to feel stifled at a
university where you’re guaranteed to have been at the top of your class but
still not know important near-history or enjoy free speech. Maybe conformity
crops up in the quality of professors more so than the students. It’s really
complex but I know maybe only a few Tsinghua grads and all of them continued
their educations here.

So my perspective is limited by the fact that I’ve never interacted with very
many people who are strictly foreign educated in 2019 born after 1990.

~~~
AstralStorm
I think the combination of best in the field being in academia, enough but not
too much drive for results and a bit of nonconformity is the key. Also good
funding not driving the best out of education system.

For instance, in Poland (and Russia too), education is grossly underfunded so
the volume and drive are low, while South Korea has a bit too much conformity
in their system, producing great engineers but not as great basic research.

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dang
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19430880](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19430880)

