The state of education in the US is not strong

Published 2/3/2012
http://dailyevergreen.com/read/opinion-education-policies-outlined-in-SOTU-are-good

The State of the Union address delivered to the nation by President Barack Obama on Jan. 24 was a very impressive one. It seemed like the president had sensed the mood prevailing within the U.S. and the speech was an all-out effort to woo the middle class and the 99 percent. His promise of keeping Wall Street accountable, pulling out troops from Afghanistan and tax reforms must have touched a chord with millions of Americans.
But when Obama talked about “an America built to last,” he visualized education as the crucial building block of the economy. I do not know if those millions of Americans glued to their TV sets that evening appreciated it, but it definitely touched a chord with me, an Indian student in the U.S., because I see education as a gateway to prosperity.
According to a study conducted by Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University in Boston published by CNN in 2009, 6.2 million students dropped out of high school in 2007. According to the report, “Over a working lifetime from ages 18 to 64, high school dropouts are estimated to earn $400,000 less than those that graduated from high school.” Obama himself projected a figure of 1.3 million high school drop outs whose collective loss of annual earnings was $7.6 billion.
With the economic woes still haunting the 99 percent, investment and dedication toward educating the next generation have not quite picked up. I guess this was reason enough to get Obama to act. He has taken the right step to urge the states not to allow the students to drop out unless they graduate or turn 18.
The economic downturn also forced schools countrywide to fire thousands of teachers. Obama also wants to aid schools to reinstate those teachers because he understands that schools are merely buildings without an adequate number of well-qualified teachers who can nurture the students.
In addition, Obama also recognizes the value of higher education and is aware of the high cost of going to college.
“Higher education cannot be a luxury; it is an economic imperative that every family in America should be able to afford,” Obama said.
He sees Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) as the fields of study that hold the key to prosperity, and in his own words, “Don't let other countries win the race for the future. Support the same kind of research and innovation that led to the computer chip and the Internet; to new American jobs and new American industries.”
His views are an echo of Cisco Systems’ CEO John Chambers interview published in the Financial Times back in 2007, wherein he said, “We’ve got to realize, as a country here in the U.S., we’ve got to do a better job on our education system, we’ve got to graduate a lot of engineers.”
Chambers also said, “If the U.S., for example, is graduating 60,000 engineers a year, India’s graduated 350,000 and China’s graduated 600,000 and you’re trying to get the top 10 percent of the talent in the industry, you can do the math as quickly as I can and I think that’s unfortunate for both Europe and the U.S.”
I personally believe that excellence in STEM subjects has been a driving thrust for quick economic development, especially in Asia. Even historically, it was the popular study of science for centuries that lead to the Industrial Revolution in Europe, which in turn ushered in prosperity within a few decades. And on a lighter note, a fatter paycheck, which is what tempted me to take up engineering as a career.
Thereby, to ensure an increase in enrollment in institutions of higher education, Obama plans to double the number of work study awards during the next five years. In addition, he plans to renew the America Opportunity Tax Credit that is projected to result in annual savings of $10,000 for a whopping 9 million families. It is also good news for us, the university students, that Obama has strongly urged the states and the universities to put a full stop to the ever increasing and “sky-rocketing” tuition fees.
What Obama spoke that night was not merely words. He painted the road map to a better, fairer, more sensitive and hopefully easy on the pocket education system. If he transforms his words into actions, the U.S. will put together an enviable education system that will serve as the model for the rest of the Earth to follow.

Two tales of violence at two universities

Published 11/16/2011
http://dailyevergreen.com/read/opinion-protests-at-penn-state-uc-berkeley

Last week, student violence gripped two of the U.S.'s most reputed schools – Penn State and UC-Berkeley. These schools are on the opposite coasts and, keeping in line with their location, the nature of violence was also contrasting. While I would like to laud the Berkley students for their courage, I want to admonish the Penn State students for their misconduct. It might sound hypocritical, but let me tell you why it is not.

The students at Penn State were outraged by the dismissal of their legendary football coach of almost half a century, Joe Paterno. His crime was overlooking allegations of sexual abuse by his long-time assistant Jerry Sandusky. Even the president of the university was ousted amid the scandal, but no one seemed to be bothered by the president losing his job. But then, college football is a religion in America, and this is what happens when you insult its Pope. It is akin to blasphemy.

This column is not about how wrong or right it was to sack the coach and if it was really his responsibility to avoid the unfortunate incidents, but how right is it for the students to go berserk and engage in arson. I completely agree with Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett on his view that, “I believe in your right of assembly and your right to express your opinions, I do not believe, nor does anyone believe, in your right to violence.”

There are umpteen more effective ways to protest. Unfortunately, the Penn State students chose the worst one. Besides, these students know what a democracy is and they surely have student bodies who represent their interests to the top administration.

The knee-jerk response of Penn State students was as if a bunch of grown up kids were throwing a tantrum after something they held dear was snatched away. No offense to the football fans, but there are more serious issues than to just see your favorite 11 beat the other 11. The protesting students should have understood that there were victims of Sandusky's crimes, and many of them were none other than their fellow students. Clearly, the students failed to see sense – and brought shame to their institution.

For them, a good season of football seemed to matter more than the former assistant coach's deplorable actions. Nittany Lion pride overshadowed basic humanism. Although a small group of students peacefully rallied in favor of the victims, they went largely unnoticed and unheard.

You cannot shake hands with a clenched fist. Surprisingly, the police response to this rowdiness was mild. No batons or rubber bullets were used to disperse the crowds. The use of just some pepper spray was deemed fit.

On the other hand, at Berkeley, a group of students who thought that injustice was meted out to the Occupy Oakland protesters protested peacefully. The police moved in and ordered the protesters to clear off, failing which the protesters were ruthlessly thrashed with batons. But the students were brave enough and did not turn their back on fellow protesters. They still held each others' hands in the human chain.

It is the kind of courage that the pioneer of non-violent agitation M.K. Gandhi once praised when he said, “I cannot teach you violence, as I do not myself believe in it. I can only teach you not to bow your heads before any one even at the cost of your life.”

The ensemble of students that converged on Sproul Hall, which symbolically represents the site of the Mario Savio-led free speech battles of the 1960s, had no idea that they would meet the same fate as their Occupy Oakland counterparts. It represents a generation of young blood that refuses to accept the current world order that nourishes disparity over equality.

These young scholars also refute cartoonist Frank Miller's point that, “'Occupy' is nothing but a pack of louts, thieves and rapists. An unruly mob, fed by Woodstock-era nostalgia and putrid false righteousness.”

It is also ridiculous to see that using police force against a peaceful demonstration was deemed fit but using police force against a mob comprising of a few thousand people attempting arson was not deemed necessary. But this is what distinguishes an assembly of the brave from a mob.

“A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is brave five minutes longer,” Ralph Waldo Emerson once said. This holds good for the students of Berkeley – they were brave enough to hold onto their stand a little longer than an ordinary individual. There is no reason they should not be hailed as heroes at home.

Egypt awakens yet again

Published 11/28/2011
http://dailyevergreen.com/read/opinion-Egyptian-second-revolution

One of the defining moments of the Arab Spring that occurred earlier this year was the downfall of Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian dictator of 30 years. However, it was not long before the people realized that the whole thing was turning out to be a Ponzi scheme thanks to the undemocratic actions of the Military Council that took power after Mubarak. Thus, the Egyptian people had no alternative left but to come out on the streets all over again to reclaim their newly won freedom.

The military, which had overseen the power transition in Egypt and was seen as an institution of infallible integrity, is now being seen as an oppressor and a hungry power-grabber after Field Marshall Mohamad Hussain Tantawi declared that the military plans to retain full control of the Egyptian government even after Parliamentary elections. As expected, it triggered a notion among the public that what they mistook to be a revolution was actually a military coup.

The people were swift to act and marched up to Tahrir Square in Cairo soon after, raising slogans of “Hurriya,” which translates to "Liberty." Protests also erupted in major cities like Suez and Alexandria. Adding to the chaos, even the civilian cabinet appointed by the Military Council resigned, thus lending a huge blow to the legitimacy of the Council. As a result of the protests, 23 people were killed and 1,500 wounded, according to Egypt's Health Ministry. In addition to that, 11,000 people were imprisoned and put on military trial.

It is fairly simple and justified to draw parallels between the uprising against Mubarak and the current uprising. During his presidency, Mubarak had turned Egypt into a police state and the Military Council has done the same by making the most of the much-hated “State of Emergency Laws” to crackdown on popular peaceful protests. The only difference is that there is a lot more bloodshed in this spate of demonstrations. To quote Amnesty International, “Egypt's military rulers are responsible for a catalog of abuses which in some cases exceeds the record of Hosni Mubarak.”

Even Alaa Abd El Fattah, a jailed blogger who has become the rallying point of the ongoing anti-military regime protests, has drawn parallels between the existing state of affairs and the police state days of Mubarak's regime. “I never expected to repeat the experience of five years ago: after a revolution that deposed the tyrant, I go back to his jails? I am locked up, again pending trial, again on a set of loose and flimsy charges – the one difference is that instead of the state security prosecutor we have the military prosecutor – a change in keeping with the military moment we’re living now," El Fattah wrote.

Since the oil-rich Middle East has always been a region of strategic interest for the United States, the U.S. must step in diplomatically to handle the fragile situation prevailing in Egypt. Also, the Middle East has been the hotbed of terrorist activity targeting the U.S., so a stable Egypt is in its best interest. Even though anarchy cannot be allowed to prevail in that country, the Military Council must be sent back to the barracks while it still has some credibility intact.

Talking of the impending Parliamentary elections to be held in Egypt, the U.S. must not directly interfere in it because, as of now, the Islamists led by the Muslim Brotherhood seem to be the clear winners of the poll and any outcome deviating from that might fuel religious passions, thereby not only stalling the democratic process altogether, but also giving rise to militant fundamentalists.

To quote American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr, “There are historic situations in which refusal to defend the inheritance of a civilization, however imperfect, against tyranny and aggression may result in consequences even worse than war.” Hence, the U.S. administration must take its cue from this statement and act promptly, wisely and without the use of force.

Hawking leaves his mark

Published 1/11/2012
http://dailyevergreen.com/read/opinion-hawking-turns-70

Napoleon Bonaparte once said, “Great men are meteors that burn themselves so that the earth may be lighted”. I find these words very befitting for Stephen William Hawking, the well-known British theoretical physicist and cosmologist.
Hawking has been the trendsetter in cosmology and theoretical physics for decades. Many people call him the greatest physicist after Einstein and I somewhat concur to this opinion. It is a pity that the Nobel Prize still eludes him, even though he has won several prestigious awards such as, Presidential Medal of Freedom (2009) — the highest civilian honor in the U.S — Copley Medal of the Royal Society (2006), Wolf Prize in Physics (1988) and Order of the British Empire – Commander (1982).
He turned 70 years of age on Jan. 8, and this is a tribute of admiration for the genius who valiantly battled a crippling disease ever since his 21st birthday, but still managed to make a huge contribution towards advancing human knowledge of the outer space.
Born on Jan. 8, 1942 to Dr. Frank Hawking, a renowned biologist of his time, and his wife Isobel Hawking, he followed in his father's footsteps and went on to attend Oxford University and major in physics, but the journey was not easy. Hawking received his B.A. degree in 1962 then attended Cambridge for his graduate studies. While attending Cambridge, he was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) — commonly known in the United States as Lou Gehrig's disease. ALS is a motor neuron disease that causes the victim to slowly lose control over their entire body and usually causes death in a matter of a couple years.
A fatal disease like ALS would have left an ordinary man devastated, but it lent a purpose to Hawking's life. His firm resolve to make every day of his remaining life count led him to accomplish so much.
In Hawking's words, “before my condition had been diagnosed I had been very bored with life, there had not seemed to be anything worth doing. But shortly after I came out of hospital, I dreamt I was going to be executed. I suddenly thought there were a lot of worthwhile things I could do.”
Hawking has worked on many topics directed toward understanding the origins of the universe. His most critical contributions to cosmology during the earlier part of his career were mathematical theories on the birth, existence, structure and self-destruction of a black hole. He extended Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity mathematically to prove that something called “gravitational singularity” exists in time space.
Eventually, this gravitational singularity came to be known as the bottom of the black hole. Scientists across the globe have agreed on the assumption that the structure of the black hole roughly resembles an inverted cone.
Initially, Hawking was of the opinion that due to the intense gravitational force at the singularity mentioned above, nothing could come out once it goes inside the black hole. But, after a series of discussion with Princeton scientist Dr. Jacob Bekenstein, Hawking, in 1974, concluded that black holes should thermally create and emit subatomic particles until they exhaust their energy and evaporate — this is known today as Bekenstein-Hawking radiation.
Thereafter, he also proposed that after the black hole evaporates, all the information inside it in the form of light from other stellar systems would also disappear, but he was proven wrong 28 years later by Stanford physicist Dr. Leonard Susskind.
These debates were not just about the proof of a scientific principle but also a proof of Hawking's rare quality of accepting criticism constructively in the best interest of science.
Talking about his work on the origin of the universe, Hawking developed a model in which the universe had no boundary in space, as well as time. The importance of this theory lies in the fact that it managed to replace the classical Big Bang models, which assumed some single point as the initial condition of the beginning of the universe.
He has further theorized our universe as one without a boundary — hence an open universe. This is now well accepted in the scientific community.
All in all, Hawking's work has made him an undisputed pioneer in his field. His colossal contribution to science is proof enough of his steely grit and is a lesson for us to be dedicated to our work in the face of an adversity of the highest order. I believe that is what sets professor Hawking apart from his contemporaries.
Besides his scientific theories, I also find his views on God and religion equally revolutionary. In his words, "The question is: is the way the universe began chosen by God for reasons we cannot understand, or was it determined by a law of science? I believe the second."
He has also popularized physics and cosmology by writing a lot of books for laymen, “A Brief History of Time” and “ The Universe in a Nutshell” being the most popular ones. He is one of the few scientists who possess the quality of simplifying the most complex laws of physics to make them comprehensible for people with little background in science.
Today, at 70, Hawking sits in his characteristic wheelchair, communicating just with the twitching of his right cheek that helps him input words in the predictive text format into a computer attached to his wheelchair. A voice synthesizer reads these words out aloud and that is what constitutes his characteristic robotic voice.
Although his works have made him immortal, when asked about how would he like to go down in history, he says, “I hope I will be remembered for my work on black holes and the origin of the Universe and not for things like appearing on the Simpsons.”

China enters space race

Published 1/27/2012
http://dailyevergreen.com/read/opinion-CNSA

In the space race era of the 1950s through 1970s the two superpowers — U.S. and Soviet Union — spent a colossal amount of manpower and finances for achieving supremacy in space exploration. Something of the sort is happening again, with China unleashing an ambitious space exploration program.

But as they say, history repeats itself. So, the first thought that came to my mind was, "what if these superpowers had joined hands in exploring outer space?" Undoubtedly, science and mankind could have accomplished much more in a shorter span of time and with the use of fewer resources. I pondered how China, which owns 35 of the 800 active satellites in outer space, could pose a challenge to the U.S., which just a little more than 400 of them?

 

After looking at some more facts and figures, I figured out that China's plans are really ambitious and, going by its previous record, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) has an impeccable reputation of fulfilling its plans successfully. Before looking at what China plans to accomplish by 2020, let me explain briefly how and when China accomplished its space feats.

 

I was quite surprised to find out that China's space program began in the 1950s. It began when California Institute of Technology scientist Qian Xuesen, who also served on the U.S. National Science Advisory Board as a temporary lieutenant colonel during World War II, was tried on charges of being a Communist-sympathizer and deported back to China.

 

In the years that followed, Qian came to be known as the “father" of China's space program. The successful Long March missile developed by him is the backbone of the Chinese space program to this date. But it was after the Qian-era that the dragon started breathing fire. In 2003, China became the third country to send a human into space, behind the United States and the Soviet Union.

 

From October 1996 to the end of 2005, Long March rockets made 46 consecutive successful flights. Important breakthroughs were made in key technologies of the new-generation launching vehicles, which has made it a leader in the business of launching satellites and other payloads. I was surprised to note that China surpassed the U.S. by carrying out 18 satellite launches in 2011. That same year China launched Tiangong-1, a space lab parallel to the U.S.-led International Space Center. No wonder intellectuals in the U.S. see China snatching the space exploration initiative from them.

 

As if this was not enough, China now emphasizes to improve upon Long March rockets. They hope to be able to lift 25 tons into low Earth orbit, which is 600 Kg more than U.S. space shuttles could manage. In addition, China plans to upgrade its satellite networks by launching a series of high resolution Earth-observation satellites during the next five years. By 2020, China plans to put in place the Beidou satellite navigation system, a set of 35 satellites equivalent to the U.S. Global Positioning System. It also plans to send out probes to the Moon and Mars.

 

All these facts have led me to believe that the Chinese scientists have spent a lot of time, effort and finances to do what is colloquially called, "reinventing the wheel." They have simply accomplished what the U.S. had accomplished in the 1960s. It is a critical juncture in the space exploration relations of the two countries, where technology transfers and confidence building measures should be promoted instead of mistrust.

 

With Earth quickly running out of resources to support human life and existence, space exploration becomes all the more vital. In the words of leading cosmologist professor Stephen Hawking, "I don't think we will survive another thousand years without escaping beyond our fragile planet."

 

While many may be skeptical of China's feats in outer space as solely directed toward building up its military muscle, I am not. In my opinion, the 2000s have been an era in which the U.S. space program has not achieved much except for landings on the surface of Mars. The decommissioning of NASA's space shuttle Endeavour in December 2011, and the crash of Mars-bound Russian probe Phobos Grunt in January 2012, were proof enough that space exploration is no longer a two-horse race. I strongly believe that in such a scenario a third entrant into the vast field of space exploration is more than welcome.

 

To conclude, there is an immediate need to stop seeing China as a competitor and engage it as an ally at least as far as the benefit of the human kind and furthering the cause of science is concerned. Reconciliation efforts, if pursued, would be equivalent to what Neil Armstrong said after taking his first step on the moon, “This is one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.”

US needs to change relations with Iran

Published 1/30/2012
http://dailyevergreen.com/read/opinion-US-Iran-relations

In 2002, former President George W. Bush described Iran, alongside Iraq and North Korea, as an “Axis of Evil” — a country that possesses “weapons of mass destruction” and poses a threat to world peace. After years of economic blockades placed by the U.S. that failed to stop Iran’s nuclear program, the European Union (EU) recently decided to stop purchasing crude oil from Iran.

The West has constantly shown Iran the “stick,” which does not seem to be producing results. In my perspective, it is time to show Iran the “carrot” and bring it to the negotiating table.

There is a reason as to why I believe the “stick” has failed. In March 2003, a U.S.-led coalition decided to disarm the first of the axis of evil: Iraq. The so-called “weapons of mass destruction” were never discovered, but it was already too late. The troops could not just go back home leaving the country in anarchy. The stay in Iraq cost a lot of lives and finances to all the coalition partners.

Clearly, no one wants to engage in a bloodshed in Iran, so a full-scale war is out of
question. This is one reason that both the U.S. and Iranian navy showed constraint after heightened tension in the Strait of Hormuz after Iran threatened to shut down the critical waterway.

Secondly, as far as the U.S.-enforced economic blockades on Iran’s oil are concerned, the U.S. has not purchased a drop of oil from Iran for the past 30 years. The European Union purchases $25 billion worth of oil from Iran each year, which amounts to barely 10 percent of Iran’s export. The West, especially the EU, must realize that its recession-stricken economy has not fully recovered and any oil insecurity can hit its economy hard.

The International Monetary Fund has predicted that the Iranian oil embargo could cut 1.5 million barrels a day from global supplies and push prices up by $20 to $30 a barrel. It also remains yet to be seen how effective the Saudi promise of compensating for this oil deficit.

Meanwhile, this is a windfall gain for other economic blocks like China, Japan, India and South Korea that collectively consume 59 percent of Iran’s oil export and are still mulling to impose cosmetic sanctions on importing Iranian oil. Another aspect of Iran’s economic embargo is that the West’s financial institutions have stopped dealing with Iran. To offset this, Iran is accepting payments in Japanese Yen from its Asian customers.

The “stick” has clearly failed to put a full stop to Iran’s economic growth and deter its nuclear enrichment program.

Now, the important question is will the “carrot” work? I think it will, and here is why. It is no secret that the economic embargoes are hurting Iran. It is the 18th largest economy in the world and has a vibrant information technology, manufacturing and finance industry. I believe that any attractive economic concessions given to it will surely make Iran come to the negotiating table. The West must also understand that any growing economy looks for energy sustainability and nuclear energy is the answer.

Also, the “carrot” has worked successfully in the past. Former President Bill Clinton imposed economic sanctions on India, a traditional Soviet ally, after it successfully tested its first nuclear bomb in 1998. But President Bush, during his first term, started lifting those sanctions in a bid to bring India to the table and succeeded at the end of his second term when India signed the so-called “123 Agreement.” India then stopped piling up nuclear weapons in lieu of U.S. technical and financial investment in setting up civilian nuclear plants in India. It meant energy security for India and business for the U.S.

Hence, I believe that a similar, albeit stricter, treaty can be framed for Iran as well so that it turns out to be a win-win game for all.