You're one of those "Why do we learn calculus!?" dropouts aren't you? Actually I take that back, do they teach calculus in the southern states? Always thought of it more as a Cali and East Coast curriculum.
Um, yes. If you read what I said again, I never said that spelling wasn't a useless skill (I mean, you do need to spell words correctly so your resume isn't a mess, but that's what spell checker is for). All I said is that sports are also useless as skills. Try responding to what I actually said.
I was not aware that competing in spelling bee was a requirement for phD. I will have to check with my wife and friends that have their phD but I am pretty certain they never entered one. Again, some of you are not understanding the concept of a balanced lifestyle.
Yeah, and what percentage of people make millions doing it? The odds of getting to play professionally at all are slim, and the odds of making huge money at it are even less. I wouldn't call something a useful skill if your odds are roughly equal to winning the lottery. Fact is, most people are better off learning a skill that they'll actually be able to use to support themselves in some way -- and for the overwhelming majority, that ain't being a pro athlete.
meh. it's pretty obvious you're shoving down the assumption that anyone competing in this contest is a forced child slave with no other options. should i tell my friend to take her daughter out from ballet? she's obsessed with it and only socializes with other ballerina friends. i guess hating on focused kids is some kind of cool liberal cow wagon to jump on and fling poo from.
this brings up the agassi dilemma. cliffs: dad knew he was supremely talented at tennis and made him play it all the time as a kid. fast forward 20 years and a bunch of grand slams later, post retirement, agassi says he resents dad for taking away childhood. but uh... that's a trade off most people would take. and of course, that's an EXTREME example of a kid being forced to do something. very few are actually good enough to even be taken seriously and have that option
Well yeah. I agree there. That goes back to the whole point, the Spelling Bee is a waste of time and its even worse if a kid is forced to do it because of how glorified the event is, being picked up by ESPN for whatever reason. Sports is useless, but at least those in the 99th percentile can see light at the end of the tunnel. Being the best speller on the planet doesn't net you the same reward being the best athlete on the planet will net you. But yeah. A majority of the people would be better off not participating in either.
My point was that you give up a significant amount of quality of life when you go for PHD, especially a math and science one, which is where a lot of Asians immigrants concentrate on because it allows them to stay in the country and give them a better shot at a H1B sponsored job. And the PHD work is like a job so they will not get to live the "MTV college lifestyle". Most Americans, if they are strong enough to get in a heavily quant field PHD program, might find that a PHD in such field might not be the best "life" decision. I don't think it's true in all cases, and there are those out there who truly enjoy academia, but from a pure life vs. work/school perspective, choosing PHD means 4+ years of poor college student vs. a more lucrative route.
tldr version: You wonder why Americans don't choose to go to a PHD route, maybe for a lot of people it's not the best work vs. life balance decision.
I goto a top 20 med. school and graduated at the top of my class in undergrad....so yea I'm pretty dumb.
It's true that a large portion of phd candidates are foreign, but I think a lot of that has to do with the fact many people elect to go the professional route. I was a third of the way through with a phd in cardiovascular physiology while in undergrad ( PI said he would defend me for my dissertation after 3 publications) but I didn't really see myself doing something useful with it when compared to something like medicine. Also, you can lead a balanced lifestyle while doing something that requires a lot of studying. Treat it like an 8-5 job. For a phd you probably don't even have to do that since its so research heavy and stretched out over a long period for most people ( unless you have a lot of luck on your side with publications).
That was my point, a lot of Americans don't chose PHD because it doesn't necessary give you a better life than the professional route, thus outside of love of research on a specific subject, it's like studying for spelling bee (something ZBOy doesn't understand the reasons for sacrifice because it doesn't benefit you).
BTW, I think positively about graduate work, there are a lot of good reasons for it. Passionate on the subject Needs more specific training in your field Want to change industry Want to make the world a better place It's just that in another thread ZBoy talked about only Asians do PHDs because only they know about it instead of understanding that it requires hard work and sacrifice, just like what's need it to win a spelling bee.
there's a lot of assumptions done. how do you know these kids do nothing but read dictionaries and memorize words? it's not even about that, it's about knowing the origin of the word and how the rules and such that pertains to it and allowing you to know how they spell the word, not memorizing dictionaries. how do you know these kids can't socialize? They're in middle school, and there is a whole lot of awkwardness going on around that age. they're competing in a contest, nothing different from basketball, football, band, etc. spelling bee might not directly allow the kid to make a living off it, but it does teach them focus and concentration, which a lot of our youths are lacking. I know I was since I was smart and taking AP classes in high school, but lack of focus made me skip school a lot and go out. However, thank god, I'm doing good currently like i said props to the winners and to the kids who even made it this far into the competition.
