Well, today I attended the last of my kids' college graduation from University of Texas at Dallas. He had lost two years to a failed marriage so went back for his Bachelor's in Finance and Accounting.

Now, you say "hooray for the family news" but that is not why I started the thread. Of the Graduate degrees, about 25% had an Anglo name. The rest were Asian and Middle Eastern. The Master's had about 50% Anglo names. Of the Phd's there were about 25% Anglo names. I am saddened by the fact that so many Americans are missing out on higher education while the rest of the World works so hard to come here to attend some of the best Colleges in the World. I say God bless them because it is tough sacrifice so much to excel.

Are we as Americans missing the boat on higher education and if so why? A college education is almost handed to us and yet our numbers are dwindling in the registration line. I can see no good coming from this.

From a lot of the kids at my school they just hate going to school. I'm sure there are legitamite reasons for why some do not go to college, though.

I'm not sure I got it correct: weren't all those Asian and Mideastern students American as well?

I'm with you, Italian Guy, I don't think you can tell someone's citizenship by the sound of their name.

i dont know what the system is like in America, but in Aus, it aint pretty.
deferred fee placements are becoming fewer and fewer, the cost of paid places is getting higher, and the number of paid places is increasing. its like if you have the money, you can do whatever degree you want, regardless of what your ENTER is. im not saying they dont deserve it, but it means kids whose parents are rich have far more opportunities than those who can't afford to pay (i think mine costs $8K a year- i had to defer paymnet, no hope in hell of paying)

it seems Unis have no longer become places of education, but instead are more business like. they prefer international students, who pay lots of money to go to the uni over citizens it seems. and the language tests for entry and the language facilities at the unis are pretty , i feel sorry for the international students who dont speak english that well because it seems they are very isolated and without proper support. a number of times iv had to do group assignments and we've had an international student who, despite all coaxing and encouragement, refused to communicate at all with us and partake in the assignment. now we can't go the language services and request an interpretor, the student has to come out and say that they have a prob with the language, then an interpreter will come, otherwise its seen as not treating the student nicely.

Maybe it's because Americans enjoy a high standard of liveing and thus are content without a higher education? I'm just throwing out a..... uneducated guess :P