America's Secret Weapon

Michio Kaku: I must disagree with my esteemed colleague here. First of all, let me say that science is the engine of prosperity. From steam power to electricity, to the laser, to the transistor, to the computer—

However, the information revolution has a weakness, and the weakness is precisely the educational system. The United States has the worst educational system known to science. Our graduates compete regularly at the level of third world countries. So how come the scientific establishment of the United States doesn’t collapse? If we’re producing a generation of dummies, if the stupid index of America keeps rising every year, just watch network television and reality shows, right? How come the scientific establishment of the United States doesn’t collapse? Let me tell you something. Some of you may not know this. America has a secret weapon. That secret weapon is the H1B. Without the H1B, the scientific establishment of this country would collapse. Forget about Google! Forget about Silicon Valley! There would be no Silicon Valley without the H1B. And you know what the H1B is? It’s the genius visa. Okay? You realize that in the United States, 50% of all PhD candidates are foreign born. At my system, one of the biggest in the United States, 100% of the PhD candidates are foreign born. The United States is a magnet sucking up all the brains of the world, but now the brains are going back. They’re going back to China; they’re going back to India. And people are saying, “Oh, my God, there’s a Silicon Valley in India now!” “Oh, my God, there’s a Silicon Valley in China!” Duh! Where did it come from? It came from the United States. So don’t tell me that science isn’t the engine of prosperity. You remove the H1B visa and you collapse the economy.

In Wall Street Journal, editorialized against a congressman who wanted to ban the H1B, saying they’ll take jobs away from the American people. The Wall Street Journal said, “Look, there are no Americans who can take these jobs. These are at the highest level of high technology. They don’t take away jobs for Americans, they create entire industries.” And so that’s why we have an Achilles heel, and that’s the educational system. And again, sociology majors are not necessarily going to be the ones determining the future Silicon Valley, but physicists, the engineers; we need more of them, not less.

Dr. Michio Kaku America Has A Secret Weapon