<p>Just a word of encouragement to the OP's daughter - I do believe that one gets better in dealing with accents - particularly if one can identify common patterns. For example, one of my colleagues is a New Zealander - many vowel shifts relative to my brand of mid-western English. Once I understood what was going on, my brain was able to adjust better. </p>
<p>Once, many years ago, I worked in the International Students office at the university I attended. I got really good at understanding Asians of all varieties. Then, I had to call New York City about an immigration issue. Well, I got a woman with a really thick Bronx accent. Couldn't understand a word she was saying - I had to make her spell things. I got the information that I needed, but I am sure that the dinnertime conversation in her home revolved around the stupid woman from Cleveland she spoke with that day.</p>
<p>^^that Mom would have even had trouble in Louisiana's Cajun country. (Immigration history from France to Arcadia in Canada then on to Louisiana..can you hear it? Arcadia? Canjun?)
We lived in bilingual Ottawa for 9 years, and the European French so disliked the French Canadian accent.
Tout ca change, tout c'est la meme chose (Marite, how's my spelling these days?)</p>
<p>
[quote]
The reason is simply that not enough Americans are going into the fields in which the foreign born profs and graduate students are represented in great numbers.
[/quote]
So if it's a given that they can't find enough native English speaking profs at the accomplishment level desired and must hire foreign profs which I'm not disputing, then they should at least make certain that the profs (and TAs) have a reasonable ability to speak understandable English before placing them in front of students. My Ds have had plenty of Asian, Indian, eastern European, etc. profs and TAs who while having accents, were at least understandable even if one had to listen closely. It's the few who aren't understandable even while listening closely who are the issue. These are usually ones who have recently arrived within the past few years.</p>
<p>And I agree - I think the US needs to 'somehow' generate more American math/science/engineering resources for both education and industry.</p>
<p>ucsd-dad,
schools DO already try to "make certain" about the level of english. But fact is, it's not easy, and schools sometimes have to choose the guy with poor english (& hope it improves, as it usually does after a while) or no guy at all. </p>
<p>Since 9/11, the US has lost its competitive edge in being able to hire the best foreign candidates, mostly due to visa restrictions (and unpopular politics, but that's another matter.) In the meantime, England and Australia stepped up the effort to recruit foreign students - and are very successful at it. The US is no longer the only game in town. Within the US, private schools can often offer more lucrative positions than, say, the state-funded UCs. Add to that our own deficits in producing enough profs/instructors -- and we created a situation wherein kids can't understand their teachers. </p>
<p>BTW, I completely sympathize with your girls. I don't in any way think they're being petulant in any way with their complaint. I see this as an important and difficult issue facing all college students in the US.</p>
<p>The "Great Books" comment was specific, one can learn as much, or more, using literature from other sources than in that curriculum. The idea was thinking that all students need to know certain pieces of literature but a need to know certain mathematical thinking is not important. People forget that math/science is about stretching the brain's thinking as much as reading other people's words is. The retention years later isn't the facts (these can change) but the process of how one obtains knowledge- the retention of the words written in a piece of literature isn't as important as the interpretation of meaning (depth) skills gained... </p>
<p>Seguing back to the accent issue- our society's attitudes towards math and science education mean fewer Americans in those fields in postgrad years, and more people with other first languages teaching at our colleges/universities. You want an All-American cast in your grandchild's university math and science departments? Get your local schools to teach so more young people want to go into those fields, this starts at the elementary school level... It also means giving more attention to those field's personalities in the media. Why not teach the history of science along with military/political history, and learn about the lives of the scientists and inventors along with those of the presidents and generals? Current attitudes in our society certainly do not lend prestige to the fields. Nor do they make them seem as attractive to many students as other areas (especially business).</p>