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"Love your enemy--it will scare the hell out of them" - Mark Twain
Cover Theme
- Fusion Fashion’s Karmic Cycle
- South Asian Models
- On The Runway
Topic A
- Indian Stock Market
Movie Industry
- Cultural Diplomacy or Pragmatism
Social Service
- Trying to Mend Broken Dreams
From The History Books
- Fatehpur Sikri
South Asia
- Something is Rotten In The Nation of India
Face Time
- Sunita Williams
My Turn
- Where Am I From?
Front Row
- Who Kept Wal-Mart Out?
- Language Games
- Wanna Meet The Dalai Lama?
- Competing With Kids From India And China
Thursday March 28, 2024
Front Row:
Competing With The Kids From India And China
Vol: 1 Num: 3    Summer 2006

Priya Kareddy, a student at Parkland Magnet School in Maryland, was thrilled. After all she and her team got to show President Bush how they use a robot to understand the Boyle’s Law and the basic operations of a hydraulic system. In the process they helped the President encourage innovation as part of his American Competitiveness initiative.

Competitiveness is deeply ingrained in the American psyche. In 1986, the US was facing one of its most dire economic challenges. Japanese were invading the mainland USA with their sleek automobiles and electronic gadgets, Asians were coming in with cheaply manufactured goods and Europeans were luring Americans away from high end American autos. The US slid from being world’s largest creditor to its largest debtor. So a couple of dozen leaders of industry, labor and university got together to form a Council on Competitive to elevate the national competitiveness to the forefront of national consciousness.

Fast forward 20 years. The USA is again facing a dire economic challenge. The jobs of many of its high skilled workers have been outsourced to Asian and Eastern European countries, the jobs of its low end workforce has been usurped by immigrants from Latin America, the Japanese automobiles and electronic gadgets are still ruling the roost and it is still world’s largest debtor country.

This time the commander-in-chief has become the chief-competitive-initiator. In a series of speeches and appearances in schools and universities across the nation he has been emphasizing the importance of expertise in mathematics, science, and technology. Need to compete with a child from India or a child from China is appearing quite regularly in his speeches. So do Indian and Chinese immigrant children in those schools and universities like Kareddy, who demonstrate to him their readiness to compete with kids from India and China.

---
is the publisher and editor-in-chief of Mood Indico magazine, a niche publication for the affluent South Asians living in the north America

 

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