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> If it's harder for foreign people to become postdocs/profs in the US, the quality of US research will fall. Quickly. I sincerely believe exactly the opposite
by throwawaygh 6y ago
> If it's harder for foreign people to become postdocs/profs in the US, the quality of US research will fall. Quickly.
I sincerely believe exactly the opposite. The best and brightest in the USA avoid research academia because the quality of life is terrible and the pay is below average. Like, "all my students make more in their first year than I make with a PhD and 20 years of successful research" is a common lament among CS profs everywhere outside of the top tier of R1.
Meanwhile, the "graduate school as a ticket into the country" incentive structure creates a lot of pathological behavior among the foot soldiers of academia.
- Eratosthenes 6y agoExactly this. I would have loved to go for a physics PhD but everything I read about academia in the US strongly discouraged me from pursuing it. I went into tech instead. The academic system in the US is incredibly sick. The best and brightest students are certainly not lining up to squander their youth being treated like slaves when they can make top dollar in another field.