Europe didn’t fall behind by accident. It chose control over liberty. Its universities don’t expand minds; they ration permission. Early tracking decides lives before they begin. Bureaucrats allocate futures. Failure is punished. Risk is discouraged. Then Europe wonders why America builds the companies, writes the code, and patents the future. Free tuition means nothing if most people are barred from entry. Innovation requires volume, chaos, and second chances. Europe designed a system hostile to all three. The brain drain is the verdict. Talent leaves because ambition has no room to breathe. You cannot regulate your way to greatness. You earn it by trusting people.
Fascinating article. Unfortunately, the American model has been twisted away from altruism to the enrichment of the few who then buy politicians to pursue their private agendas that all too often have championed the enrichment of the few at the expense of the many. Are there exceptions to this rule? Of course, like always. But at the moment, the wrong side is winning and America is careening down a frightening path that looks set to run off the rails and produce wide spread hardship for most and outside riches for the few, who mostly hoard wealth beyond imagination rather than using any of it for public good.
The US education system is already undergoing massive change - from school choice at the lower levels, to a renewed appreciation for trade schools, and a new focus on meritocracy in universities. DEI has been recognized as a horrible fraud and is in grudging retreat.
Contrast this with the sclerosis in Europe, and the future is clear.
"A 2024 study of global patent activity found that no university from an EU member state ranks among the world’s top 50 patent producing universities."
I wasn't aware of patents being something that universities were supposed to be producing. Aren't they supposed be the putting out research papers, advancing basic knowledge, and racking up Nobel and Fields prizes?
Just read an article about the 100,000$ hs-b1 entrance fees. It was saying that Europe and other countries are going to keep their people now and create companies that they can be in. Or go to other countries other than the USA. Think that’s a good thing? Maybe it will make the world more prosperous ? Or a bad thing because we will miss out on strong minds that used to be imported to us??? Thanks!
You aren’t understanding the concept and power in Capitalism and competition. America thrives on competition. That’s why Leftists are hell-bent on killing competition through DEI.
Exceptional analysis. The insight about innovation emerging from dense networks of educated people interacting unpredictably gets at something most policy discussions miss entirely. I worked with European startups for a few years and the talent drain was painfully obvius, not becasue individuals lacked skill but because the ecosystem couldnt support iteration at scale. The DeepMind example perfectly captures this: Europe trained the researchers, then exported the value creation. The 70% zero-patent statistic is just staggering.
In the early 80's I was in the Army, stationed in Germany. I sent my 3 kids to German schools. When my oldest daughter was in 4th grade all the 4th-graders took a standardized test to assess and assign their future education pathways. Having spoken German for only a little over a year at that point my daughter did poorly and would have no opportunity to advance beyond middle school (Grundschule). Luckily, she was able to retest in 6th grade and scored high enough to advance to their middle tier (Realschule). However, highrr level education (Gymnasium) would have been out of her reach. How many of us knew in 4th grade what path we would want to take for the rest of our lives? While eorking commercially in Europe after the Army I always thought that Europe was a target-rich environment for competitive American companies, and that has borne out.
I hope this becomes more apparent as the days go by and why something drastic needs to be done.
Europe didn’t fall behind by accident. It chose control over liberty. Its universities don’t expand minds; they ration permission. Early tracking decides lives before they begin. Bureaucrats allocate futures. Failure is punished. Risk is discouraged. Then Europe wonders why America builds the companies, writes the code, and patents the future. Free tuition means nothing if most people are barred from entry. Innovation requires volume, chaos, and second chances. Europe designed a system hostile to all three. The brain drain is the verdict. Talent leaves because ambition has no room to breathe. You cannot regulate your way to greatness. You earn it by trusting people.
Well, yes...that's exactly what happens when you tell people that only certain things may be learned, and that free thinking will not be tolerated....
Fascinating article. Unfortunately, the American model has been twisted away from altruism to the enrichment of the few who then buy politicians to pursue their private agendas that all too often have championed the enrichment of the few at the expense of the many. Are there exceptions to this rule? Of course, like always. But at the moment, the wrong side is winning and America is careening down a frightening path that looks set to run off the rails and produce wide spread hardship for most and outside riches for the few, who mostly hoard wealth beyond imagination rather than using any of it for public good.
The US education system is already undergoing massive change - from school choice at the lower levels, to a renewed appreciation for trade schools, and a new focus on meritocracy in universities. DEI has been recognized as a horrible fraud and is in grudging retreat.
Contrast this with the sclerosis in Europe, and the future is clear.
"A 2024 study of global patent activity found that no university from an EU member state ranks among the world’s top 50 patent producing universities."
I wasn't aware of patents being something that universities were supposed to be producing. Aren't they supposed be the putting out research papers, advancing basic knowledge, and racking up Nobel and Fields prizes?
Just read an article about the 100,000$ hs-b1 entrance fees. It was saying that Europe and other countries are going to keep their people now and create companies that they can be in. Or go to other countries other than the USA. Think that’s a good thing? Maybe it will make the world more prosperous ? Or a bad thing because we will miss out on strong minds that used to be imported to us??? Thanks!
You aren’t understanding the concept and power in Capitalism and competition. America thrives on competition. That’s why Leftists are hell-bent on killing competition through DEI.
Exceptional analysis. The insight about innovation emerging from dense networks of educated people interacting unpredictably gets at something most policy discussions miss entirely. I worked with European startups for a few years and the talent drain was painfully obvius, not becasue individuals lacked skill but because the ecosystem couldnt support iteration at scale. The DeepMind example perfectly captures this: Europe trained the researchers, then exported the value creation. The 70% zero-patent statistic is just staggering.
Amazing article. Thanks !🙏
In the early 80's I was in the Army, stationed in Germany. I sent my 3 kids to German schools. When my oldest daughter was in 4th grade all the 4th-graders took a standardized test to assess and assign their future education pathways. Having spoken German for only a little over a year at that point my daughter did poorly and would have no opportunity to advance beyond middle school (Grundschule). Luckily, she was able to retest in 6th grade and scored high enough to advance to their middle tier (Realschule). However, highrr level education (Gymnasium) would have been out of her reach. How many of us knew in 4th grade what path we would want to take for the rest of our lives? While eorking commercially in Europe after the Army I always thought that Europe was a target-rich environment for competitive American companies, and that has borne out.