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America's real dream team

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Bob

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Op-Ed Columnist - America?s Real Dream Team - NYTimes.com America?s Real Dream Team



By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
Published: March 20, 2010

Went to a big Washington dinner last week. You know the kind: Large hall; black ties; long dresses. But this was no ordinary dinner. There were 40 guests of honor. So here?s my Sunday news quiz: I?ll give you the names of most of the honorees, and you tell me what dinner I was at. Ready?

Linda Zhou, Alice Wei Zhao, Lori Ying, Angela Yu-Yun Yeung, Lynnelle Lin Ye, Kevin Young Xu, Benjamin Chang Sun, Jane Yoonhae Suh, Katheryn Cheng Shi, Sunanda Sharma, Sarine Gayaneh Shahmirian, Arjun Ranganath Puranik, Raman Venkat Nelakant, Akhil Mathew, Paul Masih Das, David Chienyun Liu, Elisa Bisi Lin, Yifan Li, Lanair Amaad Lett, Ruoyi Jiang, Otana Agape Jakpor, Peter Danming Hu, Yale Wang Fan, Yuval Yaacov Calev, Levent Alpoge, John Vincenzo Capodilupo and Namrata Anand.

No, sorry, it was not a dinner of the China-India Friendship League. Give up?

O.K. All these kids are American high school students. They were the majority of the 40 finalists in the 2010 Intel Science Talent Search, which, through a national contest, identifies and honors the top math and science high school students in America, based on their solutions to scientific problems. The awards dinner was Tuesday, and, as you can see from the above list, most finalists hailed from immigrant families, largely from Asia.

Indeed, if you need any more convincing about the virtues of immigration, just come to the Intel science finals. I am a pro-immigration fanatic. I think keeping a constant flow of legal immigrants into our country ? whether they wear blue collars or lab coats ? is the key to keeping us ahead of China. Because when you mix all of these energetic, high-aspiring people with a democratic system and free markets, magic happens. If we hope to keep that magic, we need immigration reform that guarantees that we will always attract and retain, in an orderly fashion, the world?s first-round aspirational and intellectual draft choices.
 
Op-Ed Columnist - America?s Real Dream Team - NYTimes.com America?s Real Dream Team



By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
Published: March 20, 2010

Went to a big Washington dinner last week. You know the kind: Large hall; black ties; long dresses. But this was no ordinary dinner. There were 40 guests of honor. So here?s my Sunday news quiz: I?ll give you the names of most of the honorees, and you tell me what dinner I was at. Ready?

Linda Zhou, Alice Wei Zhao, Lori Ying, Angela Yu-Yun Yeung, Lynnelle Lin Ye, Kevin Young Xu, Benjamin Chang Sun, Jane Yoonhae Suh, Katheryn Cheng Shi, Sunanda Sharma, Sarine Gayaneh Shahmirian, Arjun Ranganath Puranik, Raman Venkat Nelakant, Akhil Mathew, Paul Masih Das, David Chienyun Liu, Elisa Bisi Lin, Yifan Li, Lanair Amaad Lett, Ruoyi Jiang, Otana Agape Jakpor, Peter Danming Hu, Yale Wang Fan, Yuval Yaacov Calev, Levent Alpoge, John Vincenzo Capodilupo and Namrata Anand.

No, sorry, it was not a dinner of the China-India Friendship League. Give up?

O.K. All these kids are American high school students. They were the majority of the 40 finalists in the 2010 Intel Science Talent Search, which, through a national contest, identifies and honors the top math and science high school students in America, based on their solutions to scientific problems. The awards dinner was Tuesday, and, as you can see from the above list, most finalists hailed from immigrant families, largely from Asia.

Indeed, if you need any more convincing about the virtues of immigration, just come to the Intel science finals. I am a pro-immigration fanatic. I think keeping a constant flow of legal immigrants into our country ? whether they wear blue collars or lab coats ? is the key to keeping us ahead of China. Because when you mix all of these energetic, high-aspiring people with a democratic system and free markets, magic happens. If we hope to keep that magic, we need immigration reform that guarantees that we will always attract and retain, in an orderly fashion, the world?s first-round aspirational and intellectual draft choices.


And a non-punitive tax system that keeps them here after they get out into the work force.
 
There's a family over here that's, I think, three for three in terms of the kids going deep for the Intel prizes. Thier last name- Mohammed, and the Bay Beacon has had many a picture of young Maryam in recent years, dressed neatly and conservatively and wearing a hijab, beaming as she accepts yet another award for science research.
 
The key word in Bob's post by Friedman is in the last paragraph. It is the word, "legal".
 
I think it has much less to do with "legal" vs. "illegal" and much more to do with their family traditions and priorities.

My guess is that many of their parents came here as graduate students, then stayed and instilled the same value of education in their kids.

And as long as we make education and ALL of our schools and students a priority we will continue to draw the best and brightest from around the globe.
 
I think it has much less to do with "legal" vs. "illegal" and much more to do with their family traditions and priorities.

My guess is that many of their parents came here as graduate students, then stayed and instilled the same value of education in their kids.

And as long as we make education and ALL of our schools and students a priority we will continue to draw the best and brightest from around the globe.
I agree with what you say entirely but the point I was making was over 95% of our Asian immigrants arrived here in accordance with our established immigration laws.
 
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