I came across an article, while reading Africa Unchained, which I found on Kofi's blogroll, saying that many experts are beginning to believe that Brain Drain has a positive impact on Africa.
The problem with Brain Drain however does not only lie in the worker, but also the country recruiting those workers. Generally, many of the skilled workers who go study abroad or choose to stay in the country where they received their education are given incentives by that country to stay there. In the Capeverdean case, it is rare that a student does not return after getting their diploma. Their lifestyle in Cape Verde is usually much better off than it would be in the United States or France with university credentials. After independence in 1975, countries such as Germany and Portugal, on the one hand, would try to recruit the capeverdean students who graduated top in their classes but not pay them the same salaries as nationals, of course. Cuba, Brazil and the former Soviet Union, on the other hand, made it their objective to send skilled workers back to newly independent African and Asian countries. Brain Drain is by definition the exodus of skilled workers from their home countries, but most of the time, that exodus is initiated by the receiving country. For example, Sarkozy is trying to restrict immigration into France but is also trying to include laws that facilitate immigration of people who have Master’s Degrees or higher.
While I understand where certain economists are coming from when they take on the concept of Brain Drain from a purely economic/financial/ statistical standpoint, I cannot help but to think of the social, psychological aspect of Brain Drain when looking at those who leave their home countries and go abroad. It is a lot harder to return than many think, even if you provide certain incentives and restrictions that would eventually convince or force them to return to their home countries. I fully agree that studying abroad gives non-Europeans/Americans an interesting perspective and a certain level of know-how and experience that they would not necessarily receive at home. However, instead of restricting the acquirement of such knowledge to the Occident, why not work towards establishing institutions with the proper materials and conditions to provide that same level of learning to students in their own countries, with the option of studying abroad. I just feel like we are automatically trying to find solutions that propogate the Dependance Theory by trying to find solutions that get skilled workers to go back to their countries instead of finding ways to provide the kind of education they need in their very own backyards so that they are not forced to leave in the first place.
Many of my friends who are second and third generation Africans and Asians (sorry to bunch you all up in two continents like that, heheee) dedicate their time and energy to achieving sustainable development in their home countries.... but most of them see going back home and working as out of the question. Many say they first want to be economically potent and established in order to "make a difference", which I completely understand and others love their parents’ home countries, but just not to actually live there, hahaaaa, and I completely understand that as well. After all, when you are born and raised in the states, as much as you hate to deny it, you are American. If you are not born and raised, at least for a while, in the country where your parents are from, I do not believe one has the obligation to work or live there, or even like it for that matter. Home is where your heart, memories, desires and ambitions are. It is one thing to be conscience of the problems that plague the African and Asian continent and quite another to try to tackle those problems in the field.
I am definitely not going to front. Because my interests have always been geared towards following a career in the area of sustainable development, I have always looked forward to one day working in Cabo Verde, but I never planned for it to be so soon, and when I came back, I was not expecting my assimilation into capeverdean society to be so difficult.
To conclude, because it is normal to want to live, work and start a family where you feel most comfortable, I think it is important to create the necessary conditions to educate Africans and Asians in African and Aisa, at levels beyond high school that can compete with the best institutions in Europe and the Americas, rather than continuing to rely on the few immigrants that actually choose to go back.
Ya dig?
peace + balance
The problem with Brain Drain however does not only lie in the worker, but also the country recruiting those workers. Generally, many of the skilled workers who go study abroad or choose to stay in the country where they received their education are given incentives by that country to stay there. In the Capeverdean case, it is rare that a student does not return after getting their diploma. Their lifestyle in Cape Verde is usually much better off than it would be in the United States or France with university credentials. After independence in 1975, countries such as Germany and Portugal, on the one hand, would try to recruit the capeverdean students who graduated top in their classes but not pay them the same salaries as nationals, of course. Cuba, Brazil and the former Soviet Union, on the other hand, made it their objective to send skilled workers back to newly independent African and Asian countries. Brain Drain is by definition the exodus of skilled workers from their home countries, but most of the time, that exodus is initiated by the receiving country. For example, Sarkozy is trying to restrict immigration into France but is also trying to include laws that facilitate immigration of people who have Master’s Degrees or higher.
While I understand where certain economists are coming from when they take on the concept of Brain Drain from a purely economic/financial/ statistical standpoint, I cannot help but to think of the social, psychological aspect of Brain Drain when looking at those who leave their home countries and go abroad. It is a lot harder to return than many think, even if you provide certain incentives and restrictions that would eventually convince or force them to return to their home countries. I fully agree that studying abroad gives non-Europeans/Americans an interesting perspective and a certain level of know-how and experience that they would not necessarily receive at home. However, instead of restricting the acquirement of such knowledge to the Occident, why not work towards establishing institutions with the proper materials and conditions to provide that same level of learning to students in their own countries, with the option of studying abroad. I just feel like we are automatically trying to find solutions that propogate the Dependance Theory by trying to find solutions that get skilled workers to go back to their countries instead of finding ways to provide the kind of education they need in their very own backyards so that they are not forced to leave in the first place.
Many of my friends who are second and third generation Africans and Asians (sorry to bunch you all up in two continents like that, heheee) dedicate their time and energy to achieving sustainable development in their home countries.... but most of them see going back home and working as out of the question. Many say they first want to be economically potent and established in order to "make a difference", which I completely understand and others love their parents’ home countries, but just not to actually live there, hahaaaa, and I completely understand that as well. After all, when you are born and raised in the states, as much as you hate to deny it, you are American. If you are not born and raised, at least for a while, in the country where your parents are from, I do not believe one has the obligation to work or live there, or even like it for that matter. Home is where your heart, memories, desires and ambitions are. It is one thing to be conscience of the problems that plague the African and Asian continent and quite another to try to tackle those problems in the field.
I am definitely not going to front. Because my interests have always been geared towards following a career in the area of sustainable development, I have always looked forward to one day working in Cabo Verde, but I never planned for it to be so soon, and when I came back, I was not expecting my assimilation into capeverdean society to be so difficult.
To conclude, because it is normal to want to live, work and start a family where you feel most comfortable, I think it is important to create the necessary conditions to educate Africans and Asians in African and Aisa, at levels beyond high school that can compete with the best institutions in Europe and the Americas, rather than continuing to rely on the few immigrants that actually choose to go back.
Ya dig?
peace + balance
p.s. picture taken from UNESCO site
3 comments:
Yea Kof digs...we shall chat about this I am sure
profound
in an attempt to connect the dots in your text, perhaps it would be a good suggestion for those dedicating their time and energy to achieving sustainable development in their home countries while wanting to be economically potent and established in order to "make a difference", to do precisely what you talk about later on: to help in the establishment of good educational resources in their home countries, either by networking to obtain learning materials or by offering their own time as qualified teachers in local universities... there are a myriad of ways but it would be a good idea to list them somewhere!
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