If immigration is good for the US wouldn't it be much better for the US to get highly educated people from places like India China Russia rather than millions of poorly educated people from Mexico?

Answer 1

Well, I mean, from a purely logical point of view, yes, it would be better to have educated vrs. uneducated people to immigrate, but there are a bunch of problems with that idea:

1. It is a total stereotype that Chinese people are smart. China has billions of people. Some of them are highly educated, but the masses are just like the masses in Mexico: poor and untaught. We don't hear about them, because they aren't considered important enough for the international community to care about. And as for India and Russia, what makes you think that the average person there is highly educated? Sure, they go to school, but so do tons of people in dozens of countries. Did you just pick them out of thin air?

2. The people who are highly educated in those countries are not the types of people who have any desire to emigrate. Generally, people who have gone to college, etc have fairly cushy lives - not that they are rich, persay, but you need a reason to up and leave your own country, and the highly educated don't typically have one.

3. We can't pick and choose the people who come to this country, and like I said, the odds are that educated people will have no reason to come. We can't simply advertise - "US needs citizens; Smart people wanted! Sign up today!"

4. A lot of countries, especially the ones that you mentioned, don't give as much freedom to the people as America does. The geniuses and people with higher education might not even be allowed to leave (Don't quote me on this; it is speculation; I know nothing about laws in other countries).

5. This one is the biggie - just because someone comes from Mexico does not mean they are no good. Sometimes the uneducated are also the wisest. And on top of it, America is supposed to be the land of opportunity - people come here and learn. And the people who come from Mexico come because they need America, not because America needs them - and we have so much in this country, nobody grateful can begrudge that.

6. Finally, why do we need to import smart people at all? If we want educated people we should educate them ourselves. Instead of worrying about where people immigrate from, why don't we worry about reforming our school system! When will people grasp that kids don't learn BECAUSE THEY AREN"T TAUGHT! (forgive me the rant; school reform is a big issue for me)

I hope I've answered your question!