Date: Thu, 23 Oct 1997 21:34:51 -0700
To: [email protected]
From: Lubomyr Prytulak
Subject: Re: Brain Drain (reply to gjp)
At 08:14 PM 10/23/1997 -0400, gjp wrote:
|
The only evidence of this "brain drain" is a reference by Lubomyr Prytulak
to some article by Raisa Stetsyura in Itar-Tass of May 16 to the effect that
some 5000 leading scientists have left Ukraine in the past five years. |
I cited many other statistics, one to the effect that since 1989, 700,000
people had emigrated from the FSU to Israel. I cited evidence that a
disproporitonate amount of this emigration was from Ukraine, and that it
contained a disproportionate number of skilled and talented people. The
statistic of 5000 � staggering in itself � is just for LEADING SCIENTISTS.
If you're not a LEADING scientist, you don't get counted. If you're an
engineer, a historian, a poet, a musician, an artist, a carpenter, and
electrician � it's still a loss to Ukraine, but you don't get counted in the
5000. If you doubt the accuracy of the figure, don't whine about it � come
up with a more accurate one.
|
There
was no indication as to who are these scientists. Are they engineers,
nuclear physicists, micro-biologists or what? How many such scientists are
there presently in Ukraine? What proportion in each discipline has left?
Were they working in their area of science when they left? and so on. |
It's easy to fire off a lot of questions � but the answers are irrelevant.
My conclusions are the same no matter what kind of scientists they are.
And don't forget, I'm not just talking about scientists.
|
The point is that if a scientist does not work in his area of science and
with the most advanced technologies and equipment, such scientist becomes
very quickly obsolete and, therefore, useless both to himself and his
country. It is far better for such scientist to go work in another country
rather than sell, as you said, whisky and cigarettes on Khreschatyk to make
a living. For scientists, the world is a global village, provided they know
foreign languages. A scientist who has a chance to go to another country and
work in his discipline with modern technologies and equipment, to improve
his skills while earning a decent salary, and who would refuse it to stay in
his native country is, in my view, an idiot. There are not many such idiots
in Ukraine, nor in Russia for that matter, and so there is certainly some
migration of scientists to foreign countries. |
I do not recommend that scientists stay in Ukraine and rot. I recommend
that the vast amount of money that the U.S. is spending to lure these
scientists out of Ukraine, and the vast amount of money that the U.S.
spends to provide economic viability for them in Israel, could as easily
have been spent to keep them in Ukraine and provide economic viability for
them in Ukraine. In fact, forget about the U.S. spending anything on
Ukraine � just let it stop bribing our best people to leave � that's all I ask.
|
Still, there is absolutely no evidence that Ukraine is so depleted in
scientific personnel that it hurts. |
Stop with the scientists, already! Do you recall that I also mentioned,
among others, Oksana Baiul and Victor Petrenko? So you're saying that
these were not a loss to Ukraine? It is not enough to claim that you read
my posting � it would be good if you showed some signs of having understood
it, and having remembered its key points and its key facts.
Since Ukraine is in pain in every part of its body, then I would say the
evidence was everywhere. Everywhere you look, there is a competence
deficit. Travellers have to wait three to five days, sleeping in their
cars, to cross the border from Ukraine to Poland; the same border going
from Poland to Ukraine � no wait. Don't you see a competence deficit here?
That's what happens when brains drain for decades � the people left behind
can't do anything right. The simplest, most obvious things don't work.
Any person with barely above average intelligence put in charge of that
border could solve the congestion within a week � but somehow Ukrainians
can't. The current devastating brain drain may be the last blow from which
Ukraine never recovers. There is more than one country that once
entertained high hopes, but somehow got relegated to third world status.
Can any of us be sure that this is not happening to Ukraine? Look at the
evidence � make comparisons � look at the trends � where do you see the
slightest glimmer of hope? OK, so no more hyperinflation. And what else?
|
The problem in Ukraine is elsewhere, not
in the lack of scientists. I am regularly reading the Ukrainian Press on the
Internet, and there is clearly no persistent complaint or even reference
about "brain drain" in Ukraine. |
I bet there wasn't a thing that I quoted in my posting that you had
already seen before. It was 100% new to you. Therefore, you are reading
the wrong materials, or not remembering what you read.
I did present a mass of evidence, and I have a much larger mass both of
statistics and of complaints which I did not include because I was pressed
for time, but which I will put forward eventually. Stronger than your
FAILING TO FIND such complaints (which might be explained by your not
reading very much, or reading the wrong materials, or not remembering what
you read) would be your putting forward quotations of officials positively
stating that there was no brain drain. Can you find any such quotations?
Actually, I think that your not remembering what you read goes a long way
toward explaining the position that you take � aside from being able to cite
the figure of 5000, you show no sign of having read my posting.
|
Thus, the shouting by Lubomyr Prytulak regarding this mythical brain drain
and plundering of Ukraine is just that, a myth. |
I notice that you did not put forward a single statistic, or a single
quote. You think that all that is needed to win people to your point of
view is to consult your emotions and start talking. Next time, get some
facts before posting. Since having harrassed Dr. Knysh into unsubscribing,
your contribution to this list continues to be negative.
Lubomyr Prytulak