The Trouble With Irshad Manji Bina,

Thanks for a great article, forgot to mention that in my previous post.

In Condom Country Farzana,

We don`t think that deep, a condom is just that, a condom. Atleast I don`t think of it as an enemy that prohibits me from sowing my seed in unexplored fields, I just think of it as something that helps me get laid.

Regards,
Irfan.

City Connection The fun of living in the north is that you can get the chassis of a 70s Mark II (amazingly impressive vehicle), have it fitted with a Toyota B2 engine (the one they have in the flying coaches) and go to Peshawar and buy a 2 stage turbocharger for Rs. 6,000; and you have the meanest machine on the road. You could beat the pants off of a Civic 1.8L on Constitution Avenue in Islamabad.

And all this will cost you around 100K rupees, not a bad deal at all.

Regards,
Irfan.

Use of the Internet by Terrorists Salman Siddiqui,

Please gain some perspective. If you can`t gain it, atleast buy it or rent it. Iraq (and by Iraq I mean the people of the country) has been crushed under 14 years of economic, trade and humanitarian sanctions, and now war. Estimates of children dying during the 10 years after Gulf War I due to malnutrition and unavailability of medicines are anywhere from 400,000 to 1 million. Even so, before the `surgical liberation` of Iraq by the `coalition of the willing`, how many innocent western civilians were beheaded in public by Iraqi insurgents?

While I wish people like Nick Burg hadn`t died, you need to realize a couple of things:

1- He chose to go into an active war zone, no matter what US Army spokespeople say, anyone with half a brain can see that it`s still an active war zone
2- He was there to make a quick buck (as are ALL civilian contractors in Iraq), if someone says he`s there to help the people of Iraq, you can disregard it as bullcrap. We ALL know the motive of an American truck driver working for Halliburton in Iraq at $120,000 a year

I just have one thing to say, you will have a complete right of strongly condemning these insurgents` actions barbaric and uncalled for when:

1- Your own country is occupied (or liberated depending on your mindset)
2- You have undergone sanctions and economic hardship for more than a decade
3- You have seen near and dear ones killed or maimed in `surgical strikes` or as `collateral damage` in urban warfare

If, my dear indignant Mr. Siddiqui, you meet these 3 conditions and STILL hold the same point of view, THEN you can condemn these brutal slaughters.

Regards,
Irfan.

PS: Might I suggest a little less FoxNews and a little more critical and original thinking?

Science versus Non-Science Gill sahab,

Your first line says ``Scientific truths do not attain the status of truths until they have empirical support.``, however some things in sciences can be `proven` as truths without having any empirical evidence for them whatsoever. I think you are taking science to mean only the physical sciences. Also Einstein was awarded the Nobel prize for the discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect, not for his work on specific heats.

Regards,
Irfan.

Train to Pakistan 2004: La, Hore? Romair,

The most literate city of Punjab, and also of Pakistan, is Wah Cantt, with a literacy rate of around 90%.

Regards,
Irfan.

When I-Day turns into D-Day Mehreen,

Well-said.

An Open Letter to Jemima Khan F. Versey #87:

``People make events happen, people put ideas to work, people can work in silence only when they are meditating...people need to be heard.``

You`re right. You convinced me. From now on I will stand by the point-of-view that sensationalist gossip about other peoples` personal lives really IS the best application of one`s mental faculties and time.

Regards,
Irfan.

An Open Letter to Jemima Khan Small minds discuss people
Average minds discuss events
Great minds discuss ideas
The greatest mind works in silence

The French Engineering Education System Aman,

Yes I looked it up. I think maybe I have an explanation for this. Like you know, the best here go for diplome d`ingenieur, and a few really motivated ones go into the research side. So I guess engineering research suffers from a lack of quantity/quality. Something to think about.

Irfan.

PS: Any plans to visit Paris?

Atiqa Odho Anis,

Don`t you think you are getting a tad carried away here? I mean ok so she`s good-looking, ok she can act reasonably well. But why the mountains of praise? A little balance is in order I suppose. Also, looking at the picture there`s certainly one detracting thing I can say, the lady has definitely not learned to act her age. It`s all fine and dandy saying ``You`re only as old as you feel``, but on the other hand, having a 45 year old woman wearing pigtails and prancing about in sneakers is not a very becoming sight (just an example, am in no way insinuating that Ms. Odho has ever done this).

Irfan.

The French Engineering Education System Romair,
Although I don`t want to bring it to this, but here goes. First off, the Nobel prize is given for achievement in the sciences (physics, chemistry, medicine), literature, peace and economics. Engineering does not figure into this anywhere. Furthermore, like I wrote in the article, the best students go to engineering schools, hence study engineering. There are only a couple of generaliste engineering schools who have a specialization in physics or chemistry. Compare this with the amount of physics/chem students in the US and then make an adjustment when calculating (the question has never been one of quantity, but of quality). Most of the physics students here in France are studying in universities (which as I said are non-competitive). Take the average percentile GRE score of US physics students with percentile positions of the French physics students and you will probably find that that the US students are better, which is understandable since the cream of the crop here goes to study engineering, plus they don`t pass through the intensive preparation formation which are only available to grandes ecoles applicants.

As far as math is concerned that is another story, like I said in the article the French are renowned mathematicians. The Fields medal is like the Nobel prize of mathematics. Awarded every four years, the numbers are as follows between 1936 (when it was started) and 1994:

America: 10
France: 6
UK: 4
Others: 18
*

Now take into account that France`s population is about 20% that of the US and about the same as the UK. I rest my case.

Regards,
Irfan.

* taken from http://www-gap.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Societies/FieldsMedal.html

PS: Mind giving a reference to the Nobel prize stats?

The French Engineering Education System Bongdongs,
Internships (stage) are a very important part of the learning process in French education and are not taken lightly. Students are required to undertake a 6 month internship to validate their engineering degrees, during this they are paid quite adequately and they have pre-determined targets to achieve to validate the internship and thus their diploma. I have never heard of the CSNE.

OK, as far as classification of French engineering schools are concerned, names don`t really matter too much. A school can be an ``ecole nationale superieure``, an ``ecole superieure``, an ``ecole normale`` or some other designation (``ecole centrale`` for example, or even an ``institut nationale``). They are all regulated by various ministries and fall under the purview of the CGE (Conference des Grandes Ecoles). The most elite school is the Ecole Polytechnique (also called X), followed closely by Ecole Normale Superieure Paris, Ecole des Mines de Paris and Ecole Centrale de Paris. These are all ``generalist`` schools, meaning their students have courses in everything from economy to thermodynamics to signal processing. They are destined for careers in policy and enterprise management. Another type of schools is Supelec (Ecole Superieure d`Electricite) or ENST (a telecom school). These are specialist schools where students are given concentrated education centered around a specialized discipline, these students are destined to take up careers in R&D.

Universities are a completely separate and parallel higher education track. Universities are not allowed to give engineering degrees, but they do carry out engineering research and education at the doctoral level. The major difference between universities and engineering schools is that universities are not selective in admission whereas engineering schools are very much so.

Romair,
Computer sciences and computer engineering are considered the same discipline in France and it is called informatique. Students are usually given quite rigorous instruction in the 3rd and 4th years in both aspects, and they can choose a specialist track in their 5th year. In the US, computer science and math is never classified in liberal arts, always sciences or engineering (in the case of computer sciences). In the US it would depend on the universitie`s own policy or direction. MIT groups together electrical engineering and CS in one department (EECS) yet GeorgiaTech has a seperate College of Computing. And in the end it does not matter whether your specialization is in hardware or software your PhD ends up taking a minimum of 8 years after high-school.

Yes it`s true that the US has a large number of universities which means they have a large amount of research. But I would argue that that does not mean their research quality far outstrips that of Europe. It would be an injustice to compare the amount of research output of France or Germany alone to the US, so you should compare the whole of Europe to the US (same population roughly).

If you were to compare pure software products then the major horsepower for the open-source movement (in particular the Linux kernel) comes from Europe.

Charlie,
I didn`t want to further confuse the readers with the intricacies of the French system. So I just chose one aspect that I have seen from the inside. But of course the issue is there of the whole spectrum of DEA/DESS/Mastere Specialise and the new LMD system. But the grandes ecoles are not to keen on the name change because they have to give up the prestigious diplome d`ingenieur label.

Regards,
Irfan.

The French Engineering Education System Freethinker,
Yes it`s true, in our country a PhD is considered to be an end in and of itself. Whereas in reality it should be used as a point-of-departure for a life in research, as it gives you a visa to join that select group.

Malik99,
Yes it is true that Germans are very famous for engineering. They are renowned for their efficiency and work ethic. But my point was, and still is, that the French are not far behind, in fact in some areas they are world leaders (telecommunications for example).

It is true that more and more Pakistani students are heading for France (in Europe as well). Last year we were 51 students who came here, this year I am hearing that there are close to 100. Your question of US versus French education I will address in the next
section.

As far as the question of industry to absorb graduates that is a catch-22 situation. It might be said that we need a steady outflux of quality engineers to uplift the industry. Therefore, I don`t think that we should deprioritize education because there is no absorption
capability.

France does have very strong unions and labor strike problems, but they tend to affect production and service industries and not high-tech because that is an intellect driven enterprise rather than manpower driven.

Romair,
Multiple issues. Starting from the top. A PhD in France takes a minimum of 8 years after high-school, no way to go around it. I have spent over a year here, and am currently in a PhD program, so this is first-hand information. Apart from that, what they told you about getting into a university straight after high-school is correct. But keep in mind that in France, universities are not authorized to give an engineering degree, that can only be done by the elite ``grandes ecoles`` of engineering studies. The fact that those people told you they were from universities means that they did, in fact, not attend engineering schools (which was the point of my whole article anyway). In France there is no concept of a bachelor`s degree in engineering, the only degree you can get is a diplome d`ingenieur which entails 5 years of studies after high-school, follow it up with a PhD that takes a minimum of 3 years and you have the resulting 8.

Yes, in IT, France is lagging behind the US, far behind. But, the good thing is, they have recognized this, and are actively pursuing it. With their vast educational resources, they will be able to carve out a niche for themselves. In fact, in some fields of computer sciences/engineering France is quite advanced (real-time systems is one area that comes to mind). Also, I believe we in Pakistan have to get off the IT bandwagon because it is old news. We need research in every area, be it engineering, applied sciences, pure sciences or social sciences, otherwise we will go nowhere.

Now coming to the US vs French education comparison. Again the issue has many levels. If you want to look at basic education, I believe the US is more messed up than any other first-world country. Their schools and their education system is absolutely a mess. Europe is far better in that respect. It is really easy to gauge the quality of basic education of a country; just have a 2 minute conversation with an average person in the street. In that respect I have had interaction with Europeans, and with Americans, I have found Europeans to be much more cultured, aware and sensible.

Higher education is a different ball-game. I will be the first to admit that MIT, Caltech, Stanford, CMU, Berkeley etc. are by far THE best universities in the world. But then you have an entire gamut of universities that are by turns, good, average, below average, and just plain aweful. I have had exchange students from America as classmates, even from some very good universities, they were always good, never at the top. I believe that after the top-20 ranked universities in the US, things go south, and they go south FAST. A simple example, every year about 120,000 students give the competitive exams to enter engineering schools, the top 400 go to the most prestigious one, Ecole Polytechnique, that`s a selectivity rate of 0.33%. So you can guess what the quality of those students will be. Also consider that most engineering schools have a student/teacher ration of 10/1. All this for 70 euros a year, I would say it`s an amazing deal. Which is why I gave up a position at a major US university to come study here.

Regards,
Irfan.

Open Letter to Prime Minister Jamali Nazarhayatkhan #33,

I wholeheartedly disagree. The minister of S&T has to be able to make decisions. It is not upto his staff to make decisions for him, their job is to provide him with options, the ultimate choices should be his. If he does not know anything about S&T then he is like an 18 year old boy on an island full of lesbians; useless and frustrated. I don`t support this only for the S&T ministry, I believe the law minister should be a brilliant lawyer or former judge, the foreign minister should be a career diplomat, the finance minister should be an acclaimed economist (Shaukat Aziz is a case in point, it`s the same Pakistan, it`s the same bureaucrats under him, why is Pakistan performing better economically under him?) etc.

For example, under Dr. Ata-ur-Rahman (a renowned researcher in chemistry), the government launched highly aggressive measures to train and attract research manpower. If all goes according to plan, Pakistan should be able to feel the difference in the next 5 years, hopefully our research output will start to increase. Put a BA pass pimply-faced kid incharge of the ministry of S&T, who doesn`t know shit from swiss cheese, and you have the recipe for disaster par excellence.

Why you chose to draw parallels with Laloo`s knowledge of railways is simply beyond me. You make two very thin assumptions when you advance that argument:
1) India can do no wrong (or at the very least, its political system can`t)
2) Laloo is beneficial to the Indian railways as its helmsman

Also you claim, rather grandiosely and with no substantiating arguments, that a minister has to be politician and not ``a diploma or degree holder in his field``. I would certainly love to hear your supporting arguments in this favor.

Irfan.

PS: If you are going to use a system as a baseline, why not try the US instead of India, although I`m sure many people would disagree, but on the whole I feel justified in saying that the US is-for the moment-doing better than India. All secretaries in the US Administrations are usually highly educated and regarded professionals in their fields (politician or not doesn`t really matter).

Lesbians vs. Gays vs. Hinduism vs. Modernity? Call me bigoted, call me old-fashioned, call me narrow-minded but I just can`t stand the sight of two guys kissing each other. I recently had the occasion to see two guys making out during a party and I must say it turned my stomach, I mean it literally had a physical effect on me, I though I was going to be sick. So I don`t give a rat`s ass about being politically correct or otherwise. I do NOT want to see that again.

Irfan.