> our industry and government focus on filling those classrooms with Americans and hiring Americans first

While there might be some consumer preference to a "we hire americans" and "made in america", I think that typically loses to things like price and quality, and if a business is seeking maximum profit, they're not going to limit themselves when it comes to hiring

I guess the tragedy as mentioned in this article is that universities are businesses and international students are more profitable

Agreed. The H1B push seems to be solving a short term problem while leaving our domestic educational problems unaddressed.

America already has many of the best Universities in the world.

From looking at international rankings it looks like the domestic educational problems are more in the middle and high-school level. The Universities are doing great.

Professors across the country (three West coast, two east coast, one sw) have told me that undergrad is going to shit actually, but grad school is still ok for now.

Shitty high-school means unprepared undergrad students, which means comparatively better foreign students.

More honest professors admit that it's universities that are really dropping the ball.

Do they blame the professors or the administration?

If it's the professors all hope is lost, since future professors will be taught by the people who are currently dropping the ball.

And yet, more and more of the students at the top schools are international. The non-top schools are failing to provide students with competitive schools, but are still driving students into debt.

We may have quality teaching, but we are not educating ourselves.

Maybe international students are at the top because you guys have terrible high-schools.

It's also possible that the reason the top Universities are at the top is that the top foreign students want to go there. That means giving Americans more preferential treatment may "break the spell" so to speak.

No argument here—high schools are part of the problem. Even more of a reason to invest there now rather than over seas.

Yes, it's a money thing. If you can't make the company more money than what they pay you but the other guy can (because they are more competent or because they ask for less money) then why should you be hired over the other guy?

Because we fund our government not to make our living conditions worse and more competitive but safer and more fruitful. Why should we fund infrastructure, a giant military, politicians if we are not to reap the benefits as a citizen of a solid nation to live in?

Now while I believe we live in a global economy, and everyone deserves to work, eat and have healthcare I can fully appreciate why people are upset at the government for assisting these programs to grow.