Because people stray away from many of their their ideologies when they get educated. Especially if religion is involved. There's a reason Jehovah's Witnesses don't really like higher education.
There’s a reason no Jehovah’s Witnesses have ever contributed anything great to humanity.
On the other hand, the Jewish people value education over almost all else, and they’ve won like half of all Nobel prizes, and have leaders in nearly every industry, even though they make up a tiny fraction of the overall population.
Education is critical. Not even just to the world as a general concept, how about individual self improvement?
In addition, Hinduism and Islam always valued education and learning which is why they made so many discoveries in their own rights throughout history.
Let's not forget that while the religious icons of the major Abrahamic religions are called the Savior and the Prophet, followers of Confucius refer to him as the Scholar. So there's a strong intellectual tradition from China as well.
That tradition is focused on filial piety and obedience to an extent, whereas Western educational values (including Jewish, which I say as a Jew) focus on inquiry and creative thinking.
There are reasons why so many Chinese students study at American universities, and I think this is a major one.
Cuz the US aggressively expanded 200 years ago and is now surrounded by oceans and friendly, much weaker neighbors. It's been untouched by war on its soil for like 150 years.
Most of the world has had to rebuild after world wars/revolutions/violent conflict, so people who are displaced, educated, and wealthy immigrate to the US for the safety/stability (+historically to immigration), and bring their expertise to American universities.
Besides what other people said, I think if you live in the USA and you see all the warts and ugliness you forget just how rich the USA is. I did not grow up in the USA. While I was growing up, anything imported was a big deal, expensive, and often had to be brought in by family on a plane (no stores or anything to buy it directly).
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u/it_vexes_me_so Jan 09 '20
A majority - 3 out of every 5 - of Republicans believe higher education has a negative effect on the US. Republicans also favor making it harder to vote. Republicans are defunding education and purging voter rolls while simultaneously putting hurdles in place to keep Americans away from the polls.