On brain-drain:
No one can deny that there is brain-drain from Iran. To what extent, no
one really knows. There are no statistics available, and numbers that get
thrown out there usually tell more about one's political inclinations than
reality.
Certainly, jobs are scarce. Good jobs appealing to the more inquisitive
minds even more so. On top of that, you have the interference of politics
in people's everyday lives (including jobs) that drives many away. However,
it would be both naive and unreasonable to assume that the majorty of
top-notch graduates leave Iran. Some are unwilling, and others simply
unable to do so for various reasons. Jobs may be scarce, but still available.
I work with one Sharif graduate and another from Amir Kabir. Both worked
in Iran before coming here, and made close to a million there which is pretty
decent living in Iran in financial terms. Both tell me there are enough jobs
available at decent pay in Iran, particularly for the better graduates. I
myself went to Sharif. I left. Many in my class stayed, and are working in
Iran in various capacities. I have friends who left US for Iran, work there,
and make as good a living there (again in financial terms) as they did here
(not in dollar terms, but in terms of standard of living).
So why wouldn't it possible for Iran to develope a decent nationwide
fiber-optics network? No matter what numbers you come up with for
that "brain-drain", there are certainly enough brains still left in Iran to
do this. Projects do not finish on time? Well, that's a shocker!! In over
20 years of working in a competetive market in US, I am yet to work on
a single project that finished on time. So it may be even worse in Iran.
Maybe this work was supposed to complete five years ago and it's five
years late, but now it's done. I don't understand why this is so difficult
to digest!! I don't doubt that there is terrible mismanagement and lack
of organization in Iran. At the same time, life has not come to a full stop
either. Things are still getting done, however mismanaged, slowly, or
painfully. If anything, those who managed to finish a project like this
despite all the hardships, mismanagements, lack of organization, and
being told what to do by those unqualified, deserve a lot of praise.
Let's give credit where credit is due.
On "Sahmieh":
It seems very hard to swallow at first glance, but this is hardly limited
to the Islamic Republic. In US, they don't call it "sahmieh". Instead, it
is called "affirmative action". The concept is to give a chance to the
"underprivileged". Granted! Doing so takes away the chance that someone
more deserving should get, but the purpose is for the society to pay
something back to those it feels it owes something to. Here in US, too,
the veterans of armed forces enjoy certain privileges not available to
the public at large. So that concept is not an Iranian invention by any
means either.
