Rapid Progress in China and India

During our urgent economic crisis, it may be more difficult than usual to turn our attention away from immediate concerns to look at long-term trends outside the U.S. But here are two worth thinking about: The emphasis on education (including classical music education) in China and the progress brought about by economic liberalization in India. Comparisons with trends in the U.S. are worrisome.

The controversial Australian (I think) columnist Spengler, who writes for Asia Times, says, "Watch out, Americans - a generation from now, your kid is going to fetch coffee for a Chinese boss. That is a bit of an exaggeration, of course - some of the bosses will be Indian. Americans really, really don’t have a clue what is coming down the pike. The present shift in intellectual capital in favor of the East has no precedent in world history."

The main focus of this piece is the current emphasis on training in classical music in China, and its connection to the formation of a future intellectual elite: "It must be a conspiracy. Chinese parents are selling plasma-screen TVs to America, and saving their wages to buy their kids pianos - making American kids stupider and Chinese kids smarter." Spengler goes on to explain how studying classical music helps produce excellence in other fields. He hints at similar results from the study of classical languages (learning a contemporary foreign language helps, too). Read the whole thing, as they say.

Of course, economic liberalization made it possible for Chinese parents to give their kids piano lessons. Here is an interesting discussion of economic liberalization as it relates to the movie "Slumdog Millionaire", about a young orphan who is determined to become a millionaire. The video suggests that continuing economic liberalization in India could lead to many, many "Slumdog Thousandaires" with full stomachs.

Many of us would not think first of the protagonist of this movie as "greedy", although he seems quite interested in money. Here, Milton Friedman puts "Greed" in perspective on the old Phil Donahue show. Since that interview, further economic progress has been made in China and India due to economic liberalization in those countries.

As a general rule, I like to see some separation between those most interested in money and those most interested in political power. The best way I know of to limit the power of money in politics is to limit the scope of responsibility of individual politicians. When they start to diversify outside their "core business", trouble seems to follow sooner or later. I think our Founding Fathers, with their emphasis on separation of powers, were on the right track.

Jonah Goldberg is nostalgic for Phil Donahue's honorable treatment of guests with whom he disagreed. "I sort of grew up watching the Donahue show, and I will confess to often loathing him. But, truth be told, compared to most of the talk shows these days, the old Donahue show was the School of Athens."

Victor Davis Hanson knows something about the School of Athens. He taught Greek, Latin and ancient history to mostly minority students for twenty years while also operating a raisin farm. This interesting balance of life experiences seems to have given him an unusual outlook on life. He has some comments on educational decline in America. He especially points out the ability of a classical education to temper utopian thinking. The development of logic is also emphasized by such an education. Less utopian thinking and more logical thinking could probably help us navigate the future more successfully. The intellectual elite of our generation, many of whom have largely rejected the wisdom of the past, have certainly gotten America into an economic mess, with spill-over effects elsewhere in the world. Not that the intellectual elite in other countries have not contributed to the mess.

Now that most young Americans, including many college graduates, cannot follow a line of argument in a newspaper editorial, some of us may find ourselves going outside the standard educational system in America for a deeper education. But it may be a while before we can find a way to replace the influence of classical university education of the past, and its "trickle down" influence on primary and secondary education in the past.