The Failure of Western Education
Newsweek magazine had depth major propaganda of the irrational exuberant, where proclaim the greatness of the American University and how the Europe had fail with their educational system. And the China or India had long ways to go.
The question of triumphalism in any propaganda and the end result of American education, we need to see long of the educational system. The higher education has his roots in Socrates Academia and Aristotle's Lyceum, but before the Greeks taken any appropriation of higher knowledge (i.e. here means in the context of information), Herodotus in Histories mention his time in Egypt where the priest class keeper of the knowledge or Babylon or Persian had the priest class which in the west we use the 60 system to keep time.
India the concept of zero eventually introduce by Islam through Spain become part of the west and measure inventions from paper, magnetic compass to the beginning of chemistry had roots in Tao traditions of China.
When Christian Byzantium close doors to high learn of the Greeks Schools, themselves had produce the lessons to arrogance of Power overreaching themselves, where Athens describe by Thucydides when Athens taken itself in Syracuse, there power faulted in the name of imperial democracy of Athens and there failure of the understanding there own knowledge left Athens by itself and collapse of their own power.
Alexander, teacher Aristotle could not convey behind what his own limitation, knowledge is collective information in the particular time, with his death Alexander empire was broke down left only history to be the judge and Rome to be the imperial force.
Not to the time creation of the University of Paris for Theology and Bologna for Secular law, the reappearance of the Institutions of High Learning was due the fact population in the cities which had not existed since Rome time needed a Bureaucracies and out necessity the Sunday Schools where Church train the elite to maintain the structure describe by Augustine in the City of God, the university took place.
Cities needed well train Bureaucracy to deal with the complexity of the city. With the reformation the City of God do not exist anymore and well train city Bureaucracy become a priority. The discipline needed and by centralize control fit well with Authorities, but the centralization recreated the experience ones in Toledo Spain were Islam with Christianity and Judaism transfer their own knowledge and experiences. The significance of the system did not take place to industrial revolution, but Newton and Leibniz, where a result of the structure in Europe, even they where influence by the concentration of knowledge in one place, the collective knowledge of the time from all over the world plus the need of more knowledge create in the universities found the position they find themselves.
The Jesuits brought the knowledge to west from the east and the own experience Renaissance, but the cog who made revolution, was not just Newton or Leibniz, to the time knowledge was collective information of the west (Greeks and Rome) and Eats ( India and China), but the industrial revolution, England discover the artificial color, but because the raw materials use for the color was obtain in India, the empire did not need knowledge, were Germany had not the raw materials force the revolution for Organic Chemistry on the other had Germany reaction was extreme desire to recapture what was lost in the Medieval Order in the city God, given place to the Romantic movement, Hegel or Marx want this order, where is Rational God of Marx or Rational Christian God of Hegel, but abstraction was part of the Romantic Germany. England utilitarian took hold with the Scientific Method. Darwin was not accident was Utilitarian England base on observation and Mendel being influence by the abstraction of Romantic movement open studies to genetic.
The Physics revolution of the 19 century and 20 century took root in Europe, Lord Kelvin and Thompson Atoms models product of the British utilitarian Science, where Quantum and Relativity was continental Europe. Albert University took Place in Zürich escaping rigidity of Germany educational system, and Albert mathematical help was not just Germany, but Differential Geometry work in Italy. One reason the Europe despite the Nationalism and some case exceptionalism the Europe nationalism felt, there was opening across national boundaries.
But, the failure of the University Education in Europe was itself the superiority and exceptionalism created the nationalism, not since Medieval time, the idea of order by race or class, had not taken place.
Napoleon create the secular state and individual loyalty to the secular system. Napoleon open the doors to Jewish is citizens, were the loyalty was not more to Religion, but to the secular state. The ugly side create by the City of God took a new face in secular state, but exceptionalism from religion took place with Turkey genocide the Armenians and the high learned institutions Europe because their own inertia exceptionalism like in case Heidegger, where race was the consequence of of Romantic Germany, and the two wars Germany created from the exceptionalism, and failure of the rigid German system, the opening needed to question was suppressed in name of the City of God.
The exodus of Europe elite to escape racial war, benefit US, but US has there own tradition, the Universities born like the rest of Medieval European university to train Preachers, Harvard, Yale or Princeton, with exception of King College to train the Bureaucracy of colony or Philadelphia after American Revolution where Franklin Utilitarian view take root. From the knowledge innovation, Europe still had access to tradition, but America had Pragmatical approach as a Child of the British Utilitarian Pierce and Dewey. The intellectual tradition took place with the Education of Henry Adams, always looking into Europe.
The PhD. tradition many American when the German Universities where the Marriages between the Industry with High learning training create specialize knowledge American when to German System for the training. The University of Maryland created the research university of Germany in American soil, there was some native sciences being create Gibbs in Thermodynamics, but the Physics and Chemistry and eventually the Genetics revolution in Europe, but the WWII benefit with the influx Jews and many misfits leaving in the educational system, since openings is base to exchange of ideas, despite intellectual rigidity of the Romantic Ideology from the Left or Right.
In some sense the Soviet Union also benefit, more after the WWII. But failure of power has been overreaching, the entering of US into WWI by Wilson the President and come from being the president of Princeton University continue a tradition in the American System, the failure to deal with the slave question given inheritance conflict to the Civil War (the civil war was not by slaves, but the power of the central government to change versus the states want to maintain a elite, in this case the power of slave owners), and when opportunity after the civil war to resolve the the race /slave conflict was not took place, the segregation's laws took place, but after WWII the conflict took place not just in question imperial power in Vietnam and segregation with the Civil Rights.
Wilson, by entering WWI give validity to right of British Empire and Germany payments create room for the Racial Philosophy Of WWII. FDR lack of dealing the segregation question, closing the doors to Jews, with exception of the starts of educational elite and supporting the Saudi Family regarding the Oil Fields later on a price. The holocaust was know, but the prevail anti-Semitic behavior which existed to late 60's where Jews could be faculties in Ivy schools, but a quota for students. The Soviets pushing from east, where the camps where locate expose genocide, the guild help to create the State of Israel from the the American Side.
The blindness of Higher education, extending in the Bureaucracy of Government where many of educate ended to full fill function. why the educational system was created to full fill bureaucracy. The political class had the foreign policy Sandino in Nicaragua and the America support Somoza eventually create conflict in the 1970's and 1980's. In the1950's Guatemala and Iran overthrow of left Government bringing the Shah in the 1980's created Theocratic State of Iran.
In 1960's was not just Vietnam, but helping the Saudi family to hold there own land, eventually mistake by Reagan with Afghanistan Mujaheddin and eventually open radicalization of the Middle East, the failure was Casey the CIA director the time compare the Mujaheddin as US Southern Christian Church. In America the Protestant and Catholic has taken a ugly side of dehumanizing anyone who is not Christian with moral values, they themselves, whether is homosexuality or abortion (but they themselves find braking there own morality).
The failure of the higher educational system, because over specialization is ignorance not other languages besides English or cultural knowledge besides their own, so now in Iraq we have six only people speaking Arabic in the US Embassy in conflict dealing with the roots of civilization, which none is trained to deal because there is not exposure.