[grey_whiskers]

Not really -- both the countries had thriving "industries" -- they manufactured textiles (silks from China, cotton from India), intricate jewellery and also had farms that supplied the world with spices etc.

Sorry, poor writing on my part. I was thinking modern industry, i.e. mechanization.

These two were also at the forefront of education, then they stagnated for various reasons. The US should NOT allow the same to happen to itself.

We need to reinstate compulsory Latin and plane geometry classes like the Brits used to teach. That's how they took over the world.

Cheers!

[Cronos]

Latin with it's strict structural form does help with understanding math and logic, while plane geometry SHOULD be re-implemented. Also, American schools are making things too simple for kids -- while Japanese kids learn Algebra at 10 and calculus at 14, what happens in public schools?

Also, the idea of not failing kids is silly -- if kids can't grasp deeper studies, the thing is not to make it simpler for the lowest common denominator, but to allow the kids who can't do math to do other things in life.

Perhaps the kid who flunks a year realises that college isn't for him and looks to becoming a master underwater welder or something -- if he didn't flunk, he would have just become a depressed loser in life.

[Cronos]

hello again after 3 years :)

to my comment These two were also at the forefront of education, then they stagnated for various reasons. The US should NOT allow the same to happen to itself. -- let me add this, they stagnated as they created a fixed class system where intellectuals remained intellectuals and didn't interact and also where people stated that "the best is already reached, we can't improve on that"

I don't see the US falling into that ditch, but into another ditch -- we mock smart people. "Big bang theory" is an exception, but in every other show watched by kids and young adults, to be smart is to be a loser.

The anti-intellectualism has hit the black community the most, but is also hitting the rest of America.

and, sorry to say, but this election showed that -- both candidates had to simplify their stands