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If they work at low skill set jobs, yes it can. But we're a 1st world nation, which means we should be past the menial jobs we once held when we were mainly an uneducated nation.
I don't necessarily disagree with your premise, I do think it isn't as bad as you make it out to be.
For two plus decades following the WWII, USA was unrivaled. No competition. With the arrival of Germans and Japanese things changed, and are changing once again as China, India and others are coming into the mix. USA's "business model" has to change as well. It is no different than a big conglomerate adapting to new market conditions brought on by cheaper, more nimble competition.
The fact of the matter is that USA was the only country in which uneducated, unskilled workforce was able to have a comfortable lifestyle. That didn't happen because we were/are somehow "exceptional", rather it happened due to structural market advantages that are eroding. We just have to adapt.
We have never had an "uneducated, unskilled workforce". Where are you getting your information? American education has been exceptional until recently. Literacy has been exceptional. The capabilities of America's manufacturing workforce were unrivalled and we had the world's most productive workforce and most efficient manufacturers.
If they work at low skill set jobs, yes it can. But we're a 1st world nation, which means we should be past the menial jobs we once held when we were mainly an uneducated nation.
Nations do not really ever "get past" menial jobs. Those jobs will always be there. Someone needs to clean up - sweeping floors, wiping butts, washing cars. Someone needs to labor with their hands and their backs, building things, fixing things, picking crops, fixing broken pipes and mowing the lawn. People will alway need other people to provide "services" to them.
Those things don't go away just because a society is "first world". In fact, one measure of national progress is how many people can purchase services rather than only provide them. But it doesn't mean providing services will ever go away, or that nobody will need menial services provided.
But, I think what you mean by menial is actually as an euphemism for the transition from an agrarian economy to an advanced, diversified economy. This of course was due to technological innovation and the industrialization that it enabled, along with of course, the settlement of the land. Labor saving inventions made it possible for more Americans to get off the farm and out of the dirt and into higher value businesses. Today, we have a huge "information economy" that we are not doing enough to protect.
Really? On what basis do you give your opinion? I lived and worked in China. My wife is Chinese.
Do you know about communism? Have you heard of Chairman Mao? Did you know he was responsible for the killing of many teachers and destruction of wisdom literature and educational institutions when he came to power? He feared creative knowledge, because he couldn't control people that way.
I live and work around Chinese every day. If I began to tell you about how their society worked, you would be saddened and disgusted. Example: it is okay to openly discriminate against homosexuality and different races, but mostly blacks. It is quite normally accepted there. I heard it all the time. "...at least she didn't marry a black man".
Have you been to Beijing? It's supposed to be their "capital" city. Did you know that disabled people are considered outcasts, and not even in this huge city do they have accessibility for wheelchairs.
Honestly (no offense to individual Chinese people, some of whom are very sweet and good people) I despise the Chinese government and their society. It's very dog eat dog and uncaring, and while Communism tried to stop a lot of that, it ended up being corrupted because of the nasty culture it was embedded in. I'm sick of the China praising lately. But then again America praised Hitler in the 30s too.
There is no reason the USA cannot become the top economic power in the world once again. But we need smart people running things.
The US is still the top power... you just want no competition. Your idea is to be a the big fish in a small pond, well the small pond is dried up, stay there and die off, or learn to swim with fish your own size then figure out how to get bigger
The answer is no creativity. They don't teach it in Chinese schools, why? When you're just trying to struggle to survive, creativity, which largely includes the arts, has very little feasibility in a society. Remember in Western culture when things like operas, poems, and paintings were popular? That's when those countries were doing generally well economically. During struggles, however, it is only the practical that feeds people.
They don't teach it in ANY schools. Creativity can't be taught. You either think creatively, or you don't. Most don't, but the Chinese have as much creativity as anybody else. It has nothing to do with teaching art, opera, poetry, or anything else. Some of the greatest poets in history have been Chinese. Creativity is what builds bridges, finds cures for diseases, and invents new ways to use technology.
They don't teach it in ANY schools. Creativity can't be taught. You either think creatively, or you don't. Most don't, but the Chinese have as much creativity as anybody else. It has nothing to do with teaching art, opera, poetry, or anything else. Some of the greatest poets in history have been Chinese. Creativity is what builds bridges, finds cures for diseases, and invents new ways to use technology.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nor'Eastah
Now, THAT part, you got right!
Now THIS part, you got wrong.
Asking a student to formulate a question on his/her own is encouraging creativity. It doesn't happen in China. Questions pertaining to academic material is highly discouraged. They learn merely by recitation and repetition. The concept of recess is absent from grade school onward, and we know how important playtime is for fostering imagination. You cannot say that such practices don't have adverse effects on a child's creative development.
Whether creativity can be taught or not is out of the question if the environment is not conducive to nurturing its development (especially at an early age).
Last edited by DonJuanQuixote; 05-01-2015 at 10:33 AM..
Asking a student to formulate a question on his/her own is encouraging creativity. It doesn't happen in China. Questions pertaining to academic material is highly discouraged. They learn merely by recitation and repetition.
Having spent time in China I can attest to this as well. They are taught to memorize massive amounts of information and spit it out but not taught to really think outside the box as much as we are in the US. Not just China, but many other countries in the same part of the world.
And considering their history and what it takes to succeed, I am not surprised at all.
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