I've often wondered about the future of the United States given its low high school graduation rate, the educational establishment's
preference for social engineering to academic rigor, and, in general,
the average young person's greater interest in video games than in
things academic. Then comes along Spengler, a writer for Asian Times, with an interesting piece that contrasts China with the United States, and in the process extols the virtues of musicianship. [my emphases follow]
Thirty-six million Chinese
children study piano today, compared to only 6 million in the United States.
The numbers understate the difference, for musical study in China is more
demanding.
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. 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.
I find that last sentence pretty astonishing. Spengler goes on to say:
The world’s largest country is well along the way to forming an intellectual elite on a scale that the world has never seen, and against which nothing in today’s world - surely not the inbred products of the Ivy League puppy mills - can compete.
It's a fascinating article. I will content myself with just one more quote:
American musical education remains the best in the world, the legacy of the
European refugees who staffed the great conservatories, and the best Asian
musicians come to America to study. Thirty to 40% of students at the top
schools are Asian, and another 20 to 30% are Eastern European (or Israeli).
There are few Americans or Western Europeans among the best instrumentalists.
According to the head of one conservatory, Americans simply don't have the
discipline to practice eight hours a day.
Through reading this article I became introduced to China's most famous musician, the 26 year-old Lang Lang, the great Chinese pianist. A sampling of his virtuosity can be seen here. [Read more. . .]