In short: India is producing more engineers, but not enough for panic. And when they studied education methods, they found that American schools were doing a good job.

NOW, if we could just get more students from U.S. high schools to enter those engineering programs …

I was born and raised in South Africa, a country in the “third world”. We had a sophisticated infratructure, thanks to having been annexed by a series of empires over the centuries, but there was widespread poverty and illiteracy, and many homes lacked the basics of running water and electricity. It was usually only the political situation in the country that ever saw us make headlines anywhere else in the world. Very few John and Jane Citizens abroad know where South Africa is, and many are unaware that Africa is not a single country (a la Australia). We harbour very few illusions about our significance in global politics and tut resignedly when our President makes statements to the effect that AIDS is not necessarily linked to HIV.

Moving to the UK, I found something of a culture shock. Illusions abound as to the significance of this country on the world scene. The empire lives on in many minds, and reference is often made to England having won both world wars, as if this feat were achieved single-handedly. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve heard that, “if it weren’t for us, you’d be speaking German now” (ri-ight, so I presume they’re speaking English in Berlin, then?).

Scathing reference is made to the ignorance of Americans regarding the outside world, while the same level of ignorance abounds here. It seems to me there is a danger, in a country that has been a world player, to live on a reputation well past its sell-by date. Could this be called “conquerors’ mentality”?

I worry that the US might be in danger of going the same way. At the moment, it still has a great deal of clout. However, its perception of its own significance seems far greater than the view of the rest of the world, if the clips in your Education 2056 (http://jeff.scofer.com/thinkingstick/?p=207) post are anything to go by. From what little I understand of these things, I get the impression that China, India, Japan and Korea are all set to knock it off its perch and the longer Americans retain conquerors’ mentality and ignore this fact, the easier it will be to achieve.

If we look back through history, eras have been dominated by different powers all down the line. Super-powers have come and gone. Every dominant power lasts for only a season. I think it might be a good idea to put contingency plans in place for life in an ex-super power.