The Industrial revolution, New Year musing

No one expects the Spanish inquisition, nor did they expect the industrial revolution.  England bloomed, and was the rich center of the world in 1851.  By 1890 they were in the crapper.

           I came to Japan in 1989, the top of the bubble, bookstore windows around the world advertised the Japanese Economic miracle.

           Try to find a book on Japanese principles of business management now.

           Japan’s economy has been in the toilet for the full 21 years I have lived here.

           Is there some connection to England’s ride with the industrial revolution?

           One similarity stands out to me, the education systems, Oxford, Cambridge, the classics.  The British were doing there best to teach Hebrew and Greek, while the Germans, the French, the Belgians, and the Americans were learning hydraulics, chemistry, and mechanics.

           Japan is still running the same cram school, pack as much wrote learning into their kids head to pass the same standard entrance to university they were running 30 years ago.  Meanwhile we are already deep into a new revolution.  Japan has done its best to keep its brightest minds behind.

           In our daily changing information age the two things that has been long banned from Japanese schools are creativity, and personal initiative. 

Have you ever visited a Japanese elementary school?  I have - Clean, well funded, bright shining teachers and students, all in a sit down and shut up situation.  Everyone is helped, encouraged to get the right answer.  But it is always the answer that is expected.  No one deviates from the path and survives.

           Have you ever visited an exhibition of Japanese elementary school art?  Every 3^rd grader’s work is the same.  Every 4^th grader’s work is the same.  It sends chills up your spine.

           I teach in University.  Even in art University the students are well trained to find out and do exactly what is expected.  Japan is the easiest place to teach in the world because the students are so well programmed out of questioning authority.

           On the bright side, as Mr. Leonard Cohen reminds us, it is from the cracks that the light come in.  What college did Bill Gates graduate from?  Steve Jobs?  Where did Thomas Edison attend university?  Or Sir Richard Arkwright, for that matter?  Most everyone knows the answers are none, none, none, and none.

           Japan has a thriving game culture. And manga have replaced the Japanese management books of a generation ago in bookstore windows.

           And right this holiday second, walking the back streets of Akihabara, between the maid cafes and used computer shops may yet be the drop out hope of Japan.