A Little Historical Perspective

To argue that technological superiority was the cause of America’s remarkable rise to preeminence would be like attributing Tiger Woods’ mastery of the golf world to his Nike clubs. The only thing more irrational would be to accept the fashionable fiction that with enough math and science we can maintain global leadership in the 21st century.

Anand Mahindra, Chairman and Managing Director of Mahindra—one of India’s great industrial combinations—recently made this point at a symposium at Harvard Business School. He argued that America’s significant scientific edge is a thing of the past, noting that India already has several schools of technology as good as any in the United States. He is right. That horse is out of the barn.

Mr. Mahindra—a great admirer of the United States—went on to point out that what made America great was not it’s technological edge but its historic attention to “the liberal arts.” He insisted that it is “America’s vision of humanity” that makes us a beacon for the rest of the world.

If we can adjust our minds to this reality, then Daniel J. Boorstin’s definition of education as “learning what you didn’t even know you didn’t know” will take on a whole new meaning. If we can for a moment think outside of the moment or see ourselves the way other nations see us, we will realize that a renewed study of philosophy, history, civics and humane letters represents our best path to cultural renewal and international leadership. We will gradually come to grasp that, after decades of calculated abandonment, the classics are the new frontier of useful knowledge.