A foreign knowledge desert requires cultural irrigation

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Brian Randell <Brian.Randell () ncl ac uk>
Date: May 4, 2006 4:08:25 PM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: A foreign knowledge desert requires cultural irrigation

Dave:

There's a nice constructive article in today's (UK) Guardian about  
Americans' lack of knowledge of the world outside the USA by Sir Max  
Hastings, the author and former editor of the (London) Evening  
Standard, which you might want for IP.

Cheers

Brian

> A foreign knowledge desert requires cultural irrigation
>
> Unless we teach Americans more about us, we'll continue to be  
> dismayed by the thrust of their foreign policies
>
> Max Hastings
> Thursday May 4, 2006
> The Guardian
>
> A couple of weeks ago I met a bright young Senate staffer on  
> Capitol Hill in Washington. Like most such people, he possesses a  
> lot of influence and significant power. He has at his fingertips  
> details of every planet in his universe - names, wards, counties,  
> votes, biographies, vices.
>
> His only limitation is an absolute ignorance of the world outside  
> the US. He had visited London with his wife on a European  
> sightseeing trip. He once attended a conference in Asia. His self- 
> assurance and fluency are undiminished by knowing nothing of the  
> foreign issues on which his employer speaks and votes in the  
> Senate. He is content with mastery of his own, all-American sphere,  
> and has no desire to burden his agenda with the arcane affairs of  
> Britons or Germans, or even of Afghans or Iraqis.
>
> Article continues
> His mindset is characteristic of many smart young Americans, and  
> matters a lot to the rest of us. Our destinies are at the mercy of  
> the US, and will continue to be. The passing of the generation that  
> found itself obliged to voyage overseas in the second world war has  
> had perverse consequences. Though 21st-century Americans can travel  
> much more easily and cheaply than did their grandparents, their  
> horizons are narrower. As mere tourists, few of us learn much about  
> any society.
>
> The foreign knowledge desert will not water itself. Few Americans,  
> even clever and ambitious ones, feel a need to inform themselves  
> about abroad. Only a policy of cultural irrigation, which will have  
> to start with us and not them, offers a chance of helping the next  
> generation of US powerbrokers to know a little more about the  
> outside world than does the present one.
>
> Because we are Europeans, we can aspire only to enlighten others  
> about our own patch, but that would be a start.

. . .

Full story at:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1766834,00.html


--
School of Computing Science, University of Newcastle, Newcastle upon  
Tyne,
NE1 7RU, UK
EMAIL = Brian.Randell () ncl ac uk   PHONE = +44 191 222 7923
FAX = +44 191 222 8232  URL = http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/~brian.randell/



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