USC in China: “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet”

Three-time Pulitzer Prize winning author and journalist, Thomas L. Friedman, gave the keynote address at last month’s University of Southern California (USC) Global Conference in Hong Kong. The sobering message delivered, which is detailed in his new book, “That Used To Be Us: How America Fell Behind in the World It Invented, and How We Come Back,” was that for all of the ingenuity of America in the 20th century, the 21st century is a new frontier that cannot be taken for granted by the world’s only superpower.

Similar to the way that America became the place of opportunity for impoverished and jobless Europeans at the beginning of the 20th century, Mr. Friedman proposes the idea that countries like China and India, with increasingly bustling economies, are positioning themselves to be places of opportunity in the 21st century. China’s educational successes and technological readiness have already improved the standard of living for millions of their own people, but now foreigners are expatriating to the Far East in search of jobs that they cannot find in their homeland. The comparison is supposed to remind Americans that “that used to be us.”

Delivering this message in front of USC Alumni from around the world highlights the importance of prioritizing education, that is if America wishes to keep its reputation as the most innovative and technologically advanced country in the world. Game-changing companies like Facebook, Twitter and Linked In were founded by Americans, and have connected us in ways that weren’t possible even just ten short years ago. The splash these companies have made has produced a wake that Mr. Friedman refers to as a “hyperconnected” world, and this seems to be where education is headed.

Mr. Friedman also talked about a “global arbitrage in education,” which is to say that the best of global education systems may be converging. The best parts of educational systems in Japan and China, for example, will find their way to America, just as parts of American education will find their way abroad. China has had a well-known reputation for the rigor in its educational system, which, in some instances, may benefit American curriculum. Similarly, the diversity, questioning and creativity of the American education system could help Chinese students. “They can both enrich each other, and the world would be a better place for it,” said the New York Times columnist.