In the 1980s and early '90s, Japan seemed poised to overtake the United States. I remember "Japan-bashing", and concern there was too much Japan-bashing. But by and large, there was the sense Japan deserved its success. Their education system was better, it was thought; their people worked harder; we Americans had been caught lazy and short of discipline. One remedy was karate class for your kids.
Whether any of that was true is almost irrelevant. Discipline is a virtue, and karate practice hasn't ruined too many children.
Today we face a similar situation with China, and there is plenty of China-bashing. But I see little concern about the China-bashing and no reflection on why China has been able to do so well.
Instead, we say China is evil. Their government isn't a "democracy", in whatever watery sense of the word. Our own government is supposedly led by a fascist who was elected by a minority of voters, but at least it's democratic. We're told human rights are violated on an industrial scale in China. The matter garners strangely little attention if true.
True or not, none of this helps. Granting it completely, we should ask: If China is so evil, how are they kicking our asses so well? Granting it not at all, we should at least ask the second part of that question. At a bare minimum I would expect a rabid, uninvited defense of anyone of remotely Chinese descent or appearance now living in America. Surely they are facing unspeakable discrimination!
I haven't heard this defense, and nobody's kids are taking Kung fu lessons. A few rich parents send their kids to learn Mandarin – not in hopes it will improve their character or intellect, but in hopes it will give them an advantage over other Americans in a future where Mandarin is the lingua franca!
In fact, if China ever rules the roost, they will do it in English. Their children are learning it a hundred times faster than ours are learning Chinese.
I've been to China. They're beating us for good reasons, none of which is "cheap labor". People on the street in Beijing are generally better-adjusted and more optimistic than their counterparts in Washington DC. You'd think we'd bother to ask why. Perhaps – it sounds crazy, but humor me – the reasons have less to do with China and more to do with America.