American Educational Imperialism
The source of non-American inferiority complex.
Greetings readers,
I’ve thought about this topic a while ago. But for some reason or another, I’ve been putting off writing this particular blogpost for quite some time1. No more!
Anyways…
It’s no secret that the United States is the ruling empire of the world2. It’s pretty much a cliche at this point to compare America to the Roman Empire, but those comparisons are made for a reason. I’m not here to talk about the Roman Empire though, fun as it may be.
Instead, I want to talk about what I like to call the ‘Non-American Inferiority Complex’. This is something that I myself used to feel very acutely. In my opinion, the primary cause of this phenomenon is the educational system.
The YouTuber and blogger Ourospost briefly touched upon this in one of his streams:
If you don’t want to watch the video, here’s the transcript of the relevant quote:
Everybody wants to be like the West. Everybody wants to be like America. So third-world countries… the schooled-class, the people who actually have the ability to go to college or go to grade school … they are more like their international friends than they are like their own native people … A Mexican person who’s able to go to school-go to college- they’re more like an American than their own native people. Ultimately.
I could not say it better myself. In fact, this quote basically described my own life. As someone who went to school3 and college in the United States, I ended up becoming more like an American than an Indonesian.
In the video, Ouros went on to say that school became the mechanism in which these nations became insecure about themselves. I can’t speak for other countries, but I’ve been told by my dad that a degree from an American university is worth more than one from an Indonesian institution4. I trust his judgement on this due to his experience as someone who had received graduate degrees from the US and made use of it in Indonesia.
Now I know what some people might say: “Mike, it’s because American institutions of learning are better than the ones from Indonesia, or any third-world country.” Perhaps. But I won’t bother getting into this contention because it’s irrelevant. The point is that developing countries like Indonesia unconsciously see the West (or America) as the gold standard of what they want their country to be like. Perhaps the man on the street may feel differently, but the educated class, many of whom went to university in the West5 certainly have this mindset by default6.
So what am I saying? That the West is bad/ruining Indonesia, if not the world? Well….
No, that’s not what I’m saying. Honest! What I’m saying is that people in less developed countries like Indonesia need to be cognizant about their aspirations for their country. I get it. I’ve lived in both Indonesia and America. Seeing the dirtiness and general chaos of Indonesia, especially Jakarta, then seeing how everything is competently run7 in the United States8 is enough to make one want Indonesia to be just like America.
But this is folly. After all, the grass is greener on the other side.
More importantly, the educated class of these countries need to do some soul searching and ask themselves these questions:
Do you really want your country to be just like the West? What about their rivals like China or Russia? Do you want your country to be like them instead? If so, why? If not, why not? What about some sort of third position? Honestly, did that ever enter your mind? Is it really necessary for your nation to ‘be like the cool kids’?
Whatever one’s ideals are for his country, it shouldn’t be adopted for half-baked reasons.
Until next time,
Michael P. Marpaung
For a few months, actually.
At least for now.
Middle school, sure. But I also went to an International School in Jakarta which seemed to have served the same purpose.
Assuming these degrees are equivalent.
Whether it be the US or Canada or Europe or Australia.
I can say this with confidence because I’ve seen enough of it for myself.
For the most part.
Or whatever Western country one can think of.
I'd say the biggest problem is that America is no longer the America that became great. There are elements of American culture that are worthy of emulation. Other elements are simply various forms of decadence and degeneracy.