Why is the rise and the decline of the USA so much like the rise and the decline of the Dutch Republic in the 1600s? The 1900s will probably always be remembered by historians as the American Century. But the 1600s was the Dutch Century. Both of these nations had their exceptional rises, their amazing zeniths, and then their declines. But historians have noticed that the details and particulars of both the rise and the decline phases are eerily similar. The symptoms of decline that we're experiencing right now--rising inequality, stagnant wages, polarization, elite infighting--are only "new" to us if we don't study history. But if we do study the trends, maybe learn more about the cycle we're stuck in.

This episode is about the rise of the sunnier more optimistic rising periods of both the Dutch and the American Century. The next episode will be about the darker phase: the decline.

Watch on Youtube for those who prefer visual aids to go with the audio.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2iR9d8XVuE

How can the same country that gave us the Renaissance also give us Fascism? Naturally, there are more than one explanation. Yet, if we look through the education lens, we can’t help but notice that Italy gave us the Renaissance when its north was the most educated region in all of Western Europe... BUT it gave us Fascism after centuries of educational stagnation made it into Europe’s worst education laggard. Is this just a coincidence? If not, it could have dire implications for our future as we continue to adhere to the 20th education system for the entire 21st century.

Check out the YouTube video here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlTBjsYuZWI

In this series, we're taking a big step back in order to look at education as a force in the big picture of humanity. We're investigating the stories of the civilizations that have spent time in the last 1,000 years as the most educated civilization on the planet--China, Italy, Netherlands, Great Britain, and the USA. They were the ones who pushed the education needle forward. 1,000 years ago, the most literate civilization on planet Earth was China. But the Chinese educated class then deliberately stagnated its education system for a very long time. Understanding China's ups and downs... and ups can help to shed some light on the powerful forces of educational expansion and educational stagnation in completely different times and places. This first episode can shed light on what's at stake when we consider how aggressive to be about our own educational progress.