We and the Great Britain
the world did not know an empire of strength, breadth and longevity as the british empire, which was the outcome of the european era of exploration of the world. those who discovered an island, a continent, an underdeveloped area, or a populationfree region, extended their influence by force of arms or by means of a trick or other. the spanish naval discoveries had a colonial start in the late fifteenth century. at the beginning of the 20th century, the population of britain was estimated to be around 460 million distributed over 33 million sq kms of land (britain is only 242,000 kms). britain’s population was barely over 30 million and did not increase much. although almost all of these countries are now independent, they still remain under their influence of the previous colonialists in terms of language, culture, laws and so on. britain’s victories over the spanish armada and its defeat of napoleon made it the world’s largest power in 1815, with its massive industrial development and the domination by its fleet of all seas, reaching 18 percent of the world’s output in 1870. it took a country the size of britain to prevent the trafficking of human beings, and the mid-nineteenth century saw the beginning of the abolition of slavery, which dated back thousands of years. britain’s distinctive status began to decline gradually in the 19th century, when other forces competed industrially, such as germany, france, and america. despite britain’s triumphant victories in world war i and the expansion of its colonies, the heavy cost of the war weakened its power and its ability to preserve its colonies, which began in 1923 — colonies such as ireland, canada, australia, egypt, iraq and others. by the end of world war ii, britain had become a weary entity, despite its victorious exit, after its major cities were destroyed, and its factories and fleets, and then its major colonies, such as india, were lost. this empire, which was more distinguished than any other in language, cultural, literary and legal influence, which gave humanity much, and was the lady of the seas for decades, and the great power for centuries, is still among the most powerful and influential countries in the world. those who are concerned about education in britain discovered that china, which once was one of its colonies, outperformed all the world’s students in math tests, and that britain should translate and reprint chinese books of mathematics as they are, with minor changes in the currency, for example, from the chinese renminbi to the english pound and start teaching them in their schools. several schools in the west have already followed the same methods of teaching mathematics in singapore schools, similar to shanghai chinese schools. now that great britain, with all its human heritage, history, strength, pride, and industrial, linguistic and commercial weight, has not hesitated to acknowledge the failure of its educational system. it is we who reject learning from others and the use of their expertise although our hospitals are in shambles. why do we not get rid of this node and acknowledge our failure, as great britain acknowledged its ‘great’ failure? a question we ask the council of ministers, which dominates all our capabilities, so that we can find an answer, but it may never come.
e-mail:
