The New Dark Age

Wednesday, 12 November 2025 — karlof1’s Geopolitical Gymnasium

Productive planning versus casino capitalism

One of Trump’s first acts as president was to terminate the US Department of Education further emaciating public education nationwide, an institution that was once one of the world’s best and at a time when intellectual challenges are on the rise in competition with the Global Majority, China and Russia specifically. In the critical STEM educational realm, US students are falling farther behind as critical science programs are cut or greatly curtailed at public schools as funding decreases along with the number of qualified teachers. Clearly there’s a vast disconnect as higher tech is one of the few economically productive industries remaining within the Empire, yet there aren’t enough technically skilled workers to employ or perform research and development. Yet, the Deep State screams about the need to confront and compete with China and Russia, both of whom are boosting their educational systems at all levels with great emphasis placed on the initial years.

What follows is evidence of that effort by China where its planning calls for many more graduates having technical degrees of all types to facilitate China’s policy of continual modernization that’s anticipated to last until 2100 at minimum. IMO, that will be the hallmark of the new Chinese Dynasty now being formed. Global Times publishes “China
releases guidelines on strengthening sci-tech education in primary and secondary schools, aiming to establish basic system by 2030,” which ought to serve as an alarm clock for Americans who understand the great importance of education, especially in the fields of natural and higher sciences along with engineering—an appreciation the truant Trump will never be capable of grasping:

China’s Ministry of Education (MOE) and six other departments have jointly issued the guidelines on strengthening science and technology education in primary and secondary schools. The document outlines six key priorities, including promoting in-depth international exchanges and cooperation, aiming to support the high-quality development of education, science and technology, and talent, according to an MOE release published on the website of the MOE on Wednesday.

By 2030, China aims to have a foundational science and technology education system in place for primary and secondary schools, with further improvements to curricula, teaching reforms will be continuously deepened, and the evaluation and support systems will be basically put in place, according to the guidelines.

By 2035, a fully integrated science and technology education ecosystem is scheduled to be established, according to the guidelines.

Strengthening science and technology education in primary and secondary schools is the strategic cornerstone for responding to global technological competition and securing the initiative in national development, and it is the long-term plan for consolidating the foundations of building a strong nation and achieving the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, an MOE official said in response to a media inquiry on the background of the issuance of the guidelines, according to the MOE.

The official noted that strengthening sci-tech education is also an intrinsic part of deepening overall education reform and promoting high-quality basic education. It is vital for accelerating the development of a strong country in education, science and technology, and talent cultivation, as well as for the comprehensive development of a modern socialist country, the official added.

The guidelines also detail specific measures. Relevant departments will strategically integrate and utilize off campus laboratories, science and technology infrastructure, venues, workshops, training bases and other resources to establish hands-on learning spaces, providing students with a platform to conduct tech inquiry experiments and engineering practice in real world settings.

The relevant departments will promote international youth science and innovation exchanges, adopt a dual-mentor model for project-based learning, and invite Nobel laureates and other international experts to provide online guidance to cultivate students’ global awareness and innovation capacity, said the guidelines.

Meanwhile, they will implement the overseas training program for science and technology education teachers, selecting primary and secondary school teachers for study visits to overseas universities to expand their international perspective and professional skills, according to the guidelines.

Many cities across China have begun implementing science education initiatives. On Wednesday, the Global Times learned from the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission that Shanghai has implemented science education for all primary and secondary school students and is developing a coherent, progressive curriculum spanning the entire nine-year compulsory education cycle.

Shanghai encourages senior high schools to offer more inquiry-based elective courses in mathematics, physics, chemistry and related fields, while actively piloting STEM programs, according to the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission.

Xie Shangzhi, a vice principal at Wenzhou No. 22 Senior Middle School, East China’s Zhejiang Province, told the Global Times on Wednesday that the school has developed a series of school-based AI courses at basic, intermediate, and advanced levels, and has renovated its chemistry laboratories last year, and the physics laboratories are currently undergoing renovation.

Meanwhile, traditional project-based science and innovation activities, such as drone projects and programming projects, are also being conducted, Xie said. [My Emphasis]

The Shanghai metropolitan area has a population of 30 million, which is as large as some entire nations. Its plan to greatly upgrade its school’s science programs anticipates the national objective. A comparison between New York City schools with Shanghai’s would be very instructive and IMO very embarrassing for NYC since performance uniformity is lacking because of the way school districts are funded and managed. Trump’s elimination of something he never cared for makes modernizing the archaic US school system more improbable than ever, and that will equate to the continuing decline of US productive capacity. The example of Hyundai having to import South Koreans to help construct a high-tech factory in Georgia because there were not nearly enough qualified local workers whose nationals were subjected to an ICE raid that terrorized, traumatized and humiliated them is only one example of several that escaped the negative publicity of an ICE raid. Technical training schools are closing nationwide as are many federally funded Job Corps schools. The overall picture is grim for young people within the Empire. How will America be able to rebuild when it doesn’t know how to build? And that declining knowledge base isn’t due to immigration, legal or otherwise.

Since the mid-1800s, education—literacy specifically—was seen as being the primary basis for national power. Education remains the cornerstone but its content has grown far beyond literacy and now includes technical literacy, particularly math and natural science. Developing nations readily see that and are keen to educate their citizens so they can better themselves and uplift their nation. As we’ve seen at the Gym, Russia advocates and supports lifelong learning via national policy that’s also agreed to and supported by its business sector. China has a similar policy and both nations see the need to begin basic science and math education at the start of the educational process. And that means training teachers and renovating schools. The amount of knowledge students will need to absorb by the time they enter college is at least double what it was fifty years ago and most of that consists of technical science and math. Courses in financial engineering and management of fictitious capital are a dead end as Neoliberalism nears its end and neither builds anything productive. The Outlaw US Empire was the world’s manufacturing mecca from 1945-1975 when it began the neoliberal process of deindustrialization—a process that didn’t need to happen. It was the choice of unbridled capitalism planned by Wall Street not by government. And as we see with Team Trump and saw with Team Biden, that remains the choice of those “managing” the Empire. The productive gap between the Empire and the Russia/China combo will continue to widen for the lack of proper education.