STEM-FOCUS + ANECDOTE?

The July 20129 issue of the Atlantic published an article about the study of progress.

The writers suggested that "there can be ecosystems that are better at generating progress than others .... Why did Silicon Valley happen in California rather than Japan or Boston? Why was early-20th-century science in Germany and Central Europe so strong? Can we deliberately engineer the conditions most hospitable to this kind of advancement or effectively tweak the systems that surround us today? -- see 8th paragraph in Patrick Collison & Tyler Cowen, "We Need a New Science of Progress," The Atlantic Monthly. July 30, 2019. https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/07/we-need-new-science-progress/594946/

Is it reasonable to argue broadly that contemporary STEM education is all about fostering a cultural ecosystem with measurable productivity? Yes, maybe.

Is it reasonable to argue that Japan's investment in o-yatoi gaikokujin was all about fostering a modern, Western scientific and technical ecosystem with measurable productivity? Yes, maybe.

In this context, please consider an anecdote about a noteworthy STEM-focused cultural environment that worked amazingly well in Japan between 1875 and 1879.

A. William Ayrton and John Perry wrote approximately 26 scientific papers during the 4 years they were working together in Japan (1875-1879).

B. The volume of scientific work was so great that James Clark Maxwell joked about it, observing that "the centre of electrical gravity seemed to have shifted to Japan."-- see Colin Latimer, "Kelvin and the Development of Science in Meiji Japan," Chapter 13 in "Kelvin: Life, Labours and Legacy" by Raymond Flood et al. (2008), pp. 216-217. http://www.f.waseda.jp/sidoli/Latimer_Japan_Kelvin.pdf

C. When Ayrton and Perry returned home, they continued to work together. They designed and built the world's first electric vehicle -- see "German Museum Recreates the World’s Oldest Electric Car and Rides in It!" (Yuka Yoneda). Inhabitat. November 18, 2011. https://inhabitat.com/over-a-third-of-all-cars-were-electric-a-century-ago/' compare video, "Das erste straßentaugliche Elektroauto der Welt (Baujahr 1881) / World's First Electric Car" (1:33) https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=20&v=9VBabxSba9w&feature=emb_logo

QOTO = Question Others to Teach Ourselves?