Thursday, November 15, 2012
Struggle For Smarts? How Eastern And Western Cultures Tackle Learning
Read or listen to the article posted below. After you have read or listened to the article, write a reflection comparing and contrasting how Eastern and Western cultures take on education and learning and your own personal opinion and experiences with education in the United States. Also comment on how your education would be different if you were being educated in an Eastern culture versus the Western culture of the United States. Your refelction should be at least 500 words.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2012/11/12/164793058/struggle-for-smarts-how-eastern-and-western-cultures-tackle-learning?utm_source=NPR&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=20121112
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There are many differences between the learning processes in the United States and the learning processes in eastern cultures. The most striking difference between the two is their interpretation of struggle. Western cultures see struggle as a sign of weakness and low ability; meanwhile, Asian cultures see struggle as an opportunity. Eastern cultures expect everyone to struggle at some point in their life. Americans tend to believe that the cause of success is one’s intelligence. Eastern cultures believe that success is due to one’s actions. In our classrooms today, the student that is called up to put an example on the board is the one that has the answer correct. In the article, the kid in Japan was called up to the board because he was struggling. In America, we consider that as a type of humiliation. Because of our culture, if a student does a problem on the board and gets it incorrect, there will be a couple people in the audience that will be laughing. The student that got the problem wrong feels humiliated and they will not be as motivated to continue working. Since eastern cultures believe that struggle is part of success and that everyone struggles, they are more supportive of each other. Through the learning process in eastern cultures, students have learned how to be persistent and eventually overcome their struggles. In western cultures, we are not taught that.
ReplyDeleteThrough my observation of the learning process in the United States, I completely agree with the article. There are students that essentially do not try in class, because they believe they are not capable. The article also says that both cultures have their weaknesses. Westerns tend to believe that their own kids will not be able to compete against Asian kids because they excel in many areas. Educators from Asian countries often state that their students are not creative and are like robots. This is very true, because back when I was in China, I attended a few years of school there. Later when I came out to the states, up until 8th grade, people used to jokingly call me a robot. I kind of just went with the flow. I was not the slightest bit creative, I still struggle with that. I am not creative at all. Since eastern cultures try to challenge their students and have them experience the processes of overcoming struggles, students in eastern cultures complete more challenging problems than students in western cultures.
If I had continued being educated in an eastern culture, I would be even less creative than I currently am. I would probably not have developed my individuality. However on the other hand, I would be more challenged in class. I would learn how to cope with my struggles and overcome them. I would have more patience overall, since I would have to learn to be patient and persistent when working on difficult assignments in class. Both cultures have their own benefits, and neither is better than the other. Students in the western culture have their strengths.
Learning processes in western and Eastern cultures are basically polar opposites. In eastern cultures the student who gets a problem wrong has to go up to the board and write their answer. The student has to change their answer if they got it wrong until they get it right. Then all the students look up to that and applaud for the right answer. In the United States if you are called to the board it is because you have the right answer but if you get it wrong then it is looked down upon. In a psychologist's stand point the wrong answer on the board is not looked down upon in eastern culture but if you get it right the next try then you get applauded which is known as positive reinforcement. This makes the student that got the answer wrong go further and memorize the right way to do it. In western culture it is punishment if you get the problem wrong but you think it’s right then that brings punishment which makes you not want to try and get the right answer anymore so you won't humiliate yourself anymore.
ReplyDeleteIn western culture, struggle is a sign of weakness and stupidity in the school system and sometimes in the home. If people don’t know how to defeat struggle and are getting punished for struggling then they will most likely want to drop out of school. In eastern culture, struggle is a sign of opportunity. The attitude in the eastern culture is that everyone has to struggle once so everyone struggles. Also if you struggle early in your life then you are more capable of handling stress and struggle.
Education in the United States is I think worse than in eastern culture. In eastern culture barely anyone drops out and everyone who doesn't drop out gets mostly A’s. The eastern culture also has advantages. They have cram schools which most students take after school to get good grades on their entrance exams into the college they want to go to. They also have the parents and the society weighing down on their shoulders to do well in school. In America the only extra help that can be obtained is by tutoring. Most tutors are usually students that are doing OK in a class helping people who are getting F’s in the class. In America it is all about what you want to do there is nobody weighing down on your shoulders.
I think I would have all A’s if I were going to an eastern cultured school. I have to admit that it would be a lot of hard work but it is also worth it to get into a good college of my choice. I would also be accustomed to stress and struggles in college when I get in. I would probably go to college in America because in eastern cultures it is all about moving to America because it is so great and school teach way better than the eastern cultured schools.
The eastern culture has many different ways of taking on education from the Western Culture. One of the major differences is how each of the cultures view struggle. Americans view struggle as being a sign of weakness and lack of intelligence. Asians view struggle as a chance for students to succeed. Americans don’t expect the smart students to struggle; whereas, Asians expect the smarter students to struggle because they believe that is part of the learning process to become an intelligent student. Unlike Americans, Asian teachers make the students who are struggling go up to the board and publicize their struggle in front of their peers. In America, teachers are more than likely to get a student who is not struggle and knows the right answer to go up to the board. The difference between an American and an Asian teacher is that an Asian teacher believes in order for a student to succeed they have to push through their struggle by pushing through their struggle even if it takes to be humiliated in front of their class members. American teachers believe that it is acceptable for their students to struggle; however, it should be don’t in their own privacy and not publicized in front of a classroom.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading the article I have observed that the Eastern cultures are more sympathetic towards struggle. I feel as though they help students become more confident in their struggle by making them go in front of the board for example. In the united State we view struggle as a sign of weakness and don’t take it as seriously as the Asians.
If I were to live in the Eastern culture I believe I would be more intelligent. I would be more intelligent because I would be taught how to push through my struggle as well as learning how to overcome challenging obstacles. Personally, I would go to school is the eastern culture because of the way they view teaching and put more emphases on struggling.