Eastern And Western Cultures and the Struggle To Learn
Last fall, I heard a story on NPR about Jim Stigler, a professor of psychology at UCLA, who studies teaching and learning around the world. He has been looking at how people in the East and West approach learning.
If it has to come down to a word, the word is struggle.
He found that in Eastern cultures, it is assumed that struggle will be part of the learning process. It is expected that everyone will have to struggle to learn. That is part of the process of learning. And struggling gives you the opportunity to show that you have what it takes.
Of course, you can't paint half the globe as being all the same. There is cultural diversity East and West, but Stigler says that in American culture, struggle, in an intellectual sense, is seen as a weakness. In Eastern culture, it is seen as a way to measure emotional strength.
In Japanese classrooms where he has done his research, teachers intentionally design tasks that are slightly beyond the capabilities of the students they teach. They create experiences that will be a bit out of reach. And when a task is mastered, teachers make a point of letting students know that they succeeded and that their success required hard work and struggle.
If it has to come down to a word, the word is struggle.
He found that in Eastern cultures, it is assumed that struggle will be part of the learning process. It is expected that everyone will have to struggle to learn. That is part of the process of learning. And struggling gives you the opportunity to show that you have what it takes.
Of course, you can't paint half the globe as being all the same. There is cultural diversity East and West, but Stigler says that in American culture, struggle, in an intellectual sense, is seen as a weakness. In Eastern culture, it is seen as a way to measure emotional strength.
In Japanese classrooms where he has done his research, teachers intentionally design tasks that are slightly beyond the capabilities of the students they teach. They create experiences that will be a bit out of reach. And when a task is mastered, teachers make a point of letting students know that they succeeded and that their success required hard work and struggle.
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