Of course, I made the call to my parents complaining about the workload and how I can't understand my teachers accent (not Prof. LM). They did their job as parents at reassuring me that I wasn't stupid and then they gave me the confidence I needed to endure the rough week.
This got me to thinking, it is under one of Menand's theories that college separates the intellectual elite from non-elite. I think this idea scares students as it make us feel lesser than our peers. It was me believing that the readings and calculus problems came easy to every else that got me down and made me lose confidence.
By believing in this kind of ranking system that determines smartness by grades and ease of understanding, it creates a lot of upset students. This ranking system is something we Americans live with our entire lives as it is every student's goal to be one of the the ones that is easily passing the class, or part of the group that doesn't put any time into the class yet still gets an A's. Little did I know that this idea of being smart wasn't universal. And in fact, in China there is totally a different meaning of smartness.
I thought China would be one of the last places that would define smartness differently because my perception of China was that is is educationally strict.
But just a week ago my dad sent me this link to an NPR article/podcast which gives the eastern account of being smart.
In the article and podcast it tells of a Chinese student that was having trouble drawing a cube in class. The teacher, seeing this, brings the kid up to the front of the class and has the rest of the class critique him by telling him what he did wrong, The kid then proceeds to draw more cubes and by the end of class he is able to do it like the rest. The class applauds as the kid smiles because he knew he achieved something he struggled with. He was smart because he had what it took to correct his mistake.
Now if an American kid was brought to the front of the class because he was unable to do some aspect of school, the kid would be scarred for life. Everyone would assume s/he was stupid because s/he couldn't draw the cube, learn the concept, etc.
This is because the American view of smartness is based on results as opposed to the Chinese view. If I had to describe the Chinese view, it would be that one demonstrates he is smart by persevering through something s/he struggles at. The Chinese embrace the fact that everyone is going to struggle in school and use these moments as useful teaching lessons.
In conclusion, by viewing myself under the Chinese definition of smartness, I am much more open about my struggles in school. The Chinese's view does not cause me to get down on myself because, "hey, no one is perfect."
So remember, when all of you are struggling when studying for finals, your struggle and perseverance makes you smart...(in China).
Here is to wishing:
Images from Google Images
With all of us staring finals now straight in the eye, I think this was an interesting concept to explore. I completely agree with the point you made about students worrying that they are struggling in a class because they feel that it comes easily for other students. I find this idea that we derive our status through comparison exceptionally interesting. For example, one of my best friends headed off to college in the fall to a school that he thought he would be happy at, but he hated it. So, now he's transferring to another school for this coming semester, but he dreams of coming to U of M. I've told him probably 100 times to apply, but his response is always something along the lines of "I don't think I can handle it. I can't match up to the other students there." We've all done it, we have all compared ourselves to someone else in the past, but I think that schools are trying to combat this. When a teacher brought you up to the board to work out a problem or asked you to read your answer out loud, they were often trying to help you with your struggle or give you confidence that you were doing well. It seems that maybe the Chinese model is closer to ours than it appears?
ReplyDeleteI can certainly relate to this post and to the idea of feeling stupid around my peers. In all honesty, every single one of us has problems understanding certain information. We are just naturally better at some subjects and naturally worse at others. Unfortunately, some immature kids in class will make fun of their peers if they make any mistakes, and a lot of the time, the teacher does nothing to stop this behavior. In America's style of education, we definitely reward results rather than the learning process. Even if a kid improves ten times over during the course of a semester, s/he is often not congratulated or encouraged if s/he doesn't do as well as the top few children in the course.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I think that the teacher plays a crucial role in the overall environment of a classroom. I have taken classes where, for whatever reason, I am terrified to do something wrong or publicly make a mistake. But there have been other classes where I am completely comfortable when I get the answer wrong, and I think that this difference lies in the ability of the teacher. Our instructors have the ability to foster nurturing environments that make us comfortable with all parts of the learning process. Some teachers help us find the answer when we are wrong, while others reprimand us and scorn us for "not reading the material." I think that the American system will turn into the Chinese system when all teachers realize that students want to learn, and that they will work to better themselves if they are not embarrassed while doing so.
I think most students at U of M have in some way experienced this feeling of "Why is this so hard for me but not everyone else?" Coming to this school, we expect everyone to be smart and the material that we receive to come easy to us, when it is often not. I do agree with John in saying that it a large part a role of the teachers to create a comfortable environment where students are not afraid to express confusion or admit to having difficult with a subject, just as the Chinese teacher helped the students learn how to draw a cube and subsequently gets rewarded by the class with an applause. In that way, I think it is also the role of students to help one another when having difficulty and not reticule them, just as the Chinese students gave constructive criticism to help the student. I think this parallels Menand's second theory where school should be to learn, rather than to earn the grade or rank. Students are so concerned about their intellectual status that they are afraid to admit to any difficulties they have for fear of losing status. In adapting Menand's second theory, I think less pressure would be on students to ask for help and admit to difficulty and we would all learn more as a result.
ReplyDeleteI really liked this post. I think it accurately captured how a large percent of the UM student population feels about themselves at one point or another, myself included. But I wonder if there are other underlying, cultural factors about the US and China that are responsible for these different takes on education. Perhaps this result-driven view in the US stems from Puritan work ethic and the American Dream, or maybe even from the ancient Greeks (Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, etc.) who are responsible for modern Western philosophy. Similarly, for Eastern cultures, maybe the destruction of the intellectuals during Mao Zedong's regime is responsible for their benevolent approach to education, or maybe it's their Eastern traditions rooted in Confucianism, Buddhism, and other morally driven traditions. Whatever it is, I don't think it justifies labeling one country's students as "smarter" than the other's.
ReplyDeleteI really agree with your blog post. This is because I’m from South Korea, so we have a similar concept about smart. Personally, I have never thought that I am smart. In addition, after I came to USA, I started to think that I am stupid. One of the most serious problems for me is a language problem. However, as time goes by, I found that there is something that I can do better than other people. It is not related to nationality. It makes me feel better and I said to myself that I don’t need to be better than other people always. I think this experience is pretty much same with the writer.
ReplyDeleteCollege is a change, I'm certainly seeing that. This class, above all others, has discouraged me. If I answer a question incorrectly out loud in lecture, I blush and want to run away. It's crazy how that doesn't translate cross-culturally, but I'm not too surprised. I think that a big part of college is getting this self-confidence and the ability to accept possible failures (even if a failure to you is anything less than an A). It's a time to weigh your options and to figure your life out before it's too late. We'll be tried in the future, and I'm happy that we have UM to stress us out like no other so that we can learn to cope with it. I may be wrong in saying that, but it's how I'm taking it! Good luck with finals!
ReplyDeleteI think the East Asian attitude to education teaches a valuable skill in peseverence through adversity, while the American system values the knowledge gained itself and creativity more. The question to ask is, can the two co-exist in an ideal education system? And if not, which one is preferable? In my humble opinion knowledge itself and "how to think" is useless if you can't persevere. I firmly believe that it is better to be hard working than to be smart. Perseverance and self-discipline are keys to self improvement. Of course being hard working drones not knowing how to solve problems isn't ideal, but at least you get things down, whereas the smarter person may have brillant ideas that lie undeveloped in his head.
ReplyDeleteInteresting and relatable post. I too have noticed throughout my years of schooling that attempting to do a task in class, whatever it may be, can be very detrimental to the person who does so based on the negative reputation they can receive as a result of not performing well. Honestly in grade school anything you did that was the slightest thing embarrassing could be milked for much more greif than it should harbor. Sure, high school kids are pretty fast to jump to conclusions, but its definitely interesting to see this difference between the U.S and China, Honestly, my perception of China would be the opposite where kids are even more pressured to do well in school and do not express the same creative freedoms we do in the U.S.
ReplyDelete