Strugle for Smarts? How Western and Eastern Tackle Learning

Written by : Sharen Natasha (016201200039)

Classroom is which one of the most effective way to children deal with socialization. The way of thought would be sharpened by their teacher, so teacher is the most aspect in education to shape the character of their student.

The story coming from Jim Stigler in 1979, when he still a graduate student at the University of Michigan. He went to Japan to research teaching methods and found himself sitting in the back row of class. That day the teacher was trying to teach the class how to draw three-dimensional cubes on paper, and one kid was just totally having trouble with it. His cube looked all mess , but the teacher try to talk with that student 'Why don't you go put yours on the board?' And the children came in front the class and started drawing, but still couldn't complete the cube. Every few minutes, the teacher would ask the rest of the class whether the kid had gotten it right, and the class would look up from their work, and shake their heads no.  Stigler noticed that he was getting more and more anxious.

Because Stigler knew that in American classrooms, it was usually the best kid in the class who was invited to the board. The child continued to draw his cube with equanimity. And at the end of the class, he did make his cube look right! And the teacher said to the class, 'How does that look, class?' And they all looked up and said, 'He did it!' And they broke into applause." The kid smiled a huge smile and sat down, clearly proud of himself.

Those brief story above let me thinking how differently east and west approach the experience of intellectual struggle. According to Stigler, Eastern cultures it's just assumed that struggle is a predictable part of the learning process. Everyone is expected to struggle in the process of learning, and so struggling becomes a chance to show that you.

Simply I can conclude, there is a lot of cultural diversity within East and West then intellectual struggle is which one of them. The American people think that if you smart, you no need to struggle, naturally get it, whereas in Asian cultures they tend to see struggle more as an opportunity. al strength.