One very big difference between westerners and the Japanese is our response to authority. The Japanese tend to follow it and westerners tend to distrust it and try to find problems with it and rebel against it. This is probably not new information for anyone, but I think there's something to be learned on both sides. As westerners, we should look at Japanese and see that following authority has its advantages. We should identify the kinds of situations when it is advantageous to follow authority and change our attitude and behavior in said situations. Likewise, Japanese people should look at westerners and see that questioning authority has its advantages. And they should also identify the kinds of situations when it is advantageous to question authority and change their attitude and behavior accordingly. I think it's pretty easy to see that there are times when it is in fact bad to question authority and also times when it's bad to follow authority. I think it's probably pretty bad to question the authority of my doctor, which many westerners actually do. I also think it's pretty bad to question the authority of the law. But I think it's pretty good to question the authority of my boss when he's telling me I have to work overtime and not get compensated for it. For example.
Education is one of the many situations in which westerners challenge authority and one in which I believe it's actually good to do so. If I ever heard something from a teacher that I thought was wrong, I'd either ask them about it (politely) or try to prove them wrong through my own research. If they were in fact right all along, which was mostly the case, I only gained more familiarity with the topic through my questioning and thus, in all likelihood, a greater understanding of it. Or, having taken mostly math classes, if my teacher wrote a 2 instead of a 5 somewhere in the middle of a long problem, I actually saved them a lot of time by pointing it out.
But what I really want to get at is the strategies which teachers teach you to use in taking tests. Any one strategy is not perfect. You have to choose what works best for you. So if you learn some strategy and it's not giving good results, think about why. Think if you could do something else that would work better. Or ask your teacher if they have any other recommendations. A very simple example of this is those stupid bubble plots that you're taught to use when writing an essay. Westerners learn that in high school. When I learned it I thought it took more time than it was worth and never used it. My papers came out fine.
Education is one area where you can and should think for yourself. So take the strategies your teachers give you with a grain of salt. The strategies they teach are what works for them or has worked for others they have known. But everybody's different. Try the strategy and if it works then keep using it. But if it doesn't, then try to find something better. If you can't find anything better then the problem is probably not the strategy but your lack of understanding of the subject, which is a different story. But try things out. Find what works for you. And don't be afraid to not follow all the things your teacher recommends!
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・【Something Interesting】2008.10.22 (Wed)
・【an interesting book】2008.11.28 (Fri)
・【To study methods】2009.01.14 (Wed)
・【The 90%】2009.02.04 (Wed)
・【Why I can remember why caffeine is good for you.】2009.02.25 (Wed)
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Posted By: Amberly Sullivan on March 18, 2009
