Western vs. Eastern Education and a Sourced Excuse for Why I’m Failing Finance

Preview of what will hopefully/eventually be sent to the Foster website for publication. I'll post the link here when that happens. I think it still needs edits, but for now, enjoy my thought provoking, opinionated article. There are no pictures, I'm sorry, your normal programming will return next weekend.

Ok, so I’m not “failing” Finance per say, C’s get degrees as they say, but I know I’m not alone in looking at my own grades with an extremely critical eye. Many of us students spend our days and nights stressing and pulling our hair out over a number typically below 4 that we have deemed to be “a measurement of our future success and self worth as a student”. Recent trends in American Education and Societal values that I have experienced involve a high focus on grades. Before I left to study for half a year in Singapore, I heard more than once from people back home say, when talking about education on an international level, “Well, the rest of the world, like Asia, is getting smarter than us and we need to revamp the education system and get smarter so we can keep up!” (I’m paraphrasing, but you get the idea) This talk is being echoed in American Congress, most recently brought up over the proposition for universal preschool education, as presented by Obama. And while I do agree with the whole “revamp” part of this statement, there is something we need to keep in mind. What is our definition of “smart”?

Years and years of public school have trained me to start off the second paragraph with a quote from Miriam-Webster, stating the “dictionary definition of smart”. But I’m not going to do that. I Googled “Intelligence” instead. And what I found was insanely vague, something about learning and stuff. But it doesn’t really matter what a dictionary says about intelligence and learning, because it is defined differently across the world. A brilliant book that I recently read excerpts from (I’m not going to lie and say I read it all) written by Jin Li titled Cultural Foundations of Learning: East and West, has some great insight on how the two cultures view education and the learning process very differently. (There’s a great NY Times article on the book if you’re looking for a quick summary, Google “The Learning Virtues”)

Jin Li says that Westerners define learning in a cognitive focus; learning is what you do to “understand and master the external world”. Easterners on the other hand take a moral focus and “see learning as an arduous process you undertake in order to cultivate virtues inside the self”. In elaboration, Westerners approach material with active learning and curiosity over certain subject matters. The Western concept of the “Eureka!” moment where you gain sudden understanding is very different from Eastern ideas of the arduous and ongoing process of understanding. Easterners tend to focus on the learning process itself as a source of virtue and morality alongside “intellectual” materials.

But if I learned anything from B CMU 301, it’s that personal experience provides much better ethos than quoting someone else. I am currently in Singapore studying for a semester, and with Singapore being a strange influx of Western themes into a very Eastern culture, I’ve seen this cross-cultural education focus create some interesting situations. For example: my Finance grade.

First off, for those who aren’t aware, I was surprised to see just how much Eastern students study. It was frightening at first, and while I used to love the curve (it carried me through Financial Accounting) now it has become a thing that I fear greatly. But after talking to some students here, they say they study not because they need to understand the material, but because it is a part of the time and effort commitment they have made to the class and the learning process. Which is a lot different from why I study.

Furthermore to explain our different mentalities; one day in Finance the professor mentioned that our next exam would have more long response questions as opposed to quantitative problems. This was met with a small cheer from the Western students that was drowned out in a sea of sighs from the Eastern students. After some discussion, we found that most of the Western students felt much more comfortable with essay questions and short answer problems that focus on cognition and application of big ideas and problem solving. In contrast, the Eastern students were much more inclined to formulaic and qualitative questions that relied on strong base knowledge and memorization. Pulling us back on track to our coursework, the TA then asked what the difference was between public stocks and bonds. For those who don’t know, there are a lot of differences that you could say. The interesting thing is that the Eastern students jumped to the formulaic differences and the taxation details, where as the Western students focused on the different impacts they had on both the company and the shareholder. The trend showed up again: formulaic vs. cognitive.

While most of these observations are solely meant to be thought provoking, they do not hold a political or cultural inner message or preference. And while I believe no one person who reads this is ever going to be in a position to alter the course of American Education, there are a few take-away points that I'd like to mention just to get those wheels turning as you go through your life. And I’m not above standing on a small internet soapbox to preach an opinion that, while not universally correct, has important themes that we should focus on when thinking about education; being it that of ourselves or others.

Take-away Number One: If you are planning to study abroad cross-culturally either way, keep this in mind throughout your studies and your time there. It’s great to learn another way to approach education and I’ve learned a lot while I’m here. And while this observation isn’t universally constant, it is widespread that you may run into it and it could cause problems if you are not ready for it.

Take-away Number Two: Take a class that involves creativity! Or please, engineers doodle in your notebook or something (Take that creative design class, I hear its good). I’m a little biased as a marketing/writing/music focus, but I’m telling you that a creative outlet of some kind can help you a lot in your learning process. Plus it can lower the stress level that we all face when struggling to keep up that all-important-but-not-actually-life-threatening GPA. And for the love of all that is holy, stop cutting arts programs from high school schedules. (Or college for that matter) Do me a personal favor and take an art class or something. I don’t care if you or your parents think it’s a waste of time, at least doodle in that Accounting book before you keel over out of sheer boredom. (Come on, even you accounting majors can’t think its that interesting)

Take-away Number Three: The last take-away is the most important, and has to deal specifically with business. Western students and business leaders should focus less on trying to play ball in another culture’s court. Asia’s high educational dedication and standards should not be this new bar that we have to reach. It’s a cultural difference that has existed long before we ever realized it in the current generations. American business students, I want to talk to you for a second. (Sorry everyone else, I love you all the same)

Business Week posted on their website a list of the “100 most globally recognized brands”. These represent the top companies of the world that have projected their ideas globally into all cultures. One of the most prudent trends that I found in their data was that 51% of these companies were based in the US. 51%. Out of the entire world, America houses more globally recognized brands than all other countries combined. I see this number and I wonder; why are we trying to compete in a game of test scores when we boast some of the most innovative and entrepreneurial minds in the world today? Rather than focus on boosting that GPA, come up with a brand new idea. So please, fellow business school students: don’t enter the professional world expecting to use that test score you got, or that definitely-less-than-four number you have on your transcript. If we’re talking meta, (and we are, because I’m writing this) play to your strengths, don’t try to conform your education or your professional endeavors to compete in an area you are weak in. 

The grade does not make you "smart", that's not what smart means. We define "smart" just like we define graduation requirements and standardized testing. It's why those tests don't always work, and it's why GPA's aren't a measure of worth. Should you still study? Yeah, probably. Is getting good grades great? Yes. Is getting bad grades a reflection of your self worth? No. Calm down.

When thinking about how to make education better (whether it's the entire system, or your own personal education) fostering creative ideas is a part of Western culture, and straying to far from that could be what's making us "fall behind" in some peoples eyes. American business leaders, scientists, and creative thinkers have a history of innovative and powerful ideas that have gone on to make a name for themselves on the international level. And students, you’re not going to be counted among them by worrying about your Finance grade.

This article was written as self-administered validation and therapy and also includes insights to some of what I have learned in my time studying in Asia. I’m going to go study now.

I will be back to my usual posts next weekend, have a great week! Until next time!