Asian Students Do Think for Themselves

03.15.2010 – This article was jointly written by Brian Luong and Isabella Lai

“According to most studies, people’s number one fear is public speaking. Number two is death.  Death is number two.  Does that sound right? This means to the average person, if a you go to a funeral, you’re better off in the casket than doing the eulogy.” ~ Jerry Seinfeld

One of our readers, Nguyen Do, shared with us the article entitled:  “Do Your Own Homework’ — Asian Students Should Learn to Think for Themselves”. Finding it a topic that resonates pretty closely to our own educational experience, we at OneVietnam wanted to reflect on this article.

For those of you who haven’t read it, this article discusses a Vietnamese American author’s frustration that Asian students do not know how to analyze and come up with their own opinions after reading literature.  Every few months, students would e-mail the author, Mr. Andrew Lam, to have him give them concrete answers about readings.  Lam’s frustrations arise because he wishes these students would realize that there are no definite answers in literature.  He believes that Asian students are raised to memorize and recite, to not oppose authority, and to not be individuals.  Each Vietnamese person exists as a part of a whole–as only one person whose ego is humbled so that he can exist in harmony and conform to the group.  For this reason, many students do not vocalize their opinions.  They would rather get a “definite” answer that would earn them the good grade, therefore eliminating their need to think for themselves.  The personal pronoun “I” is not often heard in Asian culture.

Brian’s Reflections:

Isabella’s Reflections:

Agreeing with what Brian said, I also felt a lot of intimidation when sharing my thoughts.  It is something that I struggle with still to this day.  I’ve always thought that it is more of my problem than a result of my education.  Author Lam discussed a very relevant topic because I saw this not only in myself, but in many students during my time in Asia.

Firstly, I want to share with you my experience leading a seminar on HIV/AIDS at the Harvard Summit for Young Leaders of China.  When we were studying this topic in class, I wanted my students to read the material and share their interpretations.  Many of them came in having memorized the readings instead.  When I asked them something related to the readings (such as “How is HIV treated?” “How many people are affected?, etc.), they would answer factually.  When I asked them how they felt about the epidemic and how they see it affecting development, the class was usually silent.  I had to slowly ease the students into the discussion and make them feel comfortable; in doing that, many of my students came out of their shells.  I learned that it was some inborn fear that prevented them for sharing their thoughts.

So how do we fix this problem?  I do not believe that a revolution can happen in the education system nor can it happen anytime soon.  The problems with being unable to self-analyze is an inborn trait in the culture and not just a function of the classroom.  However, Asian students are intelligent.  It is about teasing out their inner capabilities.  This will be a long process, but I believe that it will be possible.

I think my course helped these students on their path toward thinking for themselves, but I believe that it will take a lot of work to show Asian students that they are important individuals whose opinions matter.  I say this because I am a victim to the problems that author Lam discussed.  Though I spent my young adult life in America, I was raised in a traditional Vietnamese family where the female is supposed to be timid.  My opinions never mattered as much as the opinions of elders or my male cousins. So I naturally fell into a position to be more submissive.  Whenever I shared anything, I felt that I was breaking some sort of rule.  Yet, I often felt frustrated when I was timid because I never got my way.  So I realized that while it is a struggle, I had to be more outspoken, to be more creative, to be more innovative because that is the only way to succeed in any competitive field.  Realizing my weaknesses, I hope this will help me succeed in the future at Stanford School of Medicine where I will be expected to think for myself and learn, allowing me to one day save the world!

Stephen Cook Sr., our superfan at OneVietnam Network, shared with us two articles entitled “VIETNAM: Minister orders greater university transparency” and Forbes.com’s “Outsourcing to Vietnam”.  Both these article comment on the education system in Vietnam and suggest things that need to be done.  Our team will expand and share our opinions on these issues at another time.  However, we want to highlight some of the points discussed in this article because we believe it is relevant.

People think that the main problem that Asian students have is the inability to think for themselves, as suggested in Author Lam’s article.  However, this is not completely true.  The articles that Cook shared with us demonstrate that there are a lot more factors at play:  the lack of autonomy of universities, the inadequate attention students receive during class,  the low pay of teachers, and the high cost of education.  We also want to add that another problem that Asian students have as they move through their education is due to the way they were raised.

We hope that our reflections can show that Asian students can think for themselves.  We also want to emphasize that this problem still exists within us: two individuals who were practically raised in America.  Hence, we realize that it isn’t just the Asian education system, but also a cultural phenomenon that propagates this mindset.  Nevertheless, we do believe that reform and a better understanding of the Information Age can really help improve the way education is presented and the way people interpret information.

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For related articles, consider our special report on Vietnamese students lacking soft skills.

Sometimes its not about WHAT you say, but HOW much confidence you have when you say it.  Case in Point: George B. Freestylin’ to his own beat!