Analysis Of Alix Spiegel's Struggle For Smarts

The general argument made by Alix Spiegel in his work “Struggle For Smarts? How Eastern And Western Cultures Tackles Learning”, published on November twelfth,2012, is that the east and the west need to adjust the way that they think. In schools, the students in America view struggle as being not smart. Across the world, in places like China and Japan, struggle is viewed as a learning opportunity. Within this work, the author is arguing that we, in America, need to change.

The one line that stuck out to me the most is “Our children are not creative. Our children do not have individuality. They’re just robots.” Throughout the entire article I felt as if the author was saying that the west was in the wrong all the while, the other countries have problems just as bad or even worse than the way Americans think. Without individuality and creativity school is lifeless. Not only does this affect these students, but can also affect the other students by taking away their chance to build social skills and other important life skills.

Alix Spiegel uses more examples such as a conversation that took place between a mother and her son. Within this conversation, the mother goes on to tell her son that smart adults talk about books. This was her response to the comment that was made about him and his friends talking about books during recess. After this conversation, the author continues on in saying that the mother is saying that he strives in school is because he is