True Story 4.01
The class whose members couldn’t
learn without collaborating
The setting for this story
The Hmong people are members of a large hill-tribe in Southeast Asia, some of whom were granted asylum in the U.S. after having aided American forces in Vietnam. Some settled in Minneapolis. There, English as a second language teacher Elizabeth vented her frustration about her adult Hmong students, who were attending her ESL class voluntarily.
A story of misaligned minds1
No matter what strategy I try, my Hmong students frequently whisper with those around them, checking each other’s papers and worksheets. I’ve noticed that the students who are weaker look to nearby classmates for assurance, and the stronger ones seem happy to make sure the weaker are doing things right. In fact, the strong help the weak even without being asked.
My impression is that these Hmong students think of learning as a group effort. If I praise one student’s effort or answer, for example, that student will deny it. I now believe that the singling out of any student, whether for praise or correction, actually embarrasses that student.
The outcome for them is that they make progress more or less simultaneously as a group. The downside for me is that I can find no way to gauge the progress of any individual student.
Elizabeth’s question
Why do my Hmong students so stoutly resist all my efforts to deal with them as individuals?
Critique of story 4.01
To answer Elizabeth’s question, we need to refer to two systems of societal norms and values – individualistic and communitarian – that lead to contrasting patterns of thought and relationships.
From our first days of life, many Americans are steeped in an individualistic value system. Yes, we can speak convincingly about the benefits of collaboration and cooperation, and many of us have had satisfying experiences working with others. But we’ve deeply accepted that, at bottom, each of us is separate, unique, and autonomous, and ought to be self-reliant as much as possible. These values are on display in American classrooms, just as they are throughout so many facets of American life.
People raised in societies animated by communitarian values have little experience being viewed as separate, unique, or autonomous. They have little experience existing socially as supposedly self-reliant individuals. Sure, it’s undeniable that each of them has a separate physical body. Beyond that, though, they previously have rarely been expected to behave in a self-focused, I’ll-do-it-my-way manner. They even become agitated when singled out from their group for any reason, even praise. They practice humility, a value designed to preserve the alikeness of group members from any individual member’s prominence in the eyes of outsiders.
Communitarian values do not prevent people from learning new material. But they do make it challenging for them to comfortably fit into our individualistic classrooms. These Hmong students are not deliberately frustrating Elizabeth; rather, they never learned how to be individualistic.
For thought
Because the Hmong adults are voluntarily attending Elizabeth’s ESL class, a student’s individual performance will not directly affect their future (e.g., applying to college). So to what extent do you think it’s necessary for Elizabeth to gauge each one’s learning? If you think it’s not necessary, then what pedagogical options might be open to Elizabeth in dealing with this group of students?
Related stories
Stories 4.04 and 10.19 relate similar instances of children collaboratively helping each other learn.
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Endnotes:
1 Hvitfeldt, 70.
Full citations are available at misalignedminds.info/References.