The classical view of an American is to be loud, opinionated, entitled, confrontational, crude, completely ambivalent towards traditions and history going back any farther than about 1776, a busybody, action-oriented, and deeply hostile towards any government that does not closely resemble their own. (I call it the classical view because it's incomplete and rather out of date, but it's still a view that many people - and many foreigners - embrace as the one true way to see Americans.)
This stereotype has deep roots, and I think you've tangled with those roots in your college classroom encounter, in a way that bears closer examination:
What makes you believe that this "groupthink" behavior you experienced is the norm for classes other than Political Economy? As a counterexample, I remember plenty of classes that were very much oriented towards the "how" of thinking rather than the "what" of thinking. The consistent standouts were the writing classes - in particular the analysis of Shakespeare and the autobiography classes - but also the discrete math, philosophy, and religious history classes.
What makes you believe that this "groupthink" is something endemic to American classrooms (and thus in need of a uniquely American cause to justify it) and not present in classrooms from - for example - Japan, India, Brazil, Italy, France, China, et cetera?
What makes you think that the sort of debate you crave - that you believe is missing from the college experience - is supposed to take place in classrooms? Many of the best discussions I had happened during study sessions in small groups outside of class, or in common areas, or with friends I made on campus. The instructor of a class has to corral and evaluate hundreds (at least) of students every year. Do you expect each of them to be a maestro at crowd control and balancing debate at all times? Perhaps. But consider that it isn't actually their responsibility.
Are you a product of the American education system? How many people around you consider themselves exceptional - rising above their perceived epidemic of groupthink - in the same way you do? ("There is no such thing as an original opinion in America. Only groupthink." - Do you consider that an original opinion?) Did you talk to the instructor after class about how poorly your question was answered? Did you seek out one of those Chinese international students you felt sympathy for and ask them how they took it? That might have prompted a fine conversation and won you an ally. That would definitely not have been groupthink behavior. ;)
Personally, I found very little impassioned and cogent reasoning in any given classroom, but I found plenty of it in my workplace. Americans spend a lot more time working than they do in school. Why hasn't the "two-party system" destroyed that as well? Perhaps hot-button politics matters less than it appears to on cable channels and websites looking for revenue?
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Date: 7/12/15 20:55 (UTC)This stereotype has deep roots, and I think you've tangled with those roots in your college classroom encounter, in a way that bears closer examination:
What makes you believe that this "groupthink" behavior you experienced is the norm for classes other than Political Economy? As a counterexample, I remember plenty of classes that were very much oriented towards the "how" of thinking rather than the "what" of thinking. The consistent standouts were the writing classes - in particular the analysis of Shakespeare and the autobiography classes - but also the discrete math, philosophy, and religious history classes.
What makes you believe that this "groupthink" is something endemic to American classrooms (and thus in need of a uniquely American cause to justify it) and not present in classrooms from - for example - Japan, India, Brazil, Italy, France, China, et cetera?
What makes you think that the sort of debate you crave - that you believe is missing from the college experience - is supposed to take place in classrooms? Many of the best discussions I had happened during study sessions in small groups outside of class, or in common areas, or with friends I made on campus. The instructor of a class has to corral and evaluate hundreds (at least) of students every year. Do you expect each of them to be a maestro at crowd control and balancing debate at all times? Perhaps. But consider that it isn't actually their responsibility.
Are you a product of the American education system? How many people around you consider themselves exceptional - rising above their perceived epidemic of groupthink - in the same way you do? ("There is no such thing as an original opinion in America. Only groupthink." - Do you consider that an original opinion?) Did you talk to the instructor after class about how poorly your question was answered? Did you seek out one of those Chinese international students you felt sympathy for and ask them how they took it? That might have prompted a fine conversation and won you an ally. That would definitely not have been groupthink behavior. ;)
Personally, I found very little impassioned and cogent reasoning in any given classroom, but I found plenty of it in my workplace. Americans spend a lot more time working than they do in school. Why hasn't the "two-party system" destroyed that as well? Perhaps hot-button politics matters less than it appears to on cable channels and websites looking for revenue?