Power distance Ryo Tanitsu

The reading this week is about the differences of Power Distance among various countries. Power Distance is one of the dimensions of national cultures. Although the author mentioned different situations to which power distances apply, I would like to analyze the power distance at school.

The author said that in the large-power-distance situation, teachers are treated with respect and even fear. The process of education is teacher-centered; teachers lead the lecture and students just follow them while writing in their notebooks what the teachers said or wrote on the blackboard. In addition, corporal punishment at school is more acceptable in a large-power-distance society. In contrast, in the smaller-power-distance situation, teachers are supposed to be treated as equals to students. The educational process is student-centered. The students can ask questions even when teachers are talking. Corporal punishment tends to be readily considered as child abuse.

I personally feel the differences between U.S. and Japanese education, which arise from the culture of power distance. The U.S. is considered to be a low-power-distance society, whereas Japan is considered to be a high-power-distance society. I first became surprised by the U.S. education system when I observed the U.S. students’ participation in class. They aggressively ask the professor questions even when the professor is talking. Sometimes, students try to refute their professors’ statements. However, professors never take an unpleasant attitude toward them, and they go on discussing the topic with the students.

In Japan, we never see professors and students argue with each other. In fact, students feel guilty for disagreeing with their professors. However, I think that many students in the United States do not hesitate to argue with professors. In my opinion, they understand that their debate does not mean denying other’s personality, but it does mean enhancing each other’s opinions by arguing the contradictory points.

In terms of increasing knowledge, high-power-distance education might be better, because one-sided lectures are faster than discussion classes. In terms of critical thinking or logicality, the low-power-distance education is better, because students are expected to speak based on what other students or teachers are discussing. The latter forces students to think about what the critical point of the discussion is or what the contradictory point of their argument is.

Personally, I think that the discussion-style class is better, because we can search for information easily with the Internet, so we are not expected to understand specific knowledge. The more important skill in modern times is the skill to solve difficult problems. In the modern era, various unsolvable problems are arising suddenly, such as terrorism, nuclear weapons, environmental issues, and so on. Therefore, we need the ability to overcome these problems. In this respect, critical thinking or discussion skills are just as necessary as knowledge is in solving these problems.