help writing about University expectations

Listening

to

the

Wort(

Over

the last decade,

many

countries

have

abolished

capital

punish-

ment,

declaring

respect

for human

life.

Nevertheless

in the United

States,

some

states

still

believe

in capital

punishment

and

more

than

dozens

of prisoners

are executed

every

year

despite

the urgent

effort

by citizens

to abolish

this cold-blooded

official

killing.

In times

when

human

rights

all over

the world

are affirmed,

why

do these

states

punish

prisoners

with

death?

At

the

end

of the

seven-week

course,

Keiko

writes

her

reflections

on

the

experience

of learning

to write

for

a U.S.

audience:

Another

thing

thQt

made

me crazy

was that

I

had to write

everything

I

wanted

to SQY

so

that readers

could

understand

the point.

In Japanese

writing

we do not write

everything

we want

to say.

Writers

can give

readers

some

ideas

or

hints

but not clear

ensuier».

Although

these

differences

are interesting,

it's really

hard

for me to do well

in this

class

because

of them.

But after

all, it was

kind

of fun to write

in a

different

way

of thinking.

'Why

do more

Americans

die?"

This

is the

third

or

fourth

time

that

long,

a first-year

Korean

student,

has

tried

to state

his

thesis

at the

opening

of a five-page

argument

on

a current

.issue

in the

media.

long

is an

older

student;

he

already

has

a degree

in

economics

but

has

come

back

for

a second

bachelor's

in computer

science,

which

he

has

decided

will

be more

practical.

Even

after

successfully

completing

four

years

at a U.S.

university,

he

scored

in the

lowest

12

percent

of all

entering

students

on

the

essay

entrance

exam

and

was

placed,

along

with

fifteen

other

embarrassed

freshmen,

in my

introductory

class

in

academic

argument.

long

and

I have

already

had

a number

of dis-

cussions

about

cultural

tendencies

toward

directness

and

indirectness,

and

he

has

become

quite

interested

in the

idea.

He

tells

me

he

is just

beginning

to realize

the

connection

between

U.S.

academic

style

and

a more"

Americanized"

version

of himself

that

he sees

on

the

horizon,

one

who

is "aggressive

and

direct:'

He

is not

sure

he

likes

this

vision.

"Why

do

more

Americans

die?

More

than

who,

long?

Die

of what?

What's

this

paper

about?"

long

smiles

and

shakes

his

head.

"1 am

still

not

specific

enough;'

he

says,

chiding

himself.

"You're

hinting

at something,

and

that's

intriguing.

But

your

au-

dience

will

be

confused

if you

don't

tell

them

more

at the

beginning.

You've

probably

noticed

that

Americans

don't

like

to wait,

right?"

long

smiles

and

looks

down

at his

paper.

"That's

true;'

he

says.

"We

don't

have

the

patience

to be led

gradually

to understand

what

your

topic

is. What

is it, by

the

way?"

Helping

World

Majority

Students

117

"Gun

control;'

says

long.

"Gun

control!"

I repeat

in mock

surprise.

long

laughs.

"1 wanted

to compare

statistics

on

deaths

from

gunshot

wounds

in the

U.S.

and

Canada:'

"Oh,

so more

Americans

die

than

Canadians?

Why

didn't

you

say

so?"

"So

my

thesis

should

be,

"Why

do

more

Americans

die

than

Canadians

from

gunshot

wounds?"

"Is

that

what

the

paper

is about?"

"Hm.

That's

interesting:'

long

is silent,

thinking.

"1 think

there's

more

in the

paper

than

that;'

he

says,

nodding.

"So

it's

not

only

a comparison

of those

two

countries?"

long

thinks

long

and

hard.

"1 think

it's

a paper

about

my

opinion

about

gun

control:'

"So

what

is

your

opinion?"

"Hm,"

says

long

thoughtfully.

"That's

interesting:'

Digressive

or "Irrelevant"

Material

Peter,

a Chinese

American

freshman,

comes

to me

with

a paper

on

eastern

approaches

to medicine.

In talking

with

him,

I have

decided

that

he

is integrated

enough

into

U.S.

society

that

I probably

won't

see

much

in

the

way

of cultural

differences

in his

writing.

He

was

born

here,

he

has

not

a trace

of

an

accent,

he

is enrolled

in

a

multicultural

living

and

leaming

program

at the

university,

and

he

seems

completely

at ease

answering

my

rapid-fire

questions

about

the

course,

the

instructor,

and

the

curriculum

they

have

covered

so

far.

As

I begin

reading

his

paper,

my

first

impression

seems

to be confirmed;

his

thesis

is up

front

and

pretty

clear,

the

gist

of it being

that

eastern

medicine

should

be

taken

seriously

by

the

west

because

"it

works:'

Evidence

follows

with

a story

of a man

with

a severe

case

of ulcerative

colitis

who

recovered

with

the

help

of a Chinese

herbal

cure.

So

far,

so

good.

But

after

these

few

pages

the

argument

is abandoned

and

the

rest

of the

paper

is taken

up

with

the

history

of eastern

medicine

and

its many

categories

and

types

without

any

more

reasons

to believe

it works

and

without

any

particular

conclusions.

Peter

knows

there

is

something

not

quite

right

about

the

way

he has

put

the

paper

together,

but

he

feels

strongly

that

the

history

and

typology

need

to be included

in just

this

form.

"1 know

it's

digressive;'

he

says.

"And

1 want

to do

something

about

that.

But

1 don't

want

to cut

any

of

this-it's

too

important:'

I

Listening

to the Wo(

This

to me

is a clue-polite

stubbornness

about

a form

that

doesn't

quite

work,

or,

in this

case,

stubbornness

about

a form

that

doesn't

work

at all.

So

instead

of simply

telling

him

what

material

is irrelevant

to

his

argument

and

suggesting

the

kinds

of

specific

evidence

he

should

add

instead,

I ask

him

what

he

wants

to say

or demonstrate

with

the

history

and

typology

of

eastern

medicine.

Right

away,

he

gives

me

verbally

the

kind

of direct,

analytical

statements

that

he

has

left

out

of his

paper:

"I've

put

in these

details

to show

that

eastern

medicine

has

been

around

a long

time,

that

it's

been

carefully

studied,

and

that

it works

because

it is based

on

careful

observations

of the

patient's

reactions.

There

is something

intuitive

about

eastern

medi-

cine;'

he

continues,

"an

understanding

of subtlety,

of balance.

Such

things

cannot

and

are

not

tested

scientifically.

Careful

observations

of

patients'

reactions

to

herbs

and

other

remedies,

accumulated

over

thousands

of

years,

have

created

this

practice-not

in

a systematic

sense,

but

through

an

accumulation

of wisdom:'

From

the

quick,

concise

way

that

Peter

sums

up

this

argument

for

me,

it is clear

that

he

feels

at home

with

explicit

analysis.

But

in his

paper,

instead

of saying

that

a

reason

we

should

take

eastern

medicine

seriously

is that

it has

a long

history,

he has

simply

detailed

the

history

and

let

the

audience

make

the

connection

by

themselves.

Instead

of

saying

that

eastern

medicine

is based

on

unsystematic

observation

that

nevertheless

became

increasingly

complex,

organized,

and

remarkably

effective

over

the

centuries,

he

has

laid

out

the

complicated

typology

and

let

the

audience

observe

it and

draw

their

own

conclusions.

I

describe

what

I see

him

doing

here

and

talk

a little

about

cultural

tendencies

to indirectness

and

subtlety,

drawing

a parallel

between

what

he's

been

telling

me

about

the

art

of eastern

medicine

and

the

way

he

has

written

this

passage,

and,

similarly,

between

the

science

of western

medicine

and

the

"scientific"

preciseness

and

directness

of

western

academic

writing.

This

interests

him

enormously;

he

realizes

that

the

digressiveness

he has

noticed

about

his

writing

has

something

to do

with

asking

his

audience

to come

to an

intuitive

understanding

of what

U.S.

communicative

style

would

make

explicit

or "analytical:'

Peter

leaves

my

office

with

a glimpse

of a new

idea-a

big

idea-

more

important,

perhaps,

than

any

practical

advice

I could

give

him

about

getting

rid

of digressive

or "irrelevant"

material

in his

paper.

Compare

and

Contrast

A U.S.

student

whose

parents

come

from

India

arrives

with

a paper

comparing

the

purposes

of

fasting

in Islam

and

Christianity.

I scan

Helping

World

Majority

Students

119

the

text;

there

is too

much

descriptive

background

on

each

religion

without

a careful

focus

on

fasting

and

without

a tight

enough

frame-

work

comprising

specific

points

of comparison.

I begin

by

saying

that

using

this

structure

is indeed

a valid

way

to write

about

fasting

in two

religions

but

that

her

audience

will

be expecting

a more

closely

drawn

comparison.

I have

not

had

time,

with

this

student,

to do

any

kind

of

interview,

and

except

for

a quick

initial

impression

(English

is flawless,

no accent,

seems

similar

in body

language

to U.S.

mainstream

eighteen-

or nineteen-year-olds),

I do

not

know

how

much

her

cultural

back-

ground

might

be

affecting

her

writing,

if it is at all.

But

there

is no

harm

in talking

about

the

validity

of different

types

of organization,

stressing

that

different

styles

require

different

things

of the

reader,

and

that

the

indirect

style

she

is using

will

be

more

difficult

for

her

university

audience

to grasp.

She

seems

to understand,

right

away,

what

I am

getting

at-which

is rarely

the

case

with

a student

strongly

situated

in another

way

of seeing

the

world.

When

I work

with

a student

who

seems

to be

strongly

influenced

by

an

indirect

style,

I might

first

talk

a little

about

cultural

differences

and

then

explain

several

ways

of organizing

a compare-and-contrast

paper

more

explicitly.

I might

start

by

pulling

out

themes

that

the

student

has

already

identified

and

then

asking

questions

leading

to

the

discovery

of an

additional

theme

or two.

Then

I show

the

student

visually,

with

a quick

sketch,

several

different

ways

of comparing

these

themes.

Sketches

are

cross-cultural;

I always

have

a pad

of

paper

handy

to

draw

stick

figures

and

diagrams

that

show

the

explicit

relationships

the

student

needs

to draw

with

words.

I mention

that

you

can

sometimes

see

the

similarity

between

mathematics

and

writing

in U.S.

academic

style

if you

replace

ideas

with

symbols;

for

example,

one

way

of organizing

this

compare-and-contrast

paper

would

be

to

think

about

fasting

in Islam

and

fasting

in Christianity

as two

sets,

I

and

C, with

the

same

five

or so themes

in each

set:

I

C

r.

r,

T

z

T

z

T

3

T

3

T.

T.

T,

Or,

alternatively,

you

could

think

of each

of the

five

themes

as a set

containing

the

ideas

of the

two

religions:

Listening

to

the

Wort:

T

1

I

C

T

z

I

C

Etc.

Undergraduates

from

abroad

are

often

strong

in math

and

will

catch

on

quickly,

once

the

ideas,

grammar,

and

vocabulary

are

out

of the

way

for

the

moment

so that

they

can

focus

on

organization.

The

is to model

the

explicit

language

they

might

use

to talk

about

the

ideas

they

are

comparing:

"While

in

Islam,

fasting

means

X,

in

Christianity

it means

Y";

or "In

Islam,

fasting

means

X; on

the

other

hand,

in Christianity

it means

Y:'

I usually

write

these

sentences

out

on

paper

for

students

to take

home

and

use

as

models;

they

may

understand

this

concept

easily

while

we

are

talking

about

it, but

then

lose

it when

they

start

their

and

become

immersed

again

in the

ideas

and

the

language.

linking

U.S.

academic

style

with

math

also

helps

students

under-

stand

our

expectation

that

writers

make

the

relationships

between

ideas

very

explicit.

When

they

use

active

verbs

and

conjunctions

that

show

cause

and

effect,

when

they

make

sure

that

subjects

can

do

what

the

verbs

suggest

they

can,

when

they

use

transition

words

and

expressions

or pick

up

the

language

of the

in the

next,

they

are

linking

ideas

in much

the

same

way

as they

would

link

numbers

with

plus

or minus

signs

or other

mathematical

symbols-

and

for

much

the

same

reason:

to tell

the

reader

directly

how

they

intend

the

terms

or ideas

to be

other.

While

working

with

students

on

constructing

their

papers

a little

more

mathematically,

I often

emphasize

that

this

rather

mechanical

way

of presenting

ideas

might

seem

a little

tedious

to read,

and

that

I realize

it may

leave

out

a great

deal

that

could

be

more

comfortably

expressed

within

a looser

or more

digressive

framework,

or by

letting

the

readers

do

more

of the

connection

and

interpretation

themselves.

Still,

using

this

style

is a successful

way

to communicate

with

instructors

on

a complex

subject,

I tell

them,

because

it will

always

be

obvious

what

the

points

of comparison

are,

and

how

and

to what

degree

these

points

are

similar

and

different-the

kind

of information

the

instructors

value,

in a form

they

are

anticipating

and

can

easily

understand.

Helping

World

Majority

Students

Critiquing

Authorities

Because

direct

criticism

is embarrassingly

impolite

or even

politically

dangerous

in many

cultures,

expecting

world

majority

students

to feel

at home

critiquing

the

authors

they

read

is somewhat

unrealistic.

This

problem

is often

more

evident

at the

graduate

level

than

it is for

undergraduates;

first-year

students

from

any

culture

often

feel,

quite

rightly,

that

they

don't

have

enough

experience

or

information

to

evaluate

critically

what

authorities

in

the

field

have

said.

By

their

junior

or

senior

year,

however,

and

certainly

by

the

graduate

level,

we

expect

that

they

do

know

enough-at

least

enough

to venture

an

analysis

of how

carefully

a study

was

constructed,

how

significant

are

the

results

of

an

experiment,

how

logical

a given

theory

is or

how

applicable

in practice.

But

in cultures

that

are

based

on

a stricter,

more

pervasive

hierarchy,

students

feel-and

are-subordinate

longer;

until

they

have

credentials

and

status,

their

role

is to accumulate

information,

not

to

critique

it.

"Maybe

that's

what

Paulo

Freire

calls

'banking

education:

" says

a Brazilian

graduate

student.

"That's

what

has

social

value

in my

culture-if

a person

shows

they

know

lots

of details.

It's

not

so much

what

you

do

with

that

information

that's

important:'

To

help

students

take

on

a different

role

in U.S.

culture

with

its

more

egalitarian

assumptions,

I sometimes

suggest

that

students

imag-

ine

themselves

in a specific

position

of authority

when

they

write.

If

for

example,

they

are

to critique

the

university's

policy

on

multicul-

turalism,

I might

ask

them

to imagine

they

are

a consultant

on

this

issue

reporting

to a faculty

committee;

if they

are

supposed

to mention

the

strengths

and

drawbacks

of a social

agency

in the

community,

I

might

suggest

that

they

assume

the

role

of outside

evaluator

or social

work

supervisor

called

in

to help

the

agency

adopt

specific

policy

measures

to

improve

their

services.

Stressing

that

this

is playacting

and

carefully

defining

both

the

role

and

the

task

can

help

students

go

beyond

descriptions

of policies

and

services

into

the

less

familiar

area

of frank,

detailed

critique.

Though

many

world

majority

students

need

encouragement

to

critique

authorities,

I have

known

others

who

take

to it with

unexpected

zeal.

Mohammed,

a community

activist

from

Indonesia

who

was

used

to attacking

the

ideologies

of other

political

factions

but

not

quibbling

(as

he

saw

it)

with

those

who

followed

his

own

school

of

thought,

looked

forward

to the

increased

freedom

to criticize

others

in the

U.S.

context.

"When

I came

to graduate

school

here,

I thought,

'This

is an

ideal

society;

I will

attack

everybody!'

" he

told

me.

"So

I began

to

strongly

argue

with

all

my

professors

in class.

But

soon

I found

that

I

~

121

122

Listening

to the World

so~e

I had

counted

as my

friends

became

very

distant.

And

then

I

realized

that

it's

just

like

in my

culture;

people

hurt,

as human

beings

when

you

argue

with

them

directly."

,

Working

with

students

like

Mohammed

can

be

difficult

because

like

many

Americans

who

travel

abroad,

he does

not

easily

distinguish

the

nuances

of

an

unfamiliar

culture.

While

he

is trying

to

decide

whether

U.S.

professors

are

either

very

sensitive,

like

he

is,

or com-

pletely

immune

to criticism,

he

may

overlook

an

important

idea:

that

academic

argument

is generally

couched

in relatively

cool,

objective

language

that

focuses

attention

away

from

the

person

and

onto

the

ideas

being

evaluated

in order

to get

at "the

truth;'

or

at least

at a

smart,

sensible

way

of

looking

at a topic,

which,

we

believe,

will

further

the

cause

of

"science"

or

"reason:'

If Mohammed

wants

a

deeper

understanding

of "how

this

culture

thinks;'

he will

need

time-

time

with

an

understanding

adviser,

time

observing

presentations

and

critique

in seminars

and

conferences,

and

plenty

of opportunities

to

ca.~

out

his

professors'

expectations

for

"independent

thought"

and

critical

analysis

in writing.

At

the

same

time,

if the

faculty

members

who

work

with

him

want

t~ und~tan~

why

his

writing

seems

to have

so

many

difficulties-

difficuI~es

WIth

emotional

language,

with

insufficient

evidence,

with

cle~r,

direct

statements

of his

own

position-they

need

to understand

a little

more

about

why

his

way

of expressing

himself

makes

sense

in

the

context

of his

culture.

Indonesia

is a land

of incredible

cultural

an~

geo~a~hic

diversity:

more

than

three

hundred

ethnic

groups,

five

major

religions,

and

thousands

of

languages

and

dialects

scattered

over

thirteen

thousand

islands.

This

diversity

has

contributed

to the

propensity

of

its

people

to

identify

themselves

with

factions

and

~and,

Mohammed

suggests,

for

its intellectuals

to ally

themselves

WIth

separate,

often

competing

schools

of

thought.

Though

these

gr~~ps

may

adopt

a live-and-let-live

philosophy

or,

at times,

may

critique

eac~

.other

.o~y,

nevertheless,

within

each

group,

harmony

and

collectivist

solidanty

are

valued

over

expressions

of

individual

difference

or

quibbles

over

precise

details

of

evidence.

Thus,

when

Mohammed

adopts

a position

he

tends

to adopt

it wholesale;

if he

were

to critique

a major

tenet

of his

own

school

of thought,

it would

be

tantamount

to declaring

his

allegiance

to an

opposing

school.

In

fact,

he

.told

me,

in

Javanese

culture,

where

drawing

attention

to

yourself

IS

considered

childish,

the

accepted

way

to let

your

audience

know

your

position

is by

allying

yourself

with

a group;

you

need

only

take

on

the

language

of a particular

faction

and

explain

things

as they

do,

and

your

position

will

be

obvious.

(

I

,

I

Helping

World

Majority

Students

Engaging

students

like

Mohammed

in conversation

about

why

they

present

their

topics

the

way

they

do,

making

the

cultural

expectation

for

direct

critique

clear,

and

providing

opportunities

for

them

to practice

weighing

and

balancing

the

positions

of

different

authors,

"letting

their

views

rub

up

against

each

other;'

as one

of his

professors

put

it,

will

be useful-especially

if such

opportunities

are

offered

long

before

students

take

on

major

papers

or writing

for

publication.

Plagiarism

A professor

of art

history

comes

to see

me

at the

end

of the

semester,

wanting

to know

if I have

an

official

handout

on

plagiarism.

As

I

search

my

files,

I ask

her

what

the

problem

is.

"This

student

is a

graduating

senior;'

she

tells

me,

"but

there

is no

way

he

will

pass

my

course.

I've

talked

to him

several

times

about

plagiarism,

so he

knows

what

it means.

But

he

continues

to lift

passages

right

out

of the

text.

In other

places,

I can

see

where

he's

changing

just

a few

of the

words,

thinking

he

can

get

away

with

it:'

I look

up

at her;

she's

not

angry,

just

stating

the

facts.

"Is

this

an

international

student?"

I ask.

"Yes.

Korean;'

says

the

instructor.

I close

the

file

drawer.

"I'll

find

you

the

handout

if you

like;'

I tell

her.

"But

since

you've

already

explained

to him

what

he's

doing

wrong

and

he

continues

to do

it, I don't

think

the

definition

and

examples

we've

got

here

will

help.

This

student

comes

from

a system

where

the

relationship

between

the

student

and

the

authority

of teachers

and

texts

is very

different

from

what

it is here.

I don't

think

he's

trying

to

get

away

with

anything,

I think

he's

just

not

as convinced

as we

are

that

his

own

words

are

more

important

than

those

of the

author:'

"He

understands

about

individual

ownership

of ideas;'

the

instructor

says.

"That

seems

quite

clear

to him:'

"But

the

concept

of the

individual

is different

in our

society

than

it is in his.

In our

culture,

children

are

trained

to think

of themselves

as separate

individuals

from

the

time

they

are

born.

We

put

our

infants

in separate

beds,

even

in separate

rooms

away

from

their

parents

and

siblings-something

that

people

from

many

cultures

find

shocking,

like

a kind

of child

abuse.

And

as they

grow

up

we

set

them

apart

from

us in mechanical

contraptions:

walkers,

highchairs,

baby

swings,

playpens.

We

give

them

objects

to play

with

instead

of human

hands

to hold.

They

are

separate

individuals

before

they

learn

to walk.

And

we

continue

to

reinforce

this

concept

as

they

get

older-on

the

r',

24

Listening

to the

w(

playground,

in

the

classroom,

in

family

interactions.

But

in

most

cultures,

children

have

grown

up

much

more

connected

to

other

human

beings,

so

it's

hard

for

them

to feel

convinced

that

it is all

that

important

to delineate

whose

ideas

are

whose

and

to sanction

those

who

don't

respect

personal

boundaries:'

"1 hadn't

thought

about

that;'

says

the

instructor.

"But

then

how

do

we

evaluate

such

a student,

especially

when

he's

about

to graduate?

I don't

know

how

it's

possible

that

he has

come

so far

in the

university

without

coming

up

against

this

before:'

"Students

don't

necessarily

have

to do

a lot

of writing

during

their

four

years

here;'

I remind

her.

"It's

possible

to take

courses

that

are

evaluated

by

multiple-choice

exams

or short

essay

questions

that

just

ask

for

facts.

I recently

worked

with

a dentist

from

the

Middle

East

doing

his

master's

in

public

health

administration

who

was

doing

much

the

same

thing

as your

student-changing

the

text

only

slightly

and

using

enormous

quotes

from

a single

source

rather

than

coming

up

with

his

own

argument.

His

instructor

had

the

same

question,

how

to

evaluate

the

student,

especially

after

she

understood

that

the

misunderstanding

was

cultural.

In the

end,

she

gave

him

only

a bit

more

leeway

than

the

others,

even

though

he

was

terribly

nervous

and

dissatisfied

with

his

grade.

She

says

it's

her

responsibility

to

uphold

the

same

standards

for

everyone.

But

she

also

says

she

feels

lucky

that

she

was

once

a foreign

exchange

student

at a high

school

in the

Philippines-it's

given

her

an

idea

of what

these

students

are

going

through:'

"50

what

do

you

suggest

I do?"

"There's

no easy

answer;'

I tell

her.

"1 think

it's

best

to look

carefully

at what

he

is doing

on

his

papers

that

is really

bothering

you.

If it's

simply

a matter

of

the

number

of

words

he

has

changed

in

his

paraphrase,

he

can

get

help

in fixing

that

relatively

easily.

But

if you

really

want

him

to develop

an

independent

argument,

and

what

he

is doing

is stitching

together

pieces

of text

from

various

sources,

that's

a different

matter.

He

won't

be able

to completely

change

the

way

he

envisions

the

assignment

in a few

weeks

at the

end

of the

semester-

and

if he

is like

the

dentist,

he'll

be so fed

up

that

he

won't

want

to,

either.

For

a student

who

is more

practically

than

theoretically

inclined

and

who

is about

to return

to a different

cultural

system,

learning

to

view

the

individual

differently

and

then

translating

that

into

academic

writing

might

not

be

particularly

relevant:'

"This

is complicated;'

says

the

instructor.

"But

I can

see

that,

for

my

student

at

least,

holding

up

his

graduation

probably

isn't

a

reasonable

solution

to the

plagiarism

problem:'

Helping

World

Majority

Students

(

125

"Analysis"

or "Critical

Thinking"

j

I

!

I

"This

is strictly

descriptive

material;'

says

a terse

note

describing

a

Kenyan

student's

doctoral

dissertation.

"The

author's

perspective

is

almost

non-existent.

There

is no

attempt

to discover

why

the

educa-

tional

system

is as it is.

The

present

system

is not

placed

within

the

cultural

context

of the

time.

The

brief

history

of Kenya

does

not

help

to explain

the

present

structure

or its curriculum:'

This

note

to me,

written

by

a professor

who

had

agreed

to

find

examples

of "poor

analysis"

for

my

study,

illustrates

the

failure

of the

system

at its

height:

a mid-career

doctoral

student

has

put

in four

or

five

years

of his

life

away

from

his

home,

family,

and

profession

and

has

finally

sent

his

dissertation

to his

committee

for

their

approval.

But

he

has

gotten

so little

useful

help

along

the

way

with

writing

and

thinking

in the

U.S.

university

context

that

all

his

work

is now

being

devalued;

even

if he

does

receive

his

degree,

it will

not

be considered

anywhere

near

"world

class:'

This

situation

might

have

been

avoided,

years

ago,

if the

faculty

giving

feedback

on

course

papers

and

his

advisers

in the

dissertation

process

had

understood

that

his

articulate,

thorough,

completely

off-the-point

style

was

culturally

based

rather

than

an

embarrassing

flaw

in his

preparation

or "thinking

process:'

Talking

about

"analysis"

with

world

majority

students

always

in-

volves

talking

about

cultural

expectations.

As

I have

tried

to

show,

this

thing

we

call

"critical

thinking"

or "analysis"

has

strong

cultural

components.

It is more

than

just

a set

of

writing

and

thinking

techniques-it

is a voice,

a stance,

a relationship

with

texts

and

authorities

that

is taught,

both

consciously

and

unconsciously,

by

family

members,

friends,

teachers,

the

media,

even

the

history

of one's

country.

This

is why

"critical

analysis"

is so hard

for

faculty

members

to talk

about;

because

it is learned

intuitively

it is easy

to recognize,

like

a face

or a personality,

but

it is not

so easily

defined

and

is not

at all simple

to explain

to someone

who

has

been

brought

up

differently.

Doing

"critical

analysis"

involves

the

cultural

expectation

to

write

assertively-or

"aggressively;'

as

many

world

majority

students

ex-

perience

it. It means

making

overt

connections

within

and

between

sentences

and

paragraphs

and

finding

words

that

show

exact

relation-

ships

between

ideas,

as is required

in a low-context

culture.

It means

noticing

and

seeing

as important

small

differences

in individual

authors'

personalities,

styles,

and

"takes"

on

an

intellectual

problem.

It means

valuing

separateness

over

harmony

and

quick,

new

solutions

over

lengthy,

mature

reflection.

It means

being

so explicit

that

little

is left

to the

imagination

or

to the

interpretive

powers

of the

audience.

It

I

•

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