Creative/critical thinking is taught heavily from kindergarten in western schools.

In contrast to eastern education which tends to greatly focus on memorization through repetition.. (i.e https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rote_learning)

The quote you have included is based on Taoism. Is that common? I was under the impression that Confucianism has the more dominant influence on values and thought.

Anyways, at least that's one thing we can agree on - Taoism's philosophy encourages an open mind and awareness.

> In contrast to eastern education which tends to greatly focus on memorization through repetition..

Wouldn't quite say that is true. People use a variety of techniques to get scored higher and there's always a certain percentage who will use such rote learning techniques, be it eastern or western.

I think what what's missing in the discussion is the western focus on individualism as compared to east asian communitarianism. Both have their pros and cons and mutual dislikes.

There was a book by 2 high level western/eastern women managers in Hewlett Packard that highlights this dichotomy. It's a great read.

> individualism as compared to east asian communitarianism

Again, that's because of a deep rooting in Confucianism. Also, "Communitarianism" is a western (Christian) philosophy. It may have been borrowed from Confucianism? I'm not sure. A lot of religions and philosophies share these kinds of values, so it's not unique to just one region / culture, IMO.

Anyhow, neither is better or worse, and probably a balance between communitarianism and individualism is best. All cultures can learn from each other.

> Also, "Communitarianism" is a western (Christian) philosophy

Hm probably a better word would be collectivism

> Edit: Also in the usa we're taught do your own homework for example.

I went to a mix of 7 private and government schools between K through 12th grades in the US, and I don’t remember any of them not having group projects. Some, or most of the homework is individual, but there’s plenty of group work too.

He's referring to the phenomenon of certain groups of students cheating on homework and justifying it by claiming it's a cultural difference in approach to learning. It's not. It's outright splitting up work between peers, often with the use of illicit solutions manuals, for the purpose of gaming the grading system. It's especially beneficial in classes where the professor just writes exams from homework problems or problems very similar to them.

There isn't anything special or insightful, mystical or different or "eastern" about cooperative learning. I'm thoroughly "western" and had plenty of homework groups in both undergrad and grad school. Nor is there anything special about the cooperative cheating I described: "certain groups" applied to plenty of western peer groups I saw in undergrad especially, though they didn't claim what they were doing was some "cultural" thing, as they knew it was simply cheating.