Individualism vs. Collectivism

 Cultures change across the world. The world has changed and how people live in it, as well.

This week I have learned about Collectivism and Individualism in Cultures, and the differences of both behavioral characteristics are huge.

China is a country that "Sacrifice creativity, originality, divergent thinking, and Individualism". It has a remarkable economic status but it lacks so many other important aspects, and one of them as I said before is: Individualism.

Yong Zhao who is a presidential member and a professor at the University of Oregon believes in changing the reality of His country, China. Instead of having standards without creativity and autonomy, he prefers developing a new educational system, oriented to the individualism of students and their autonomy.

As a society, we learn and have grown with adults' principles and ideas, we acquire them unconsciously. Culture plays an important role in people's behavior.

Some countries or organizations live upon Individualistic values and others with Collectivistic ones. 

Individualistic cultures work independently, freely available to decide if they stay available or not. These groups have the freedom to choose for themselves and they choose about what they are becoming in life, to continually progress and improve as persons. This Individualistic group also tends to take control of their lives and take care of their own, they also feel free to share personal thoughts and express opinions. 

Personally, this is a needed culture at a point, sometimes both kinds of groups are mixed and work together. China's educational system needs to be focused more on each student and not something superficial without important outcomes.

In collective cultures, people feel shame or guilt for their behavior, which can affect how people live together and their interaction in society, because they are judged all the time. Collectivism is based on roles and experiences, and the group or family of the person defines who it is.  They do not have a strong value of progress so they do not improve their system.

Culture influences how decisions are made all the time, how important it is to know this. In a classroom, I think aspects of both points of view sometimes work together, because it is important to develop one's own abilities but it is also needed to work in groups and learn from the communication with others.