10/24/19 Week 6 Response to Individualism vs. Collectivism

Is there a difference between Individualism and Collectivism? 

 VS

If you take a look at both of these pictures, you kind of get an idea of how individualism and collectivism work. They are different things, yes. They also have positives and negatives about them both. Let's see what they are: 

Individualism: 

The positives of individualism are: 

• It allows people to be themselves 
• It creates a respect for others and who they are in society
• It allows for more progress 
• Allows for a more diverse society with many different personalities

The negatives or disadvantages are: 

• Feeling lonely or isolated
• Being too hard on yourself personally when you don't accomplish something that you felt you could 
• It could also lead to selfish actions 

Now, these are just some of my opinions about the positives and negatives of individualism. I just learned about this today as part of my TESOL classes. Let's now shift topics and talk about the negatives and positives of collectivism. 

Collectivism 

The positives are: 

• Equal opportunities for everyone
• A team and togetherness theme/feeling

The negatives are: 

• Less individual rights so people might be treated unfairly
• There is also a significantly less amount of diversity. 

I liked learning about these ideas because in my future teaching career I think it is important to implement a mixture of both. Instead of making it all about individuals all the time, it is important to incorporate a team and togetherness feeling in the classroom. 

I think in my own work I try to help my current students understand the role of working together. They also use a lot of their own individual rights when it comes to other activities we do! It is fun to learn about new things in this class because it really excites me for my future in teaching and helps me understand the importance of it in our world today. 

Anyways, that's all for this post! Thanks for reading!