one’s mind and heart in study. Without such engagement, there would be no
true understanding, no mastery, let alone application of knowledge (Li, 2001,
2002b). In the words of respondents, “he is very careful and thorough in how
he goes about each worthy step of study” and “she is oftentimes so involved
as to forget to eat and sleep.”
These five learning virtues are clearly related to form a whole in intellec-
tual functioning. They all presume a desire to learn because, without it, these
learning processes and behaviors cannot be sustained. Without resolve and
its resultant commitment, diligence, endurance of hardship, and persistence
may be limited to sheer situational factors. Likewise, if concentration can be
halted by hardship or if one lacks perseverance, one’s resolve may be aborted
half-way.
Chinese respondents also revealed other learning processes and activities
similar to those revealed by their U.S. peers, such as thinking, participation in
social activities, and talking to people. However, compared to their U.S. re-
spondents, they mentioned those categories less. Similarly, whereas U.S. re-
spondents also acknowledged their model learners’ hard work and persis-
tence, their reference to these learning virtues was less consistent.
Kinds of Achievement. As Table 14.1 shows, there were also three general
kinds of achievement for which Chinese model learners aimed and against
which they are measured. The first one, depth and breadth, mastery of
knowledge, or both is also captured in Fig. 14.2 under “kinds of achieve-
ment.” Whereas breadth refers to one’s extensive knowledge of different dis-
ciplines or subjects, depth concerns one’s deep understanding of a subject or
genuine scholarship. Moreover, the integration of breadth and depth is also
emphasized. Even though the notion of mastery may not highlight breadth
and depth, it nevertheless stresses ownership of knowledge, and by implica-
tion the broader and deeper such ownership, the better. This achievement
standard seems sensible considering that the ultimate goal is self-perfection,
which is open-ended and lifelong in nature. Pursuing knowledge for a life’s
course could make breadth and depth and related mastery obtainable even
though knowledge is boundless. Respondents described that “it’s not the per-
fect score on an exam but deep and broad knowledge that can lead to original
work in one’s field.”
The second standard is application of knowledge. Although application of
knowledge is reminiscent of the U.S. personal problem solving, the Chinese
emphasis falls on the use of what one has learned in real life situations. The
conceptual distinction lies in book knowledge versus knowledge in use.
Whether such use is personal or social in origin matters less. This standard
thus includes application of knowledge that may not be deemed as creative in
any sense (e.g., use math to verify a bank transaction), personal creative
- AMERICAN AND CHINESE LEARNERS 407