During Professor Takehiko Ito’s Logical Thinking course, our students learn how to express themselves clearly and formulate their opinions using logic – an indispensable requirement for classes using Active Learning methods. Since the skills gained during this course are needed in every other class, the freshmen need to do their best every time. The main topic of today’s class (the 6th week of Term 1), was diversity. The discussion revolved around the case on Chinese citizens who have experienced working in a venture business in Japan.
What is diversity? In HR this word means an unbiased way of thinking, promoting equal employment of workers regardless of their nationality, gender or age. There are many companies actively searching for diverse people, aiming to find competent and capable workers who will be able to fill certain niches.
Today’s discussion
Today, the students discussed the topic of diversity, basing on a case with a Chinese as a protagonist. It is said that there are two types of diversity – the visible one and the imperceptible one. Students, asked by the Professor to give specific examples, offered the following answers:
Visible diversity:
Race, nationality, age, gender, behavior, etc.
Imperceptible diversity:
Feelings, religion, experience, received education, etc.
Then, the Professor continued his questioning: “It’s hard to deal with diversity, but easy to respect it. What kind of behavior shows respect?”. His pupils replied with various ideas, i.a.,”Trying to understand someone’s beliefs instead of ordering them to renounce their religion”, or,”Don’t criticize vegetarians for their food choice, but rather comply with it”.
Learn a method to deepen your thinking and develop logical thinking skills
During Professor Ito’s classes one can often see students being asked additional questions after responding to the first one. Simple “Why?”, or “What makes you think that?”, gives his pupils an opportunity to dig deeper. Having taken part in such a course, they acquire the ability to second-guess themselves, so we expect them to develop their logical thinking skills even further.