This week, during a presentation I gave to a local organization, I shared a story about a recent experience I had teaching an entrepreneurship class primarily made up of international students.
After the story, someone chimed in and said: “That is something you should write about in your column.”
So, I’ve decided to take that advice.
I taught an entrepreneur course at Royal Roads University last semester. The first assignment for the students was to take an online quiz that would provide insight into their entrepreneurial skills. Then they wrote a paper about the results of the quiz.
When I sat down to mark the 39 papers, I found that each one addressed what people thought they were lacking. In paper after paper, I read about the students’ lack of confidence and skills. It was hard to read them, and I am sure it was hard to write them, too.
I knew that there was a disconnect and it had nothing to do with the students’ abilities. They were fourth-year students in the last semester of their program. Clearly, they are committed, talented and hard-working.
As I reflected on this, I concluded that humility was playing a significant role in the outcome of the assignment.
In my work in Indigenous relations and communications, I often see how humility carries significant weight in Indigenous communities. Humility shapes how people communicate, how they demonstrate respect, and how they move through the world.
I was raised in a non-Indigenous home and did not grow up immersed in Indigenous culture.
I think the assignment was initially designed for people who are immersed in western culture. The first assignment should give the students confidence and start the course getting them excited. That was what it was supposed to do, but the cultural values from many of the students did the opposite.
This isn’t the students’ fault, and they aren’t wrong. When we work with other people, we need to be able to meet them where they are, and not expect others to cater to our ways of doing things all the time.
I am not saying that western culture isn’t humble, but humility plays a different role. The assignment was structured with the anticipation that people would highlight their strengths as they answered questions. If people have been raised to not boast about their strengths, it can be uncomfortable to be put in situations where you need to.
The final assignment in the course required students to retake the online quiz and write another paper about the results to demonstrate growth through the course. I knew it wouldn’t work.
I talked to my program head, Moira Macdonald, and explained the situation. She helped me craft a new assignment to replace it, one that honoured humility and would give the students confidence.
I talked to the students about my thoughts on the assignment and how humility affected the outcome.
I asked if they had a hard time writing the first paper and I saw a class of nodding heads. When I told them that they wouldn’t need to do that again, I saw the relief and many students thanked me.
With Moira’s help, we replaced the assignment with a new concept. I had the class divide into small groups. Each group would engage in conversation and one by one, each group member received feedback from their peers about their entrepreneurial skills, with examples to support it.
Then the students wrote a paper on the feedback they received from their peers and their reflections on the experience.
I read 39 papers that beamed with confidence. Students wrote about strengths their peers saw in them that they didn’t see in themselves, or they weren’t comfortable discussing.
We moved away from students doing an assignment that clashed with their cultural humility, and still achieved the outcome the initial assignment was designed to accomplish.
