Issue 112. We can usually learn much more from people whose views we share than from those whose views contradict our own.

Individuals have their consciousness and thought, and we usually seek recognition from others in groups. Whether we can learn more from people with the same views with us than whose views contradict our own can be weighed in many aspects. In my opinion, I do not concur with the statement, and the reasons will discuss below.

Admittedly, when we interact with people with the same values will create a sense of recognizance. For example, in the student club, we tend to socialize and discuss with others with the same views as ours and learn easily without pressure from those people. However, there are some disadvantages when we only learn and stay in the same culture.

First of all, cooperation is the prodigious and potent power to propel the progress in any field in society. For example, in aviation technology, aviation engineers seek to create a more efficient, low fuel consumption, and economical design of aircraft. When collaborating with bird expertise, the team can create more advanced wing design to generate more lift and less drag in every flight. In this case, the cooperation authentically amplifies the benefit of other fields and learn from people with different values. Therefore, we cannot only stay in the same party or field, or the progress will not occur in any given field.

On the other hand, if people only learn from others with the same values, we will become stubborn and sluggish. In a common scenario, the first response to different opinions is to resist and try to defend our views and seek approbation from different parties. However, the pressure in the discussion and learning will not inhibit our progress but gives incentives to us to absorb different values and creat innovations. The contradiction is necessary to propel us to move forward and avert becoming intransigent. If people only recognize and learn in the same culture, we will not become competitive enough in this fast-changing world. Therefore, to avoid becoming obdurate, we should step out of our corners and learn from different views.

To sum up, the statement is not as persuasive as it stands. Base on my expositions and illustrations mentioned above, people may feel frustrated when facing different values from others. Nonetheless, we can learn and create more when cooperating with different opinions and prevent ourselves from becoming stubborn and provincial.

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