In the article the author identifies how for many of us in the west, we see any struggle with learning as a sign of weakness or a lack of intelligence; whereas in Japan they see struggle as an opportunity and this makes all the difference. Many of us who teach have seen how our students struggle and give up, because they see it as a sign of failure or a basic inability to learn. They often wrongly identify successful students as those who are smarter, better, or luckier – some innate quality that they are lacking. They see learning as a result of outside forces rather than from their own effort or perseverance. What that means for teachers is that we need to emphasize the same message you received about the dancing: start off small, build on what you learn, and hang in there.