Using cultural frameworks, and based on the author's personal experience and conversations with fellow Chinese and American graduate students, this essay analyzes the struggle for Chinese students who have to strike a balance between the American style of learning which is characterized by class discussion and the Chinese style of learning which encourages rote learning and memorization. To memorize or to discuss, that is the question, the question faced by nearly all Chinese university students who are displaced from their Chinese educational background into an American academic setting. It is much more than an issue of memorization or discussion; it is a matter of how one explores and interprets the world. An appropriate combination of the two will make an effective way of learning.