Task:
We have discussed and debated on the Chinese and American perceptions of self. Reflect on the impact of these beliefs in your life.
Personally, the Chinese perception of self was demonstrated most vividly to me during a math lesson in primary two when I introduced a new method to a problem. Instead of applauding my creativity in solving the problem, the teacher frowned, then told me I was wrong. When I asked why, she was not interested and even warned me that she was the teacher, and that I had to follow the pace of the class and not create disturbance by introducing something foreign to them. Summarising, the Chinese especially stress the avoidance of airing one's opinion to "maintain harmony", and knowing one's place in a hierarchical relationship. This had a profound impact on me.
Firstly, this shaped the way I expressed myself in discussions. For example, I rarely bring up new points into discussion as I fear that the other parties will not have mutual understanding with what I am trying to say. Therefore, I would just expound and elaborate, or provide evidences or examples of that point, since I have a higher chance of reaching mutual understanding with the other parties, and not cause disturbance to the understanding of a topic to other people.
Next, this affected my interaction with my elders, or people of higher status. For example, I will use formal language when I am interacting with my grandparents at the dinner table, and I will not rush into a meal while my parents are still in the midst of preparing or doing something else, a contrast to what I may do with friends. This is because I feel that using slang and behaving informally is a disrespect to my superiors, who are giving me the direction and tasks to accomplish in life.
Finally, this impacted me pertaining to my view of leadership. In my opinion, leaders have to enunciate their opinions and bring up new ideas which might lead to disagreement, or even conflicts. For example, I shivered at the thought of becoming one of the Singapore ministers. Whatever the ministers does, there was sure to be disagreement or outrage, like the current topic of the ministerial salaries paycut. As I am strongly influenced by the principle of maintaining "harmony", I prefer shielding my innermost thoughts from others, and following the dominance, as leaders often have to violate "harmony" when creating new or changing old policies.
Moving on, the American's perspective of self is centred around reason. They especially stress the importance to stand up for what one thinks is against reason, and that everyone should have freedom of speech and rights. This impacted my life somewhat.
Mainly, this impacted me in the way I make of decisions. In my opinion, I feel that important decisions should not be influenced by herd mentality, or pressure by others, and that it should be base on my own reasoning and freedom of will. For example, at the age of eight, although I was advised by my family and friends not to drop piano, I dropped it anyway. I did this because I felt that practices which I had on my own were usually void of passion or interest, and there was no point in continuing. The same went for the way I made my choice during PSLE or the programmes I applied for in my school days. Reasons and logic should guide your life. Although I will not say that I do not listen to advice, I will still base my ultimate decision on the reasoning of my own opinion, and I will not allow anyone to intrude the right for me to make my own decisions.
To a smaller extent, the American perception of self has also impacted me in the way on how I view the world. It has taught me how to question, about the hidden meanings in advertisements, about the agenda of political leaders, and about the purpose of authors of books writing in certain ways. For example, was there a hidden agenda in the decision to give out money for the "growth and share" package just before the 2011 general elections? Obviously the world is not what we are encouraged to see it as. It is not round. Therefore the American perception of self made me realise that I could view the world objectively through reason no matter what other people said or did, and this made me look deeper into global issues in the world.
In all, although both perceptions of self from two contrasting societies did impact me in one way or another, I feel that the Chinese beliefs have a larger impact on my life, as that is just more suited to my attitude towards life and because of the closer connection between China and Singapore. However, no matter how we are influenced, we are ultimately responsible for who we become.
(Word count: 800)
