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)
Dear Nicholas,
ReplyDeleteYou raised an interesting example of how education reflected the Chinese perception of self as you were not allowed to provide a new idea and question the teacher. However, this is now encouraged in Hwa Chong Institution. This may sound personal, but I am just using it as an example to show my point. In class, you usually do not speak up much or contribute new ideas. Would this be because of the previous method of education you have went through in the past? Singapore's education system has been criticised for suppressing the creativity and curiosity in students as teachers only lecture and do not encourage their students to question. However, it is true that the education system is shifting now to be more similar to the American perception of self. Given that you are currently going through the education system, how effective do you think the changes have been? I would say that they have not been very effective as it has been impressed on students at a young age not to question. I can only speak for myself, but I realise that I do not even want to speak out in class or provide my ideas any more even when it is encouraged. Is this because of the education I have received? If education can impact how we perceive ourselves, and the method of teaching is purposely being geared to try and make students be more open in expressing their views, I actually think that is a rather scary concept. It is strange to think that if I had been educated differently, I would think differently and see myself differently. In fact, I would be a totally different person. The impact of the Chinese and American perception of self may have a much more significant and deep impact than what we previously thought.
Sincerely,
Samuel Koh
Hi Nicholas,
ReplyDeleteI found your journal very enjoyable to read! I think you have answered the question very thoroughly and provided many personal examples in different areas such as in discussions, interaction with elders and leadership which has helped me understand how these perceptions of self have affected you much better.
Your journal started off with an example that really left a great impact on me. If I had had such an experience, I would definitely be very demoralised. However, as I am here typing this comment right now, the education landscape is changing as we know it. In Hwa Chong we are being taught to discuss issues and voice our opinions and this is stressed so much more as it is an important skill which we all need to have in life. We need to be able to state our own views, and stand up for what we think is right. I think that you should not be afraid to speak up in class and you do not have to be hesitant about raising a new point as we have been taught to try to understand each other's perspectives and be more accepting and open minded. Thus I think this should not be something which holds you back from sharing your knowledge and opinions with the class! It will be beneficial to both us as well as you and one can only learn through experience, and this will also build up your confidence.
Another point I would like to comment on would be the one about how both perceptions of self have influenced your take on leadership. I feel that leaders should not have sheep thinking or make a decision in order to "maintain a harmonious society". In this area, I would think that the American perception of self would triumph over the Chinese perception of self. In leadership, recognising your own right to voice your own opinions in order to achieve a greater purpose is very important. Good leaders always have their own view on matters and are unafraid to voice them, regardless of whatever criticism he might receive. However one thing to consider would be: would the Chinese perception of self with regards to the respect of authority and hierarchy potentially allow the leader to lead more efficiently?
Thank you for the very insightful journal :)
-Jiefeng
Hi Nicholas
ReplyDeleteI think that your blog is quite insightful and it shows many examples about how the two perceptions of self affected you, and I enjoyed reading your journal. However, I think that the respect for hierarchy in your family might be a result of your family culture and not that much on the Chinese perception of self. In my family, children are to greet their elders and they are supposed to wait for elders to eat before they do and the list goes on and on. I personally do not agree that this is not really affected by the chinese perception of self but maybe the chinese culture of respecting the elderly, not very linked to the respect to hierarchy.
Dear Nicholas,
ReplyDeleteI honestly find your post very interesting to read, with many real-life examples that I could relate to, with very meaningful points as well!
You stated that:
“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.”
I agree very much with your point. I feel that one of the reasons a higher authority would not encourage questioning is to stabilize his or her power. On a political scale, there is censorship of information. One cannot go out on the road shouting bad things about our president Tony Tan, nor can he post very offensive things about our president online. By censoring such information, the public will be left with good opinions of the president over the internet. This is to ensure that everyone has proper respect for the authority, in this case is the president. And this is why the government is so afraid of being questioned. Like what you mentioned, it allows the “lower authority” to tackle their weaknesses, making them appear in a darker light, making them seem weaker and less capable, thus affecting their political power. This is what is happening to the PAP now, and it is the result of citizens being more willing to question.
Back to my point on stabilizing power, I feel that even on the everyday basis, a usual teacher or employer would not like a subordinate to ask too many questions. The same reason applies. When many questions are asked, especially those that would stump the higher authority, their power will be weakened, as they will now be viewed as a less capable person due to the inability to answer questions. Also, questioning the higher authority’s authority is also a challenge to them. That is why in 1984, the Big Brother was so afraid people would question them they not only have the police to arrest those who questions the party, they even have the “Thought Police” to be in charge of people with “Thought Crime”, meaning they have thoughts that question the party. Therefore, I agree with your point that higher authorities also have agendas behind what they do, and questioning would uncover that, thus high authorities usually do not like questions to be raised or their authority to be questioned.
Regards,
Jing Ling
Dear Nicholas,
ReplyDeleteI honestly find your post very interesting to read, with many real-life examples that I could relate to, with very meaningful points as well!
You stated that:
“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.”
I agree very much with your point. I feel that one of the reasons a higher authority would not encourage questioning is to stabilize his or her power. On a political scale, there is censorship of information. One cannot go out on the road shouting bad things about our president Tony Tan, nor can he post very offensive things about our president online. By censoring such information, the public will be left with good opinions of the president over the internet. This is to ensure that everyone has proper respect for the authority, in this case is the president. And this is why the government is so afraid of being questioned. Like what you mentioned, it allows the “lower authority” to tackle their weaknesses, making them appear in a darker light, making them seem weaker and less capable, thus affecting their political power. This is what is happening to the PAP now, and it is the result of citizens being more willing to question.
Back to my point on stabilizing power, I feel that even on the everyday basis, a usual teacher or employer would not like a subordinate to ask too many questions. The same reason applies. When many questions are asked, especially those that would stump the higher authority, their power will be weakened, as they will now be viewed as a less capable person due to the inability to answer questions. Also, questioning the higher authority’s authority is also a challenge to them. That is why in 1984, the Big Brother was so afraid people would question them they not only have the police to arrest those who questions the party, they even have the “Thought Police” to be in charge of people with “Thought Crime”, meaning they have thoughts that question the party. Therefore, I agree with your point that higher authorities also have agendas behind what they do, and questioning would uncover that, thus high authorities usually do not like questions to be raised or their authority to be questioned.
Regards,
Jing Ling