I attended a seminar last Thursday, and the topic is about how to do business in China. In the seminar, a speaker said a very interesting story about the culture difference as following. There are two baskets of eggs. One of them are American eggs and the other are Chinese eggs. The first egg hatches out from the American basket will think that “Yeah, I am the first one,” while the one from Chinese basket will go back to the egg shell pretending nothing happened. I totally agree this story but I wonder why.
Some reasons come to my mind. First of all, the way parents and teachers teach the kids are quite different. In Taiwan or most Asia countries, parents and teachers tend to teach the kids in a negative way. Even thought you are perfect, they have to tell you some shortcomings to be improved. As a result, we are likely unconfident. On the other hand, American parents or teachers tend to teach in a positive way. After attending classes in America, I built some confidence because the teachers always exalt me even when I asked a silly question.
Secondly, I found that the status of American kids is higher than Chinese kids. There is a well-known Taiwanese saying: “Kids should only have ears and shouldn’t have mouth.” In contrast, as a student here, I found that I was highly respected in class. For instance, I attend ACC as a part-time student; however, ACC financially supported me to the seminar and gave me the chance to contribute to my class. It’s impossible in Taiwan unless I am a PhD student. It really shocked me that how Americans value a kid or a student.
Despite all the points above, I don’t think Americans are better. Sometimes, I will think that Americans are overconfident. It’s hard to balance between two cultures, but I think it’s interesting to know others’ cultures and then respect them.
Wow~ Totally interesting!!!
回覆刪除Uhm...let me think.....! You know what, I totally agree with you. I have observed some situational such as the behavior and attitudes of the children in Vietnam and in America. Some how I felt how could it be so different like that, and I felt really sorry for our kids. In America, if you give the kids somethings they don't like, or tell them to do something thy don't want, they would say "No, I don't like it!" I don't want to emphasize if that attitude is good or not, at least they can express their mind, tell us their opinion. Unlike in Vietnam, as you have said above “Kids should only have ears and shouldn’t have mouth.”
Frankly, I feel angry and disappointed with our education system. We are not expected to ask questions and to give our point of view during class. That's attitude is just like a barrier in the education. It limits our imagination, views and even the confidence.