CDE -- Opinion

Cultures differ from country to country, and even in geographically close regions, cultures can be very different. So the understanding of the fundamentals of as many cultures as possible, broadly split in this class into the Western and the Eastern cultures, is necessary to achieve multinational success, or at least to not offend the next foreign guest to come along, such as immersion programme students to my school. I think this class has the potential to give us that understanding, though there will not be much real interaction with the culture of the East, as it were -- Singapore is far too diluted in terms of culture, and anyway our own culture is popping up: tissue paper as "RESERVED" signs, sitting on reserved seats in public transport, complaining about others giving up their seats unwilling in public transport, and the list goes on in this land of complain-kings and queens, myself included.

The sweeping division of cultures into that of the West and that of the East is already quite inaccurate -- the West or East, strictly speaking has many different cultures inherent in them, since "West" could mean America, Canada, West Europe; while "East could refer to Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, China, Japan...

The West therefore refers to the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and EUROZONE COUNTRIES; The East refers to CHINA.

And isn't it strange that we are only learning the cultures of these economic giants? The point of this class can therefore be seen as a means of preparing us for the projected market of the future, in which we can use our cultural knowledge to please our foreign clients and others. But does it not seem to sideline other cultures of this diverse world that we would do well to know?

For example, we are completely missing out on cultures closer to Singapore: Thai culture, Malaysian culture, Indonesian culture, Indian culture, so on and so forth. Why? Is it that they are not worth investing in in future? No, Thailand is a great place to look to for business, with its low labour rates. Is it that they have less history than the 400 years of USA, the 2500 years of Europe, or the 4000 years of China? Perhaps yes to China and Europe, but India has a rich history too, what with the old feudal lords, and Buddhism, and Mahatma Gandhi with his famous pacifist fight for independence. Is it because of their political power and military might that we should learn to placate them? If so, India, Russia, the Middle East, North Korea, and more and more countries now have WMDs, so why not learn about them? And isn't the neighbourhood an easier place to invest in?

Perhaps it is because of time constraints, that we are obliged to learn about the world powers only; perhaps it is due to the influence they exert, that we learn to follow their cultures of millenia ago; perhaps it is for our roots that we should learn the insular Eastern culture of order and diligence, and for our knowledge that we should learn the dominant Western culture of enterprise and freedom. Whatever the case is, these cultures are important. But so are the cultures of the rest of the world, and I can only hope to learn more about them in future.

Hello World

Perhaps a little greeting would do for the starting of any blog.

I am Chong Han, and this blog is specially dedicated to my class, Cultural Differentiation Elective. Here I will post journals about my travails through the cultures of the world as I explore them thoroughly. I only hope to survive, but I'm certain that at the end of the dark tunnel, after groping my way through and stumbling into pits and walls, I'll find it worthwhile...I hope.

Chong Han
3B1 03 2013