The United States is a place of many cultures, and because of this many people may experience cultural differences that they are not used to. For example difference in attitudes, the way we dress, our customs, and even how people express their emotions to others. I have probably seen or experienced many cultural differences; however I can’t recall any of them. I assume that I’m so used to seeing it; I don’t realize the differences anymore. So instead I asked my friend for an example of his experiences.
My friend Zhang has emigrated from Mainland China and has lived in the United States for about two and a half years now. The time that Zhang has lived here he has noticed a cultural difference in how we view education in America. He said that he notices that kids or teens don’t really take education serious and that the teachers don’t really challenge them like the teachers in China. Also, that there seems to be less order in the class rooms than he is used to in his former education. He notices students just leaving school during the day (cut class) and lots of students rarely study, treating school like it’s a joke or it doesn’t matter. While in China every student is pushed to learn and work hard.
Another cultural difference that Zhang noticed was personal space difference. He noticed in America people have like a barrier around them and once you accidentally enter this barrier they get uncomfortable for no reason. He gave an example of when he was on the train one day and he accidentally brushed someone’s shoulder. The person got uncomfortable and started yelling at him, even though he calmly apologized to her many times. Then when people are in a hurry they aren’t bothered about cramming into a train or bus. He claims that people in China aren’t afraid to interact on the train even if it’s from a minor encounter or at least they won’t yell at you for something that minor.
I totally agree with you on the education part. My mom thinks that I'm lazy because sometimes I'd rather watch TV instead of brushing up on my studies when I don't have any homework.
ReplyDelete& the train thing, I'm one of those people that need about an arm's length of space, haha
Personal space is a weird thing to handle here. On the one hand, there is that barrier that we like to keep but in situations like you pointed out with subways and trains, it doesn't seem to exist then. I guess that has to do with another cultural factor. We are always in such a hurry that we can give up that personal space to catch a train and bus so we can get we want to go sooner.
ReplyDeleteI know a friend that said the same thing about the schools in NY. When I went to high school with her, she was shocked students came to school in their Pjs!
ReplyDeleteBut she did like the stress less lifestyle of the NY school system. In Taiwan, her life was devoted to studying.
That is very true. A lot of Asian parents are big on education, including my own. My parents have always been strict when it came to school. I used to be afraid to bring home any test where I scored below a 90! But eventually, I became one of those students that cut class every day and slacked off along with a bunch of other kids, so I can definitely relate. I think the difference in the way we view education is due to poverty. People in some other countries are extremely poor and know that an education is their ticket to a better lifestyle, which motivates them to try harder. But over here, I think we have had the luxury of not knowing the feeling of the struggles that our parents have been through just to earn enough to put food on the table. We've probably taken a lot for granted and believe that the life we live right now is comfortable enough, and will remain that way regardless of how high we climb the academic ladder. That's just my two cents. =)
ReplyDeleteThe other day in my marketing class Professor Chao mentioned how in America, students are somewhat informal with their professors. This one time a student called him by his first name and said "Hey Mike" and using the finger gesturing of asking him to come over to him. He felt that it was very disrespectful but did not let it bother him because of the cultural difference here in America. He did mention that, if that were to happen in a class in Korea, without any questions the student would automatically fail. I thought that was very interesting. Yes of course student here don't give it their all and take school to usually be the primary priority in their life. Many like me, usually wait till the very last minute to get school work done which I tell myself the beginning of every semester that I would no longer do that. Even this semester I am not committed and guilty for putting my schoolwork off to the very last minute =(.
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