Yesterday, I was graced with a timely and insightful program called, Culture Matters, on the ICS (International Channel Shanghai).

About:

Culture Matters is China’s first cross-cultural bilingual talk show. Its target demographic is aimed at well-educated Chinese audiences interested in western culture, as well as foreign expats living in Shanghai. Unlike other talk shows or interview programs, Culture Matters sets its sights on comparing and contrasting various aspects of eastern and western culture. The show’s host and guests will draw upon a vast range of cross-cultural topics to discuss in a lively and insightful fashion. Topics include differences in education, adventure, food, housing, cultural symbols, etc.

This particular segment greeted two guests: Ms. Carolyn Choy of NYU Shanghai and Mr. Peter Gainey of The Scholar Ship. Both proponents of introducing and immersing young adults to the global community, I took an extreme interest to the show’s discussion… especially since Ms. Choy is repping my alma-mater and all. (NYU Holla! :-) )

Ms. Choy first broke down the “semester abroad” experience, dropping historic factoids such as, as the U.S.’s largest private university, NYU’s former president (at my time, my president), Dr. Jay Oliva, founded the “League of World Universities” in 1991 - whose membership now represents nearly fifty of the world’s great urban universities. NYU’s first site - La Pietra, is a cluster of five magnificent villas in Tuscany (also my alma mater, holla!) bequeathed to NYU by the late Sir Harold Acton and the Lillian Vernon Center for International Affairs at Washington Square, serve as hubs for international activities that draw scholars and students from around the world. Moreover today, NYU has study abroad locales in Berlin, Buenos Aires, Florence, Ghana, London, Madrid, Paris, Prague, Shanghai and opening this fall: Tel Aviv… in addition to opening up a satellite campus to mirror NYC’s Washington Square campus in Dubai!

Mr. Gainey’s Scholar Ship, on the other hand, offers a global experience via a cruise ship, enrolling students from around the world 16 weeks at a time, while traveling to up to 8 different countries.

Of course debates between both approaches were heard over which method allowed for a more complete immersion within foreign cultures, and Ms. Choy totally put Mr. Gainey on the spot since while his approach sounds fabulous, it also almost sounds like 8 countries in 16 weeks is a wham-bam experience… but in any case, both agreed upon some major points when it came to inter-cultural competence while living in a foreign land. And it is THIS that brought me back down to ground level with my own experience here in the Far East. Just a few random points touched upon from the show, as I am rushing through this particular post:

  • Generally speaking, Americans are quick to boasts of its mightiness, multi-cultural society yada yada. But in actuality, many are left to only learn “global perspectives” within the confines of the US borderlines. Not to say that this is wrong or inadequate, however establishes itself as an oxymoron. For one thing, yes, English is the more powerful language to date in the global business sphere, however this backfires as it makes Americans “lazy” or “too good” to pick up another language (figuring, there’s no real need to). Well then, how multi-culti / global can you be, if you’re mono-lingual?
  • The greatest lesson to learn while living abroad is the value of “acceptance.” Experiences good and poor (note: not bad) are bound to occur. Different ways of viewing/doing things is most definitely going to be a part of everyday life, however getting over that hump with an open mind; to limit constant criticism in order to open arms of acceptance is key to surviving with sanity.
  • Be daring, not submissive.

. . don’t burn the day. .