The pass few lessons of CDE have been rather fulfilling. The lessons gave me a chance to explore on aspects of the world that I would not be able to if not for the CDE lessons. The first lesson gave me a brief introduction on the importance of learning each other's culture and traditions, especially between people of different backgrounds. This was done by showing us HSBC Commercials which depicts cultural awkwardness if one does not know the other person's culture. One commercial that left a deep impression on me was the one which shows that in Mexico, the sense of personal space was seemingly non-existent, which is the opposite of most other countries like America, Singapore and Japan.
The next lesson was on American values. As our teacher, Mr Karplus, presented with the slides, I realised that there were still a lot in the world of values that I have yet to learn. The American value freedom a lot, which I did not know before the I attended this lesson. After this lesson, I have understood American values and the differences and similarities between American values and Chinese values.
The last lesson before I wrote this reflection, we were shown 2 videos that describe to us the life of employees working in Google. They seem to have a very relaxed life, as what a spokesman said in the video, "You come to the carpark at 9am and it is only half-filled." They get to have free and delicious food in one of the 19 cafeterias around the Google complex. There are gym facilities and volleyball courts. There are also company-subsidised massage rooms which will soon "make you addicted to massage". The employees were very satisfied and happy about their workplace. However after the video, our CDE teacher, Mr Karplus, made a very good point that left me pondering over it even after class. He told us, "There is a possibility that the video only showed happy employees that were sure to react in a cheerful manner when interviewed or filmed, but there would be the unhappy ones, the unsatisfied ones in Google that were not shown in the video."
This is what I would like to expect for the following CDE lessons. I would like to be pondering over interesting issues everytime after a lesson ends. I would also want to learn more new things every lesson, new things about the different cultures of people of different backgrounds and so on, so that they can be applied in my everyday life from now until the future when I am working and meeting a variety of people. Furthermore, the use of more videos and powerpoint slides and less dry talking during CDE lessons will help in our learning a lot as it keeps our mind focused and thus allowing us to absorb more in a certain period of time.
When CDE lessons come to an end, I would like myself to be able to walk away and think that I have learnt a lot that would be able to benefit me.
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ReplyDeleteThis is a well-crafted journal and it is an interesting thing to know that we take away many things in common from the lessons. From your reflection, I learnt more about Google's way of operating which I had not known previously. Especially, I find that as you are able to ponder over the point from Mr Karplus, it shows that you have high level of awareness and maturity as you are able to remember meaningful points that are easily forgotten, and think in a two-sided viewpoint, something which I will try hard to improve on. I hope that both of us will be indeed able to benefit yourself and apply CDE to our lives.
ReplyDeleteThis journal is simple but have definitely shown that you have learnt a lot in the past 3 CDE lessons. I can see that not only have you enjoyed Mr Karplus's videos, you are also thinking while watching these awesome mini films. I particularly likes your way of quoting what the people said in the videos as those quotes can be quite humorous at times and makes your blog more interesting. On the other hand, I think you can refer your opinions on how the clash of eastern and western culture have affected us (Singaporeans) who do not have our own culture. Overall, I hope that you can continue to enjoy CDE lessons and come up with more of your own opinions.
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