Blog Post # 4 : Evaluating Intercultural Behaviour

Soon after I had returned to India, my entire family celebrated my coming of age by hosting a ceremony. I was blown away by the whirlwind of unknown customs.
One ritual that was brought to my attention was the idea of prostrating at my cousin’s feet, who is 9 years elder to me, to obtain his blessings.

In India, especially in my religion Hindhuism, there is a custom in which the youngsters show respect to elders by prostrating before the elders of the family. They kneel down and touch the feet of their elders as a sign of respect and to receive their blessing and good wishes. The elders bless by touching the head of the child.

When I was first told (before the ceremony) that I would have to kneel down in front of my cousin, Ajai, I was shocked. Being just a few years older than me and us being very close, my intial reaction to my grandmother’s instructions was “ You’re kidding! No way, am I falling at his feet! It’s demeaning!” But my mother, took me aside and told me that it was NOT an ungracious act according to Indian customs, that my cousin being older than me meant that he had all the right to give his blessings. That in there is a difference between Japan and India. Things are done differently here. I can still remember one of my aunts asking “Don’t you want Ajai’s blessings?” What could I say to that? Of course I did.

From this experience and many others, I have come to realize that cultural clashes can be dealt with by proper understanding of each other. An acceptance and tolerance of each one’s uniqueness. A person must be sensitive to other customs. Only with mutual respect can there be effective communication in intercultural situations. As Confucius once said "What you do not wish for yourself, do not do to others"

Blog post # 3 Potential Research Project Topic

I would like to propose the research question - “Is the Co-Curricular Activities (CCA) point system effective in the allocation of on campus accommodation?”

At the home stretch of last academic year, NUS witnessed a massive “kick-out” of students from the on campus accommodation, creating mayhem and chaos. More than 1000 NUS students were stunned by the unexpected increase in the CCA cut off point requirements for accommodation. Suddenly on the eve of preparations for the semester finals, many students got to know that they didn’t have a place to stay. This was a matter of panic for many international students who were inexperienced in the business of obtaining off-campus accommodation, being babysat by the university in this regard since their arrival to Singapore.

Students speculated various reasons for the unusually high requirement of CCA points. The official explanation offered by the Office of Student Affairs (OSA) was that increased intakes of the previous and current academic years had created a huge rise in demand, since all 1st and 2nd year international students are guaranteed on-campus accommodation. Many in the student community also claimed that the irresponsible and liberal system of CCA point allocation by some committees contributed in creating an unusually CCA point rich pool of students.

Attitudinal survey is required in order to understand how broadly the student body was affected by this upset and to find out whether they consider the CCA point system to have failed. The survey should target 3rd and 4th year international students as well as local students, both living on-campus and off-campus in order to get a detailed picture from people who have been through the system. The survey would also give the students a chance to voice out their opinions regarding possible improvements to the system.