Cross-Cultural Awareness

C&T 598

Dr. Cho

6/27/17

Cross-Cultural Awareness

1. When the behavior in culture A is identified by an observer from culture B as

being the same as in his/her own culture, but actually has a very different

meaning

Among the students at Kyunghwa, hand holding is incredibly common, even in

between students and teachers. At first I thought it was unique to the school, but in

exploring Korea, I found that it was just a normal thing that girls do with close friends. I

thought that was really interesting, especially considering that in the US hand holding is

seen as a thing that only people in romantic relationships do. However, platonic hand

holding in Korea doesnt seem to cross the gender gap, and I havent noticed men doing

it at all.

2. When different behaviors in culture A and B actually have the same meaning

In America, a common form of greeting is shaking hands, but in Korea one is

expected to bow to others in greeting. The length of time and depth of bow is very

important; When greeting other teachers, a slight nod of the head was fine, but when

meeting the principal, vice principal, or the founder, a deeper, more respectful bow was

necessary. Because of my position as a teacher, I wasnt expected to bow much at all to

my students, but waving was the normal form of greeting for us.
3. When the behaviors in cultures A and B have the same meaning, but are

distributed differently in time and space

Walking around Gwangju, Seoul, and Sokcho, I noticed that public displays of

affection were incredibly common among couples. Everywhere people are holding

hands, kissing, playing around with each other, being physically close in general, and

more all in the public eye. These behaviors have the same meaning and are used the

exact same way in the United States, but the timing of them is different. Hand holding is

common, but I feel that it is much more normal to keep excessive PDA to minimum in

the US, at least in public. I feel that Koreans in general are more expressive and open

with their emotions and relationships than Americans are, and that having a significant

other is more important in Korean society.

4. When members of one culture assume the way they do things is the correct

way (ethnocentrism)

Before coming to Korea, I knew that education standards were held extremely

high in East Asia, but it was only after coming and seeing it for myself that I found it

incredibly lacking. I thought that it was awful that the students had little room for creative

and personal development in the classroom and that their lives consisted of eating,

sleeping, and studying all in between. When comparing Korean education to American

education, I didnt consider higher test results as a positive and instead lambasted the

Korean government for being so dictatorial in the classroom, compared to the freedom

that most American students get in school. After a time, I realized that I couldnt

effectively judge the Korean system because I havent truly experienced it. It was more

of a knee-jerk reaction to how things are run here rather than a thoroughly thought out
criticism of it. I still have gripes about schooling in Korea, but after that realization Im

more open to dialogue about the pros and cons of both Korean and American

education.

5. When members of culture A assume that culture B is uniform (stereotyping)

Soon after arriving in South Korea, I began to passively judge everything that I

encountered, due to being in a new cultural environment. I noticed a large amount of

patriotism present both in the country and at Kyunghwa, such as the large amount of

flags and immense respect for the Korean War. This led me to believe that Koreans in

general were very nationalistic and very supportive of the military and government,

similar to the US. As I interacted with the students, however, I quickly realized that this

was not the case. Multiple students expressed opinions that were critical of the direction

that Korea is going in and were unsatisfied at the current state of the country. While

respect for the war was there, it didnt envelop life here like I thought it had. Some

students even wanted to move out of country to the US or Japan. These interactions

helped me remember that no one nation is entirely uniform, and that many different

opinions exist in Korea, even in high school.