will the east fall to the west?

Originally posted by kmguru
I am 40% East and 60% West. My personal life is East while my business life is West.

You mean you are a white American with a Chinese wife? Just being nosy. :p

I also have quite a bit of background on Eastern cultures and philosophy.

Usually people think American culture is the worst because there is none. Immigrants are not really melting into a new culture but instead their cultures are stripped off.

Here are a few problems. (I am gonna say American culture instead of the West since I admit I am not an expert with Western culture.

1. Americans don't take care of the elderly. People themselves don't but rely on the government instead. In the East you suppose to take care of your parents whenever they get old. They suppose to move into your house.

2. Strong individualism.

3. Instant gratification.

4. Every conflict is resolved in court.

5. Degenerating moral standard.

6. Low standard in education.

There are problems with Eastern cultures too. People grew up are required to be more sophiscated and more fake which I don't like. The conservative attitude is very strong. If you study Chinese history, you will find out every single reform in China eventually failed because of the strong resistance from the conservatives, except those involved with blood.
 
The official language of Euro is English, I think...

America is just an extension of UK....a big one I might add.
 
Look, that might be a scary statement. US an extension of UK????? The UK is strugglign to beat that US economy but is failing continually. The US might be allied to the UK somewhat, but it is NOT an extension of UK. Why wouldn't it stop growing in econ to give UK some chance then?

Ach, I don't know. But I do know that this is NOT the revolutionary war period. It probably ended:D
 
Originally posted by Zero
The UK is strugglign to beat that US economy but is failing continually.

It happens because in US we started the new age, while the Brits are still stuck in the past. I should know, being in the information technology business. I have met a lot of Brits in this business. The truth is they have the foggiest idea what IT is and how to use it. A lot of them show up stateside with their funny accents. By the time the American business figures out, what a mess these people created - that American company is gone. It is because they dont want to learn the new American culture (the business process) which has been so successful.

Several years ago, when I was looking for a job, I sent my resume to several British companies in USA and the recruiting agencies in UK. No one even talked to me about my impressive resume (to American standards) - let alone offer me a job. At the time, I did not think much and started free lance consulting. Later I realized, those companies have all packed up their bags and gone home with tail between their legs.

America is great not because we do things the old way, but we constantly generate new ideas and processes. That is an exception in the old world.
 
while living in s. asia my first teacher was an american buddhist monk

as for culture, does it really matter if one is clad in jeans or a sarong?
munches on a chappati or burger?watches hollywood or bollywood?

i tend to see more similarities than differences between east and west.
humans tend to have the same needs regardless of location.
making assumptions that the east is more noble,the west is corrupt is
unwarranted.

america has no culture? that is a ridiculous statement! for a young nation,
the achievements have been tremendous. by whose standards is america's being measured?
 
Originally posted by Zero
Please try to use proper punctuation, grammar and spelling.

Duly noted!:D

"What? It is absolutely necessary for kids to believe in Santa when they are young!! It is a major part of teachign them to dream. Pity the poor intellectual who does not know how to dream."

I must ask you to please do the same!:D
 
Originally posted by spookz


Duly noted!:D

"What? It is absolutely necessary for kids to believe in Santa when they are young!! It is a major part of teachign them to dream. Pity the poor intellectual who does not know how to dream."

I must ask you to please do the same!:D

u sure sure u have the right thread?!
 
1. Americans don't take care of the elderly. People themselves don't but rely on the government instead. In the East you suppose to take care of your parents whenever they get old. They suppose to move into your house.

Not necessarily true. We are taking care of our parents. Luckily, here the healthcare is provided by medicare and there are assisted living quarters for emergency support which we may not be able to handle. In the East, the kids end up in the big city while the parents are stuck somewhere else.

2. Strong individualism.

Again, it is a generalization. And I think, the same is becoming true in the East too. Nothing wrong with that - moderation works everywhere...

3. Instant gratification.

That is a problem with my kids. They are learning though...

4. Every conflict is resolved in court.

That is because of the way the laws are made and enforced. USA is a country of lawyers. They are basically a large rich union. Same thing will happen as soon as there are enough lawyers in the East.

5. Degenerating moral standard.

There are more Bribery in East than in West. Moral standards are fairly equal on average

6. Low standard in education.

Not true at all. Americans learn on the job and therefore surpass their counter parts in the East in a few short years. That is why it is still the number uno in economy

You mean you are a white American with a Chinese wife?

For some reason, I did not have any luck with Chinese American or Korean American females (either as friends or co-workers) - even though I made friends in China when I was there. Most of my female friends are/were basic European origin including Spanish variety who love my Eastern social outlook. I guess, it helps - listening to their marital problems! I could write books on that.
 
Man, I wrote that post a long time ago. You just saw it now?

Originally posted by kmguru
1. Americans don't take care of the elderly. People themselves don't but rely on the government instead. In the East you suppose to take care of your parents whenever they get old. They suppose to move into your house.

Taking care of elderly is one of the virtues. In fact, there is a word to describe that virtue but in English there is no direct translation. In the East, you don't even know social security of Medicare.

I think you are correct about moral. Most people over there believes Americans have no moral. I think it's about equal.

Education grade K-12 in US is very bad. When I move back to US in 9th grade, I was so far ahead. I was ready for pre-cal but most people my age are still taking Algebra. When I took science courses there were nothing new for me. There home work and difficulty of the exames are nothing compare to the East. US catch up in college eventually.
 
A few thoughts...

As countries in the East become more industrialized and use the same business processes in the East, it will look like West. In the social side, we in the West need to learn from the East and not push our structure to them.

My kids were in 5th/6th grade in Florida, then we moved to Utah. Utah schools were atleast 2 grades behind. So, we had no choice but to move them to college after 10th directly without a high school diploma. The kids were upset, but thanked me after their college degrees ahead of their highschool buddies.
 
I think education is East is better. I know lots and lots of Asian parents send their kids to Asia for a few years.

It is better because in US the pace of the class is geared toward the stupidest kids in the class room. The attitude is "we don't want any kids to be left behind". The end result is just about every kid gets left behind.

In Asia people are broken up in the groups. There is a promotion/relegation system in school. There were 4 main groups in the school I went to. We had 8 classes of 40 students each. Each class takes exact same classes and everyone stay in the same room the whole time. We had 1 class for kids with either bad grades or have disciplinary problems. 6 classes are for normal kids. One class of above average kids and one class for cream of the crops. Kids can go up or down depends on their test score. There are different styles of instructors geared toward each type of students. The instructor usually imposes military style of teaching for students with bad grades or have bad disciplinary problems. If the kids are lazy or don't do homeworks, the teachers will really chew on them. For the groups with smart kids, teachers are nicer but more demanding. There were more homeworks. Exams were tougher. Under this system some kids can be very far ahead. I was very far ahead when I came back to US.
 
Originally posted by Agent@5


u sure sure u have the right thread?!

yes
reply to zero who advises others on their grammar and spelling
i am sure i am nitpicking but feel free to ignore my posts if they
do not come upto ones standards
:D

Originally posted by Zero
What? It is absolutely necessary for kids to believe in Santa when they are young!! It is a major part of teachign them to dream. Pity the poor intellectual who does not know how to dream.

I tend to be a cold intellectual, but I do dream. I also have very high respect for poets.
 
Originally posted by spookz


yes
reply to zero who advises others on their grammar and spelling
i am sure i am nitpicking but feel free to ignore my posts if they
do not come upto ones standards
:D


Hey hey hey, settle pettle... its just that there was a thread on believing in santa... and yeah.... stuff....
 
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