Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Working Hard
Several years ago I had the chance to spend almost 3 weeks in China as part of a tour as a member of a symphony orchestra. We spent time in Beijing, Shanghai and several smaller cities in the Eastern portion of China. I had the chance to visit places like the Great Wall of China, the Forbidden City and Tien An Men Square. These were amazing experiences that will always stay in my mind but my interaction with the people of the nation is what impacted me even more than all the famous landmarks. Our purpose for travelling to China was to meet with a music high school in Shanghai. Our two orchestras combined to form one large ensemble and we performed several concerts in Shanghai. From the time we met the Chinese students, it became very evident that they were all focused, disciplined and were willing to work very hard at what they did. Their diligent work was quickly evident from the incredible skill that they had on their instruments. (It was definitely a humbling trip as well.) This made me to start to compare the work ethic that I saw in the Chinese students to the work ethic that I’ve seen in America. I think one of the defining differences between the two is that we, as Americans, have a tendency to take the opportunities that we have for granted whereas the students in China had to work to be the best in order to get a position, job, etc. I think that our American society has begun to tolerate laziness to a dangerous level and I think this is a problem. If we set a model of mediocre effort in our work now, how will the generations after us know what it means to work hard and excel in what they do? Now I understand that there are many people in this country work very hard and that is commendable. The main point that I want to convey is that I think we (myself included) should take care to be very responsible with the many opportunities and blessings that we have in this country.
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Personal responsibility is a difficult lesson to learn.
ReplyDeleteYour post reminds me of the book, "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother," published this year about the difference between Chinese and American parenting styles. (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704111504576059713528698754.html)
While Westerners scoffed at the ideas presented in this book, I think that we can learn from each others' cultural differences.
Jessica Swan
P.S. Have you talked to Evan? He has also been to China and is studying Chinese.
Oh my gosh, you went to China too?! Cool! Your situation sounds almost exactly like the one I was in. I was going with the GPAC youth symphony orchestra. Who did you go with? Your insights are mutual with me, I also feel like the work ethic of the Chinese far exceeds our own, perhaps because of the cultural differences between our countries. They have to work super hard just to make average salaries, but to them its better to make some money than not at all. I think to Americans our priority is personal satisfaction. To money of the Chinese, their goal is to be succesful and make a lot of money, I believe.
ReplyDeleteHow exciting, China! I think we can learn alot from the Chinese about having a strong work ethic and I agree that Americans do tolerate laziness. If every student had to spend a semester abroad they hopefully would have a better appreciation of the benefits and opportunities that avail them.
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