Evaluating Intercultural Behavior

Effective communication does not stop at just being a good listener or a good speaker in a conversation. It extends beyond that. Being sensitive, alert and understanding cultural differences play vital roles as well and inter cultural communication is an important tool to communicate between people of different cultural beliefs, values and way of life.

After my O level holidays, my family and I went to Thailand for short vacation. Thailand was an extremely cultural rich country and the Thai culture was strongly influenced by Buddhism. A large proportion of Bali's population adheres to Buddhism and thus there were numerous magnificent temples in that country. We were brought to visit one of the temples by the tour guide. I was wearing bermudas and a singlet as the weather was extremely hot . When I was about to enter the temple, I was not allowed to enter the temple. The security guard who was in duty on that day refused to let me in. He said that I was not dressed properly and I was exposing too much of my legs and hands. He advised me to wear the pants and long sleeve shirt which was provided by the security guards there. I told him the weather was really hot and wearing so much clothes would be uncomfortable. He reiterated that I could only enter the temple when i cover myself with the clothes given. He explained to me that I was being rude and disrespectful to their religion if i am not dressed properly. I then decided to just wear the clothes given and join my family with the tour.

In NUS, wearing bermudas and a singlet is a common sight. It did not occur to me when I was packing my luggage that this type of dressing can be deemed so differently in another country. I realize that an ignorance of the culture you are visiting can lead to development of stereotypes and occasionally the causing of offense to the native culture. By having inter cultural awareness can help us as tourists to understand the boundaries when visiting a foreign country and promotes good relations with the native culture. As we can see, being sensitive to inter cultural differences is a need for many people. In a world that is constantly shrinking, coming to know and appreciate the cultural differences between us is paramount so as to ensure peace and harmony. A good thing to do before visiting another country is to get to know their cultural norms and their dos and don’ts through internet or other ways so as to ensure a higher chance of having a good experience there.

Potential Research Project Topics

I would like to talk about the "bell curve" system which is used in NUS to determine the grades for students. The word "bell curve" comes up every semester during the examinations and releasing of results. Is this system fair or is this system the most appropriate way to determine the grades for students?

Good or bad, the system has its advantages and disadvantages. Let’s look at the advantages first. It is really advantageous for students who find a certain paper very difficult. If he does really badly, he might fail the paper and this would be a huge dent on his hopes to get a good degree as it will affect his overall cap. With the “bell curve” system, his grade is determined by the highest scoring student for that paper. Instead of predetermined grades for predetermined marks, his grade will be determined by the highest scoring student for that paper. So if everyone found the paper difficult, every single student might not be able to score really well for the paper. The mark to determine an A is lowered and the grade to get a D is also lowered. If the A is predetermined at 90 marks and the highest scoring student has got only 85 marks, he would be deprived of an A. With the “bell curve” system, the grade for an A is brought to 85 marks and the student will receive and A for the module. For a student who does really badly, he would not fail the paper as the passing mark is also lowered at the same time the grade for an D has been reduced.

Let’s look at the disadvantage now. For some modules, the scoring for the module is really easy but with the “bell curve” system, the grade A is determined by the highest scoring student for that paper. For example, the student would not get an A grade even though he scored 92 marks for the module as the highest scoring student would have scored full 100 marks for the module. So only students who scored 100 would get an A, the student who scored 92 will probably end up with an A- or a B+. So the student loses out in this system as he would get an A+ if the grade is predetermined for the mark of 90.

There will always be debates about this “bell curve” system. I have given my views on it. What do you all think about this system? Please feel free to comment.