Let's see, my this post inspired takchek to write this, which linked to Wind's post on the self segregration (is ghettoification too strong a word?) of Singaporeans, Xue's reactions to Wind's post, which in turn inspired Olandario to write a response, along the lines of "Does getting to know Asians only mean you're not making full use of your overseas education?" (My freshman comp instructor is going to kill me for that sentence.)
What constitutes "making full use of my overseas education" is a question which I have been mulling for quite a long time, since another way to stating the question is "how can I justify the immense amount of $$$".
The tentative answer that I've been able to come up with so far is: if I take up the opportunities presented to me here that would not have been available to me if I had studied in Singapore.
Of course, there is no narrow definition of "taking up opportunities", since some people may love working in a top research lab, some people may take advantage of the college's connections to Wall Street (or fill in anything else here), some people may want to experience (or study about) a different culture, some people may want to... well this list certainly isn't definitive at all. To each their own, but I fail to see the point of embarking on an expensive education if all the things you do during your college days can be done in Singapore. (And you can live independently in Singapore. Really. And generally, coursework in America really isn't that great - Europe is a better option if you wish to focus on coursework. On the issue of coursework, also refer to yesterday's post.)
And on the issue of cross-cultural communication, it's certainly up to the individual to choose whether to befriend exclusively Singaporeans and/or Asians, or to expand your circles of friendships. For me, I'm not inclined to know people from just one ethnic group in the first place, plus, as I've mentioned in a comment to takchek's post, due to the demographic of my department, interacting with non-Asians is almost essential to my academic survival. On the other hand, in some majors you can get by without even talking to a non-Singaporean, although I fail to see good reasons for this. I think I've matured academically by interacting with my classmates, as I get to understand their motivations, their definitions of success, their intellectual approaches towards the subject, and their homework/time management habits, which are generally quite different from the "typical" Singaporean (and maybe Asian), and definitely different from the American stereotype.
Take my SOP, for example. My proofreaders (so far, I'll be approaching one or two more people) are an American and a Swiss - I don't see the point of having all my proofreaders be from a very similar cultural background (one of the two is not even in my department), since they would probably echo most of the things I say, and maybe sharpen a few sentences. One of my proofreaders has gotten back to me, and offered a number of stylistic changes that M and I didn't pick up, and it greatly improves the tone, direction and the intent of the essay. I wouldn't be adding a line about the tolling bells of death though. Which is why although M and I both read each other's essays, we know we are not each other's best proofreaders, since we are not only from similar cultural backgrounds, but we've been discussing this for ages, and our essays are practically carbon copies of each other, just fill in "physics" or "math" at the relevant parts.
And in exchange for proofreading my SOP, I'll soon have to proofread 20 pages of a dissertation. The math proofs part of course. I wouldn't understand the other 980 pages.
Which is why I didn't particularly like Wind's statement that "we know that Singaporean partners are mostly quite good in their studies and wouldn't drag you down" (Wind, if you're reading this, I'm not targeting you). This attitude is quite prevalent amongst Singaporeans actually, especially those in the engineering school. Whilst I understand that there are non-Singaporeans/Asians who aren't particularly interested in their academic work, and they'll be totally annoying to work with, there are also many other motivated and hardworking and intelligent non-Singaporeans/Asians - it's an individual's prerogative to find out who they are. After a year or two in a particular dept, is it really that hard to tell who are the good students and who are not? Unless you've been sleeping in or skipping class, or are totally oblivious to your surroundings.
Whilst I respect each individual's decisions and philosophy, it sometimes helps to ponder: what are my motivations for studying overseas? Am I getting the best out of my bloody expensive education?
