Reflective Journal 2 (CDE)

CDE Reflective Journal 2

We have discussed and debated on the Chinese and Western perceptions of self. These have included the ideas of Confucianism as well as the impact of the French and American Revolutions.

Reflect on the impact of these beliefs in your life. Please make sure to read the instructions for the Reflective journals again carefully when working on your journals.

The past few weeks of CDE lessons have been mainly focused (if not completely) on our classmates’ presentations in class. Some of the topics covered include the 3 mentioned in the question: Chinese and Western perceptions of self; Confucianism as an ideology, in addition to the French and American revolutions, not exclusive of the Western enlightenment, overall. It is only reasonable then, as one would assume, to go about this journal in chronological order, in showcasing how these beliefs have impacted my personal life.


To start off, one of the topics that I personally covered in class to an extent was the Chinese and Western perceptions of self. Well, to a small extent I guess, my topic for the presentation was on “The Dichotomy between China and America, myth or reality?” And the perception of self is apparently a really big issue many people focus on and debate about. To me though, although the differences or separation between the two sides of the world used to be very easily distinguishable, the gap is really starting to close in the modern society. We all know that the traditional view is that Westerners, Americans in particular, are generally more egocentric, in comparison to the more collectivist (emphasizes importance of teamwork) Eastern population. This belief had been pretty much been a fallacy so far, at least in my own life. Attending an International School in China naturally means more exposure to both sides of the world, and looking at my friends and schoolmates, I can really see no clear indication or differences in the so called “Eastern and Western perceptions of self”, albeit them being, literally, from around the world. Even though it’s just an example in school, the theory I personally am convinced of, is that as globalization occurs, societies are simply merging together more and more, in a way becoming more competitive. Therefore as people progress into the future, it may only be natural for them to want to succeed and emerge as the top, thus making people from across the world, not just based on if they are from the East or the West, become more individualistic and competitive. Of course teamwork and collaboration is not gone, but it will most probably take a downturn as of significance in comparison to the individual passion and will that a person inhibits, in the entirety of the so called “perception of self”.

Confucianism is the second topic we covered, and as an ideology, the extent to which it can be studied and analyzed is simply too huge, as the scope of the principles and the values it include are extremely wide. So just based on a more personal note, Confucianism have had certain effects in my life, yet I do not consider it to be a significant force of impact. The things Confucianism revolve around the most are obviously the values and principles it promote, and here is why I don't believe that it can really be of much impact, or at least in my and those around me’s lives. Since young, growing up in an Asian society, most of us had been "instilled" with values such as humbleness, modesty, compassion, and such. Are these important values? Definitely yes. However (personal view), I believe that values, more often than not, cannot simply be “taught” to children, and that is why the application of the Confucian ideology has been rather ineffective (Even in China, where the ideology initiated, there had been a significant decline seen in the amount of teens and young people entrusting the ideology). Having textbooks and daily reminders so as to stress the importance of these values may be too dull for the newest generation, and that is why to me, even though the values being spoken of are certainly key traits in a "good" person, it is immensely difficult to properly promote the ideology and leave an impact on people's, more especially so, on youngsters' lives.

Finally, the American and French revolutions. This is really a pretty abstract topic to us as in the aspect of “what impacts” it had had on my life. Now obviously the revolutions have led to the Western enlightenment, that in turn had led to scientific advancements, cultural and social reforms, and such. However, can we actually see the actual impacts it has had on our lives nowadays. Who is to say that the world won’t be where it is today without the revolutions? The most we can do at this point is to hypothesize. IF, the revolutions never occurred, would America (North) be where it is today in terms of the world’s top superpower, would Europe be in the position it is nowadays? I feel that there are simply too many factors in history that interfere and cross paths with the revolutions, and we may never know the answers to the questions posed, and although there most certainly are impacts left behind by the revolutions on our lives, it is truly difficult to say what exactly it is that they caused. Hence, I find this last topic a little confusing and too intertwined in terms of commenting about its impacts on my life, rather than its significance in the course of history.