Words of Innocence and Experience

Amid the terrrible storm, Jean and I went to the speech given by five of the most prestigious figures in Taiwan, on the topic of “Taiwanese Students’ International Competitiveness.” Each commented that the topic is kind of vague and stretches it according to their own interpretation and experience. In a way, the address was OK and one can actually learn something, yet their demeanor constantly reminds the audience of their superiority and wealth. It’s a kind of mixed feeling. The last president of my university, Dr. Liu, really impresses the audience with his sense of humor and quick wit.

Anyway, here are some of the things I now remember about the speech:

President of TSMC, Mr. Zhang
Truthfully speaking, due to my ignorance, I did not know what he looked like before. He is older than I thought but looks active and friendly, yet I can sense his confidence, or even arrogance. He murmured occasionally like the way Professor John does. Quite interesting.
He said that if restricting the so-called international competition in Taiwan, it would be a dead alley since there is rarely any natively. Then he said that he believed there is limitation in a country’s economic development at certain stages and it takes innovation and efforts to overcome it.

In his second stand, I only write down the advantages he had said about his enterprise–technology, manufacturing, and companionship. Then he made an unpopular statement that the majority of people in their staff had gone studying in the U.S. As for the weaknesses Taiwanese students may possess, he gives four ones: independent thinking, creativity, curiosity and, life-long learning. Spending time solely on one’s professional field was not right according to him.

Former Minister of Education, Dr. Zung
A somewhat small but eloquent man. A real humanitarist. A scholar.
The three goals that students here should achieve are language skills, then further to profession and mercy. Taiwanese students lack insightful visions, such as understanding of international cultures, solidarity or EQ. Being kind is not enough, but one should have sympathy. Taiwanese students are not really “strawberries” since they are adamant about the things they are interested in, but are extremely indifferent to other things. One should obtain theories of mind to analyse other people and be spontaneously interested in other people’s welfare. As for the weaknesses of Taiwanese students, he claims that Taiwanese students do not read enough fiction and lacks understanding of the world. But they are not to blame since media in Taiwan put too much emphasis on local things. It is essential to learn how to cooperate and compete.

Former President of Tsing Hua, Deputy Leader of Studia Academia, Dr. Liu
A wise and humorous man. Looks somewhat foreigner like but speaks a “Chinese” accent. Created numerous highlights in the lecture. The host.
He didn’t give a lot of his own opinions, but I’m certain that he is the star of the night.

Current President of Tsing Hua, Dr. Shu
A Taiwanese who is better in English than in Chinese. An astronomer (didn’t show it in the lecture). Nothing interesting and nothing uninteresting about him.
He first says that Taiwanese students lacks vision (wider world view) and creativity. It matters whether a country is interesting or not, and it affects its people. Also, Taiwanese students are too pesimistic. They always say that tomorrow will be worse than today and the day after would be worse than tomorrow. Yet it is right to believe in the opposite, that each day is better than the day before, with new hopes. Taiwanese students have the strengh of professional ability but are weak to believe in orthodox and authority all the time.

Dean of the Institute of Technology Management, Dr. Shi
A man with a friendly normal Taiwanese speaking style. Relatively good-looking (compared with the other four).
The society has been changing. The key aspects to work on is R&D and sale management. It is required for everyone to speak a second language. Scholastic knowledge is not enough, but one needs to have personal opinions and views on the world. One needs to be learning constantly. Many students fail to realize that the world in school greatly differs from the outside world. Taiwanese only answer the questions given by teachers, but Americans have the motivation to try something new by themselves. Don’t assume that everything is the same as that on campus. In addition, work ethics counts, and it deserves more emphasis. Taiwan has the need to merge different cultures and needs discipline.

That’s pretty much it. Well, at least I’ve organized things, and it may be useful for future reference.