Evaluating Intercultural Behaviour

This episode took place a week ago during a project meeting in school between a Chinese and Malay friend of mine. My Chinese friend John, asked my Malay friend Maerdin, whether he wanted somthing to eat and Maerdin declined. John, thinking that Maerdin was being polite, decided to buy him a chicken wing. Little did John know that this is the fasting month of our Muslim friends. When John returned, he gave the chicken wing to Maerdin and asked him to eat it while its hot. Maerdin flared up, 'Can you be more considerate? I am fasting now!'. John immediately apologised to Maerdin, saying that he totally forgot that Maerdin is fasting. But Maerdin packed up his stuff and left the meeting.

From this short encounter, I learnt the significance of knowing the cultures and practices of other races. And this fully reflects that even in a small country like Singapore, many differences can exist between the practises of people from, difference race, and we should make a constant effort to find out more information about people we are interacting with. Although this gesture seemed unintentional, John could have been more sensitive about such culture practices, and the misunderstanding could have been avoided.

Maerdin might have thought John is mocking him, disrespecting him and his culture. As we know, our Malay friends take pride in their culture and practices, what John did could have been too much for Maerdin to accept. When I talked to John after the incident, he confessed that he honestly did not know that Maerdin was fasting and he had bought him the chicken wing as he heard his stomach growling that morning.

When I talked to my neighbour Uncle Nazri about this episode, he told me that although John could have been more sensitive toward Maerdin, Maerdin should not have reacted the way he did. Usually, our fellow Muslim friends would be gracious about it and reply 'I'm fasting' and just laugh it off. It could have been a bad day for Maerdin and that might have triggered his forceful reaction.

Final Topic..

Proposed title: An analysis on the feasibility of a biannual collection service to encourage the recycling of paper amongst NUS students.

Research question: What can be done to encourage the recycling of unwanted paper of NUS student?

Hypothesis: The implementation of a biannual collection service will encourage the recycling of paper amongst NUS students.

Problem Statement: The objective of this study is to analyze if the implementation of a biannual collection service can encourage students to participate in the recycling of paper.

Targeted Audience: Mr Joseph Mullnix (Chairman of the Campus Sustainability Steering Committee)

Potential Audience:
• Other members of CS
• NUS stuff and students
• Members of the Tertiary Institutions Council For the Environment (TICFC)
• Other organizations that aims to play an active role in the recycling of paper

Tentative Purpose Statement: The objective of the report is to inform the Chairman of CSC of the lack of effort of NUS student in the recycling of paper within campus. Another objective is to convince the Chairman that this virtue can be encouraged by implementing a biannual collection service to facilitate the recycling of paper.

Methodology to be used:

1. Literature review
- Effects of usage of paper on the environment; how bad is the effect of
deforestation.
- The process of recycling of paper.
- What would affect the process of recycling paper (eg. Oil stain on paper?)

2. Emails(To the relevent organisation to enquire information regarding cost
involved or whether any licensing is required)

3. Survey (if the process of creating to find out how receptive are students toward
the above mentioned service.)

Potention Research Project Topics (Week 4)

'Going Green' is a lifestyle that NUS have been actively propagating, especially in recent years. In the past few decades, the condition of mother Earth has been deteriorating exceptionally fast due to urbanisation. Animals lose their habitats because of deforestation for the production of paper. As such, I feel that much can be done to reduce the cutting down of trees through the recycling of used paper, and this would help to conserve their habitat.

As we know, students use very large quantities of paper simply on the printing of notes. At the end of the semester (after their exams), they just throw their notes into the bin instead of recycling them. This is quite a disturbing trend, but we cannot blame these students as there is no proper and convenient channel for them to recycle such unwanted paper.

Proposition (Research Topic):
Promote a service in campus to collect unwanted paper from students at the end of each semester.

General Research Question:
What do students do with their unwanted papers, and would they welcome such a recycling service if it is provided?

Possible Hypothesis:
Students would like to be an 'Earth-Saving' member by reducing the cutting down of trees through recycling unwanted paper.

This collection point could be run by students (probably NUSSU). There could be a designated point outside the examination halls for students to drop their unwanted notes at, after their exam. The near proximity of the recycling point to the examination would make it convenient for students to dispose of their unwanted paper. In addition, the money recovered from the selling papers to the 'Garang Guni Man' can be used for the needy students.

An attitudinal survey is much needed in this research topic, since the proposed service targets mostly campus students. We can use the survey to find out how students dispose their unwanted notes, raise awareness of what we can do with our unwanted notes and examine if such a service is needed and welcomed by the student body. Also, knowing the views and concerns of the students allows the proposed idea to be refined accordingly. Suggestions derived from the survey also allows necessary changes to be made to better facilitate the needs of students.