Hubris, Humility & Confucius

Abstract

ABSTRACTUsing insights from an anthropologist, a sociologist, a psychologist, and a philosopher, this article explores differences in cultural experience, in behaviours, and in expectations concerning the teaching of design by a foreign teacher working with students in their homeland. The author argues that it is substantially different to teach foreign students in the United States than it is to teach them in their own country. The article focuses on the cultural difference between an American teacher and her Chinese Master's-level students in Hong Kong working within the context of a design seminar course that required original research. While the university conducts classes in English and the students' language skills are diverse, other cultural obstacles, including contrasting teaching and learning styles, present a larger challenge. The deeply established Confucian values held by the students contrast with and sometimes support the teaching and learning experience in terms of interactive communicatio...