Page 458 - Cultures and Organizations

Intercultural Encounters 423

speak only when spoken to. This background . . . makes speaking freely in
class hard for a Vietnamese. Therefore, don’t mistake shyness for apathy. 49

To most western European and North American readers, this instruction
looks OK at first. However, it becomes more problematic when we delve

for all the clues about U.S. culture that the quote supplies, all of which
reflect sources of bias. In fact, the U.S. Office of Education ascribes to the

Vietnamese all the motivations of young Americans—such as a supposed
desire to participate—and explains their submission by corporal punish-
ment, rather than, for example, respect. At a doctoral seminar Geert taught
50
in Sweden, one of the participants opened the eyes of the others by revers-
ing the statement—supposing American students would have to attend
Vietnamese schools:

Students’ proper respect for teachers was discouraged by a loose order
and students were conditioned to behave disorderly and to chat all the
time. This background makes proper and respectful behavior in class hard

for an American student. There fore, don’t mistake rudeness for lack of
reverence.

Educating for Intercultural Understanding:

Suggestions for Parents

For if one were to offer men to choose out of all the customs in the world
such as seemed to them the best, they would examine the whole number, and
end by preferring their own; so convinced are they that their own usages
far surpass those of all others.
—Herodotus, The Histories, 420 b.c. 51

The English, of any people in the universe, have the least of a national
character; unless this very singularity may pass for such.
—David Hume, Essay XXI, 1742 52

The Germans live in Germany, the Romans live in Rome,
the Turkeys live in Turkey; but the English live at home.
—A nursery rhyme by J. H. Goring, 1909 53