Global
integration has brought about material progress, but at the same time contributed
to the weakening of human relationships. While the world is getting smaller,
the distance between people seems to be drifting apart. People are becoming
too self-centred and are placing too much importance on consumption and the
material aspects of life. The result is a society that is economically focused.
Profit becomes the overriding motivation. Competition has become severe, giving
rise to a strong pressure to grow even when we know that the pace is unsustainable.
Severe competition breeds short-term thinking and a gambling mentality amongst
individuals. Society becomes unstable as a result of having to deal with huge
fluctuations in its business cycles, with devastating consequences to affected
individuals.
The pace of change is ever increasing. It took Europe two hundred years to
industrialise. The United States took half as long. Japan took only half the
amount of time required by the United States. Currently, most of the newly
industrialised economies in Asia are taking only a decade or two to move from
agrarian societies to industrial ones. Many are even talking about achieving
the status of knowledge-based economies. At this rate of development, cultural
adjustment greatly lacks behind physical and structural development.
In the new knowledge-based economies where information is readily available,
we need a generation that can handle the vast new amount of information and
knowledge, and yet has the wisdom to distinguish the gem from the trash. On
the other hand, profit-driven businesses understand that perception sells,
and will employ technology fully to present information, which are favourable
to their business objectives. It is important that a person possess firmly
founded values and a deep sense of rootedness in order to have a firm base
from which to evaluate the flood of incoming information. More importantly,
a person must understand culture in its broadest sense.
In ancient times, Chinese society was run with the Scholar as the highest
stratum, followed by Farmers, Artisans and finally Merchants. Today, however,
the status of the businessman has been elevated to the very top and leaders
and policy makers would in turn seek his views. He acts as a role model for
the young. More recently, with the move towards privatisation of previously
state run facilities and services, businesses are becoming involved in infrastructure
development, utilities, medical services and even education. There is a need
for businessmen to reflect on their new roles. More than ever, the quality
of businessmen counts.
In our march towards a knowledge-based economy, we also have to reflect on
the role of education. In earlier times, education was about learning to live
instead of learning to make a living. However, as society becomes more and
more economically driven, there is a tendency for education to realign itself
towards serving the economic motive. Thus, a vicious cycle develops, in which
the economy would demand modification to the system of education to serve
its needs. Such an economically oriented education system would train students
who eventually become industry leaders to further reinforce this demand. The
result is that the students today are often trained in depth in skilled and
specialised disciplines.
Meanwhile the world is integrating, and society really requires thinkers and
leaders with a much more holistic perspective.
Leadership is needed to change the narrow material focus of today's generation
into a wider vision needed in the new millennium. Leadership is needed in
many areas, amongst policy makers, in the academia, in businesses, and in
education. Yet, true leadership cannot flourish until there is a widespread
awareness of the problems and recognition of the need to change. This can
only be achieved through open and unbiased dialogue.
The East West Cultural Development Centre hopes to contribute to this change
by identifying and researching on the issues involved, by:
offering a platform to stimulate wide ranging dialogues amongst concerned individuals,
serving as a bridge between business, academia, policy makers and educators,
promoting specific programmes, including education programmes to deal with specific cultural needs arising from the adjustment to a fast changing world.