Hi Ting! I’ve browsed through some of your other pieces as well and noticed you’ve made a publication for Asian voices in particular. Thank you for doing this, especially in the time of pandemic. I am an Asian (Chinese) writer as well, but I was born and grew up in Canada. Unfortunately, my Chinese isn’t that good (I wrote a whole article about this on ZORA!), and I suspect it may be because as a child in a predominantly white school, I found my culture “uncool.”

You are right. There are big downsides and upsides to both education systems. I’ve never been in a Chinese school so I can’t comment on it, but I think I can comment on a system that integrates both values.

I grew up in a unique environment in that my high school was predominantly Asian (like, 90%) and was very academically focused. The culture was coolness = smartness. So I see where you’re coming from. Yet, we were still in a very liberal city in Canada, so we got all the benefits of an individualist, creativity-focused education. Students were expected to challenge and debate ideas, not just absorb them. That, coupled with the academic rigour, allowed my classmates and I an unprecedented advantage when we got into university. Most of my friends and myself had a comparatively easy time in university (compared with other students from other schools) because we had both the work ethic and the intellectual flexibility to deal with it.