Reporter Column: Meet People Different from You
Reporter Column: Meet People Different from You
  • Reporter Park Min-young
  • 승인 2016.05.04 16:59
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Postechians often meet only similar kinds of people. Unlike other universities, POSTECH has no university near it, so students lack opportunities to meet people who major in other subjects like humanities. POSTECH aims to make students become global leaders who can communicate with various kind of people. In this sense, meeting various kinds of people is very important to Postechians.
During university life, Postechians spend most of their time taking classes, doing assignments, and participating in club activities with other Postechians. Since they meet people who study similar subjects in similar environment, they can have narrow and consistent views, even stereotypes. Using spare time, Postechians should meet various people. For example, I became a reporter of The Postech Times and one of the purposes for this was meeting various people. To interview experts, I sent mails to them and had talks about various topics, which gave me broader sight. In order to be a T-shaped intellectual, who have expertise in a single field with collaboration across disciplines, we should meet different people and communicate with them.
Postechians can gain invaluable experience through meeting with people different than ourselves. People who have different opinions can provide us the source of thoughts in new terms. When we meet such people, we can have conflicts because of the differences in opinions. However, through conflicts, we can learn that other thoughts exist, developing creativity. Also, during conflicts, we learn how to communicate with people and admit differences.
One good way to do this is by meeting people who live in different cultures. During semester, Postechians are very busy for their studies, which makes it hard to travel to other regions. Using vacation, we could travel abroad to experience the bigger world. Also, we could participate in exchange program with foreign universities. There, we could make foreign friends, see foreign attractions, and experience different cultures, which could change our way of thinking.
Like above, meeting different people and communicating with them is very important for Postechians. When we become leaders or hold other significant positions, we may confront people who have different styles (opinion, culture or thought, etc.). The aforementioned experiences can provide training and develop our ability to communicate with others. Therefore, Postechians should not be afraid of meeting new people. We can learn from different people for our future.