Identity and Values

你好! Hello! I'm Bihui I am originally from China and 碧徽 is my name in Chinese characters. My background is a bit of mixed. I studied botany and did some research on plant physiology in a lab for 3 years then joined a Dutch company as a marketing assistant regarding Sino-Dutch business. After that, I arrived in New Zealand and then became a teacher here for more than 4 years.

Explain a situation where you have made an ethical decision. Discuss how you weighed up the values involved in that decision, the decision you made, and how you reflect on the decision now.

Well, as a Chinese, I feel it's hard to have an internal conversation with myself and know what I really want for life or a career because my life was sort of planned before 18. You go to school like everybody does and go to uni after the National College Entrance Examination which you need to work extremely hard on because that's practically the only way to get a 'decent' job, with a pretty 'decent' degree. I was living within the expectations of my parents and the society but no one asked me what I really want to do, including myself. I think this, to most extent, explains why I am living here in New Zealand, away from my family, my childhood friends, and all the stuff that I'm familiar with being around. And it feels good when you start to think for yourself and talk to yourself, to try different things and see if you like it or not. It's the process that helps me know where I am heading, even if I change my destination on my way there. This will be my answer to the first question and what I have learned through this journey is always put yourself first and listen to yourself. I would still make the same decision if I had a start-over.

Describe how your culture and the people around you have influenced your values and identity.

When I arrived here, I soon found even little kids are encouraged to do the things they like and most of them know what they are interested in. I guess that's because of the cultural difference between the two countries. We prefer to follow the crowd and are scared of being left behind. That's why I didn't even think about what I value as an individual because I never got offered another option but to do a lot of studying and then get my head too overwhelmed to think about if I really want it or like it. I am lucky enough to have a friend who helped me walk on a different path and encourages me a lot and cares about my opinion as an individual. It's not only the feeling of being respected but also the feeling that my opinion matters. In the later days, I learned from her to stand up for myself when I got treated unfairly at the workplace and speak up for myself when needed. I guess that is what I value at the moment, my own thoughts and ideas, respecting others as individuals and enjoy harmony with personal boundaries.

Identify your strengths and how they will support you during your learning journey.

Evaluate your limitations in terms of your learning and career development. How might these affect your learning journey?

In terms of my strength, I would like to say I am an achiever and I work hard and possess a great deal of stamina. I take immense satisfaction in being busy and productive. I can use my mental and physical energy for hours when the situation demands such effort. Also, I generally persevere and push myself to keep working on assignments until I finish them. Most of the time I am quite stubborn to refuse to quit until I reach my goal. The downside of it could be I am giving pressure to others as I am expecting others to be the same as me. And sometimes, I may focus too much on the process and rush to solve every problem not the people. By nature, I love being caring and kind. In most cases, I can sense it when a person requires my assistance. I enjoy initiating conversations with timid individuals who struggle to express their thoughts or feelings. I sometimes will respond to people even before they state their needs. I always try to find the uniqueness in each individual. But sometimes, I observe too much and share too little and assume they instinctively know my likes, dislikes, or needs. I am a trustworthy person and enjoy team work with my colleagues. I value everyone working together as a team and always put the group first and think my opinion doesn't matter.

Share an example of when you were trying to work productively with others, but there was resistance or tension. Discuss strategies you tried at the time, how effective they were, and your reflections on what other strategies you would try now and why.

When I was a teacher, we had different cultural day celebration activities happening sometimes during weekends and sometimes straight after work. Some teachers were not very happy because it was their own time but every cultural day celebration only happens once a year and after the activity, kids will be happy and parents are happy which kind of comes within the territory. So we made a plan to list all the job that need to be done before the activity and let each one choose the job they want to do then work together to arrange the activity to suit everybody’s needs, including children and their parents. That was actually a really good experience for me to work collaboratively with other teachers to achieve the same goal and a lot of communication and compromises happened in the process and it helped us build relationships with each other, with parents and young children too.