Sihui Liu

ESL33B
Discourse Community
My major is Human resources (HR), the reason why I chose it is because I am influenced
by my aunt-Ping who is a leader and is working in a hospital. When I was a kid, I had dreamed
about being a doctor, teacher, and police officer, etc. However, I finally decided of majoring in
HR because I am interested in its working nature and content. I had been living in my aunts
home for a very long time. During that period, I was studying in senior high school. As a teen, I
was confused about the future for I did not know what kind of job suited me, and what I wanted
to do until I met Ping. Ping is a vice-present in a hospital, where she manages interpersonal
relationships among people. As a leader, she is required to show the leadership and great
capability to other people, which she does very well. I still remember the time we spent together,
she was always busy not only in the hospital but also at home. This is a long story about how I
made the decision. I moved to her home when I was seventeen years old, and I was living in the
environment of confusion. I was confused about my family, my friends, almost everything. You
may ask why. If you have ever lived in China you may understand my feeling. People who are
living in China are under pressure for interpersonal relationships. This issue has been happening
since we were studying in primary school. Teachers would arrange some students to sit at the last
row of the class unless the parents give money to them. This is a very complicated situation,
where I have been living for 20years. This situation not only exists in schools but also almost all
the working places; people use this method to treat their bosses or customers. Apparently, Ping as
a leader takes on a lot of pressure because her job is to coordinate the relationship between
doctors and nurses, her bosses and herself, the whole hospital with other corporations. It seems

that she rarely had time to hang out with her friends because her cell phone would ring after she
was back home. She answered the phone and comforted her co-worker who had trouble with
his/her family, or with other co-workers. One day, she cried very hard after attending a dinner.
She shouted why is it so hard to live while crying. On the other day, she smiled in her office
like nothing happened. I admire Ping because she shows me the positive attitude which is very
courageous. Also, I saw she solved a lot of problems of interpersonal relationships in the
hospital. She is a successful mediator among people and does a great job, which not only helps
the development of the hospital but also helps people getting to know each other better.
Apparently, while I was confused about the world, Ping gave me a lot of direction that made me
begin to be aware of what kind of person I wanted to be, what kind of job I wanted to pursue in
the future, yet I want to become the second Ping. Human resources is a challenging job because
it requires people to have excellent communication skills and also an attitude that seems never to
get tired and bored of doing the job. I want to be an HR director in the future even though this is
a tough job, it still seems fun for me. I am a considerable person who is good at observing other
peoples behavior, so this is one of my advantages. The other one is that I am an energetic person
who never gets tired and afraid of solving-problems. Personally, I love troubles because I believe
that troubles make people grow. Besides, I also found that it is not too difficult for those who are
majoring in human resources to find a job. According to the employment rate of U.S. News, it
says, Job prospects are best for those with a bachelors degree in training and development,
education, human resources, computer science or instrumental design. This report makes me
more wishful of doing HR.
Getting to know with my major, I had an interview with my cusion-Di who is a director
of a human resources department and has been working for two years in China. Interestingly,

during the interview I found there is a huge difference between the Chineses market and
American market. To be more specific, the first question that I asked Di was do you use the
knowledge you learned in college when you work. He said, Well, compared to other majors, as
a business major, I rarely use what I learned in college when I work because things are changing
quickly in the business world. Human resources is a part of business which means it requires you
not only to have the knowledge in human resources but also a vision of the world. However, he
also said, I am not saying I do not use them at all, I use the very basic concept when I type
some documents or when I am giving a speech because I need to say the professional words
which I learned from the book. Then, I asked him is there any specific skills that are required?
He said, HR requests people to have proficient communication skills because he/she needs to
coordinate the relationship from different groups of people to variety of corporations such
officers in other departments, president, vice-president, and general staff and so on. Therefore, a
great amount of communication is the key to be qualified to this job. What is most impressive
part for me is that Di uses the way of making friends that I have never seen or learned from the
book. No matter as a sales person or director in HR, keeping a healthy relationship with his
colleagues is very crucial. Thus, I asked him what is the secret for you to keep a well
relationship, he said, I learned many strategies of communication from the books when I was in
college, but that is not enough in reality. What are the vital elements in the business world is
dividends. I cannot give my collaborators money, but I could give them some gifts, in this way
to make them feel happy, in this way to get their support. Basically, how I do this is that I would
constantly make a phone call with them, kindly greeting them and their family. During the
festivals, I would visit them and bring them some gifts, those are the very practical skills that we
can see in the reality. I have never learned those tactics from the books, I gain them from my

working experience. At the end, he said, that best advice for me is that in the business world
you need to be good at summing up the experience of the real world . After the interview, I am
more acutely aware with what kind of discourse community I am pursuing now. My discourse
community-Human resources seems challenging because the nature of this job is constantly
changing by itself, and also it will affect by external factors. Generally speaking the discourse
community of HR requires people to have a positive attitude, and efficient knowledge in
different areas because in this community people need to gain new knowledge every day to catch
up with the latest news in the world. If not, he/she will be eliminated. Apparently, this is a tough
job, and it seems people are stressed in this community. Therefore, I asked Di how I can be a part
of this discourse community. He suggested to me, remembering to have a great attitude is the
most important thing to survive in this community. For example, as a newcomer I will be
allocated with other people to work together, who will give me complicated work to test my
working ability. Besides, talking to the customers is needed as well. Obviously, for those who are
working for the first time outside of school and confronted with those questions will feel
stressed. Thus, a positive attitude is very important to determine whether someone can survive or
not. However, after the interview and research I know that this community is not easy to be
involved, and it takes a long time to be qualified for it. I believe that I am person who a positive
attitude all the time, and a determined mind, and strong heart. I will be a good staff member in
this community in the future.
Now, I am studying in Pasadena City College where I gain professional HR knowledge. I
think college is a great place for us to build a basic foundation, and it is definitely helpful for us
to be more successful when looking for a job in the future. College plays a significant role in
terms of cultivating students freedom of thinking. In this 21st century, it is hard for graduates to

find a high quality job because companies not only require the basic skills but also a vision for
the future, which means more critical thoughts than others. College definitely provides a better
studying environment for students to think freely because it has plentiful resources such as
library, counseling, and it also offers many chances for students to develop their essential ability
like the skills of communication and critical thinking. For example, professors would create a
discussion board for students to argue or discuss with their classmates during class. In this way
students would learn to think deeply and work harder to compete with other students, which is in
a way to enhance their thought progress. Also, group projects and discussions are required in a
speech class, where students need to draw a poster and explain it to the class. This provides
students more opportunities to communicate with others, so their imagination would be extended
effectively during the class. While for people who have never attended college, they would lose
their competiveness, and they need to spend more time learning from working experience.
Clearly, people benefit more from college, and it prepares students better to find a job in the
future.
Moreover, college is beneficial for people in terms of offering a great teaching standards
of thinking freely. In Kiel Hos essay, We Should Cherish Our Childrens Freedom to think, he
points out that his 6-years old son could draw a map with the exact streets name, buildings, and
traffic signs. That indirectly reflects his sons thought has been developed well by thinking freely.
Even Ho could memorize most of the capital cities of other counties in the world, he still
believes free thinking is the key to educate. In other words, cram means that it is a way for
students to memorize things, and that even makes them look smarter. However, students thought
has already been limited because they lack imagination. He also points out how freedom of
thinking influences peoples behaviors. He states that he was very passive when he was studying

in high school in Indonesia. He says, We sat to listen, to answer only when asked, and to give
the correct answer (P.113). In contrast, American colleges seem not to have as many rules as
other counties. American students answer randomly when being asked, and they are even
allowed to retort to professors if they can find evidence to support their opinion. Under this
situation, their thoughts seem has been expanded well than other people. Therefore, free thinking
helps people to have more ideas than imagination.
College plays a significant role in terms of fostering students to have the right values
such as occupational values. For instance, I am studying in an accounting class this semester, I
remember during the first class the professor told us that he most vital rule in accounting world is
to follow the accounting principle, which means to memorize the career ethics every time when
we keep accounts. College is like a small society where we can learn professional expertise, but
most importantly is the productive logical thinking, and right life value. In addition, I am also
enrolled in a major class-Business Introduction. In the class, the professor vividly relates his
story to the materials, which helps me to understand the most important five elements of
becoming a successful leader. Those factors are self-directed, self-nurturing, action-oriented,
highly energetic, and tolerant of uncertainty. Before I enrolled the class, I did not know the much
concept of business and leadership. Now, I have known a lot about what business really means,
and how it relates to our lives. Business is associated with economy, like the international
business could help the world growth its economy. It is well known that most of entrepreneurs
were graduated from college, and they are trying to help the worlds economy nowadays. For
example, Yun Ma who is the chairman of Alibaba is appealing all the major corporations to help
small businesses in the world because he believes that helping develop those small businesses
will boom counties prosperity. He also believes that helping the worlds economy is more

important than earning money on their won. This shows that people who have studied in college
seem to have more sense of responsibilities in contributing the country, which demonstrates how
the value influences their lives later.
Although, people can develop their freedom thinking in college that does not mean it fits
everyone. For instance, some people have a hard time when studying in college because they are
required to enroll in other general education classes as well such as music, theater, and
philosophy, etc. They may do very well in their major class, yet performing badly on those GE
classes, which could bring them more pressure. Therefore, some of them dropped out the college
instead going to vocational school. However, not all the people benefit from college, I still
believe that college prepares students better when find a job.
To learn more about the connection of college and my major, I had an interview with my
cousin who is a salesman, in which we discussed the nature of business, and the essential
qualifications to be a business person. What he found after working two years is that he rarely
uses the knowledge he gained from school. For example, he learned how to manage employees,
make business plans, and make customers satisfied with their shopping experience, but in the
real world, peoples mood will be changed by some unpredictable factors such as weather, family
affairs, and other things. Moreover, the book states how to stay in a good interpersonal
relationship, but in the reality, those methods are not working well to maintain a healthy
relationship with his customers and bosses. Because of the intense market competition, he would
give his customers and bosses some little gifts to keep the customers happy. All these tactics
come from working experience. However, he said that even he did not learn these things from
book, but most strategies he used are based on the basic knowledge that he had learnt in college.
Therefore, college indeed plays a vital role for both students and society.

After analyzing and researching HR, I realized more things that I need to complete in a
short-time. Thus, I set up a target, which is to talk to the native speakers and learn more cultural
differences between different groups of people. My plan is that after graduating from college, I
want to work in America, and I know working with English speakers is necessary. Therefore,
speaking fluent English is very important, which is one of my weaknesses now. I will read more
books about HR and business administration in English, listening to more international news to
expand my horizon, writing more essays or free writing to expand my vocabulary. As DI said, he
rarely uses the knowledge that he learned in college when he works. I think this is a serious issue
for me, and I agree with his opinion. During the week of this writing project2, I did a lot of
research about HR. What I found is that this job does not require a high diploma, it requests
people to have at least three years of working experience. However, I am a student now who has
never worked in any places that relates to HR. To have the working experience, I think I need to
find a job or volunteer as soon as possible because once I have the working experience that
would help me to find a job easily in the future. Therefore, my plan is that I will join the schools
business club to see if I can volunteer, and try to find job outside of school to see if I can work
with those who have the same major as me. However, it is not easy to be qualified inside of that
discourse community, I will try my best to be an excellent HR director in the future.

U.S. News http://money.usnews.com/careers/best-jobs/hr-specialist