On Apr. 13, Tainan City Government invited the American Institute in Taiwan Kaohsiung Branch Office (AIT/K) Public Affairs Officer Dr. Julius Tsai to give a talk entitled “What You Can Do Today to Succeed in Tomorrow’s World” to teachers from elementary, junior and senior high schools of Tainan in the New Main Library, Yongkang District. It is the first time for Tainan City Government to work with AIT/K through organizing a speech, extending a new chapter of Taiwan-US cultural exchanges.
Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-che remarked that technological advancements will inevitably accelerate the movement of many innovations and vast changes in the future world. As children at this moment will grow up to be the mainstay of maintaining human society during 2040, character development and capacity building will be vital for them to survive the future. Huang expressed his heartfelt appreciation for Dr. Tsai for coming to Tainan upon his busy schedule and delivering such a prospective speech to teachers in Tainan addressing on future situations and trends as well as necessary skills and characters for the new generation. Huang also hoped that teachers would integrate what they learn from this speech into their teaching schemes and strategies, to inspire students to broaden their horizons with new insights.
In his talk, Dr. Tsai started by briefing his tasks in AIT/K. By sharing his experiences on learning and living in various countries during young adulthood, he spoke about how he overcome intercultural challenges and hence shaped his thinking path for exploring the world and adopting challenges. He then elaborated three skills and dispositions a person of the future world will require: Resilience, Critical Thinking& Calling, Empathy. Besides, he also highlighted the relationship between learning multiple languages and wondering our world. His opinions just meet current demands of Tainan, since the city is sparing no efforts in promoting bi-lingual education and international education.
Dr. Tsai and his colleagues also visited a city-government-hosted exhibition about Tainan’s sister city Columbus City, Ohio in the library. They enjoyed Columbus’ introduction and book collection displayed.
Dr. Julius Tsai holds a Ph.D. in Religious Studies from Stanford University. He speaks Mandarin, Taiwanese and many languages. Before joining the U.S. Department of State in 2010, he taught Asian Religions and Philosophy at public and private universities in the United States. He assumed the position of Branch Public Affairs Officer at AIT/K in July 2020.