Smart Asians Created 16 years ago2008-12-09 19:28:11 UTC by satchmo

No wonder there are so many Asian doctors at my work.

More than half of the doctors in the medical center are Asian, and more than 3/4 of the doctors who trained at my medical school and pediatric residency program were Asian.

Why are Asians far superior in math and science achievement than their peers? I don't know.

Show off.

It's the post war radiation, I tells ya'.
(Generalization; probably makes me prejudice. Oh well)

From what I hear, many Asian countries have very strict education regimes, which easily explains their tendency to be brainy.

Yeah, I'm with Pengy. From what I've seen and heard asian kids are more disciplined than in the U.S. However, since I've never been to Asia this might be simple prejudice. =p

I've read time and time again that, at least in Japan, test scores are so high because the federal education system focuses almost exclusively on preparing students to take said test.

Supposedly its because when Asians that are used to strict standards like move to the US, they retain those standards. Then they have a kid, and the child is taught to live by the same standards, and it goes on for a few generations. At least, that seems to be the popular answer. Its always worth noting that this is obviously why the "smart asian" generalization exists in the first place.

PLus i hear their education system is different. They spend less time off than americans and their semesters are closer to one another so the information stays in the cranium longer.

Education systems in Asian countries are run like a military campaign. No wonder they're producing such brainy people.

Although, I've yet to meet an Asian that can best my Science scores.

The Japanese school year is year-long, with 3 semesters and a radically different break schedule from the US. They also get a month off for summer, which is in the middle of the school year.

The Japanse government has a goal of Japan winning 30 (29 left) Nobel science prizes over the next 50 years.

Most of the Asians at my school don't do particularly well. One or two do, but the most are just average/mediocre. Most of them are from South Korea.
As for all the brainy Asians, how happy do you think they really are? The really brainy Asians I know were often extremely depressed and anxious, because their parents pushed them with incredible pressure. They also never had many friends, or many interests/hobbies outside of their school work. I would rather be happy, than a slave being pressured to prove that your race is superior.
The one problem I noticed is that these 'smart-Asians' usually lack creativity, insight and depth-of-though, because they merely focus on cramming information for their next test.

The one problem I noticed is that these 'smart-Asians' usually lack creativity, insight and depth-of-though, because they merely focus on cramming information for their next test.

I have a Chinese friend I help with his English, and he's said exactly that. They don't seem to do anything that isn't geared towards a test at school.

The one problem I noticed is that these 'smart-Asians' usually lack creativity, insight and depth-of-though, because they merely focus on cramming information for their next test.

Uh, I am Asian, and I map.

'nuff said.

I got facebooked by a friend I hadnt seen since 2nd grade, when I was 6-7 years old, He was asian.. and he couldnt help throwing in a statistic on my birthday that "Out of 30 people, the odds of 2 having the same birthday are .5 or 50%"
Way to feed a stereotype.

Not all Asians are nerds.

But I did know pi up to a hundred digits when I was in high school.

My brother's like that - He learned pi up to a hundred digits and learned the order of all the keys on a keyboard backwards.

I tend to focus more on having a crapload of useless knowledge.

Heh, I only know the first 4 digits ^^

Uh, I am Asian, and I map.

re-releases of your previous maps based on locations already realised? ;3

Ever heard of Mendeleev ?

And lol , japan stundents only get 1 month of free time ? wow , we get 3 months

this is dumb, your dumb, america is the smartest and best, best country in world, all you losers are just jealous, we have best invetions and best celebrities, best army with the biggest guns. if u asianz so smrt why dont u make the best country?

kraken .... lol ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ghdwINqirU&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANTDkfkoBaI&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6r1IcY1pv0&feature=related

A quote :

How many sides does a triangle have ?

Damn, 4 ...

sigh And I knew the answers to almost all the questions asked... We get such bad rep.

We do have a ton of very smart people in the US. Problem is most lack any ambition, so the stupid people take their place and make us look bad. Probably because our education system seems to encourage mediocrity.

It's gotten to the point where some schools are dropping the "F" grade because they don't want people to feel bad. Our education system is fail. Oh wait, that's too harsh. Our education system "Needs Improvement".

At least your not like us English people. We actually lowered our standards so we can pretend that we have lots of smart people.

You wouldn't want to be here in romania anyway. The government is practically destroying our lives. There's a unique national test now and all kinds of absolutely non-sense formulas for calculating our overall marks .

Lately, they asked us for some personal information because they want to give us 400 euro notebooks ... hey at least this cheers me up

Americans are all immigrants.

There were no humans in the American continents. All existing residents came from else where.

It's gotten to the point where some schools are dropping the "F" grade because they don't want people to feel bad. Our education system is fail. Oh wait, that's too harsh. Our education system "Needs Improvement".

My brothers elementary school changed the "F" grade to the "E" grade two years ago.

So now instead of failing, our elementary kids are excellenting!

Americans are all immigrants.

Well we are (almost) all immigrants, not just Americans.

Not true. Africans are not immigrants. The human species originated in Africa. They never left the birth place of humans.

True Satch, but i think you can only start talking about immigrants from the days we started to form tribes and borders in other regions, and felt the need to smash a hole in eachothers head..

I might have watched too many TV, but I think American high schools have a much better system than dutch high schools.. from a social perspective that is. It's amazing how many school 'teams' and 'organisations' American highschools have, and activities with that. Seriously, even the strangest kids can find there place. To give you an example; some American high schools even have 'anime clubs', I mean cmon.. how can you be an outcast with clubs like that! In Dutch high schools there are no school teams whatsoever.. and the only activities ever happening are occasional sportstournaments and school dances (which are nothing like the balls you Americans seem to have). If you're a social outcast you will stay that; sitting alone in a corner in a filled area without any given oppertunity to socialize. Our academic standards are very low aswell.. our high schools have 5 difficulty standards based on your IQ. I'm in the second highest, but it's piss easy for me.. which it shouldn't be. I could do the highest, which I shouldn't be able to do in theory. But they lowered the standards simply to have more kids make it to a higher standard. It's fucked up.

PS: I might be wrong about the American high schools, because TV isn't always close to the truth. So I would appreciate an American to reply to that.

/end rant

It's funny how this has gone from Asia to America so quickly. Maybe Americans find geography so hard because there are so many different states.

I read in a book once that you could experience all the climates of the world by just traveling around America, as well as a whole heap of 'state cultures', as opposed to the broader 'country cultures' that everyone knows of.

I guess if you keep this in mind then it's understandable why they don't feel the need to learn about the outside world as much as the rest of us do. Maybe they should get better news channels or something

(Broad generalisations obviously, still I think in some countries you'd be hard pressed to find someone who could answer a question as badly as the people in those vids)

PS: I might be wrong about the American high schools, because TV isn't always close to the truth. So I would appreciate an American to reply to that.

There are some really exceptional high schools here. Others tend to be fairly lousy. And I think it has to do with whether the school has enough funds to support extra-curricular activities.

The worst part of our education system, I believe, is our elementary schools. They've cut back on recess and PE classes, and don't encourage critical thinking. And when kids start getting fat, they blame it on food (neglecting the fact that they've cut recess and PE) and replace the cafeteria food with "health food", which is ridiculously high in starch and is probably even worse than so-called fatty foods. And to top it all off, they've begun sheltering kids from the word "fail".

as well as a whole heap of 'state cultures', as opposed to the broader 'country cultures' that everyone knows of.

This is worth noting, for those who don't know it. It's very, very true. Most states have their own cultures, and they are really more different than you might think., especially when it comes to the northern vs southern states(which are really the northeast and southeast).

No comment on the grade changes; I haven't seen anything like changing F to E. Though I know that North Carolina is on a 7-point grade scale for as long as I can remember, and when I lived in California through middle school, they were on a 10-point scale.

Problem is in America; Stupid people can get jobs when they know someone in the business. Those stupid people take place of smarter, more qualified people, and the country goes to shit.

Problem is in America; Stupid people can get jobs when they know someone in the business. Those stupid people take place of smarter, more qualified people, and the country goes to shit.

That happens in all countries, all over the world.

I think the educational system did me well, but I think it's all about expectations. Generally speaking, American parents expect very little from their children. It's no wonder why these children don't amount to anything when they grow up.

I expect a lot from my son. He should be mapping by the time he can count to 10.

I think the educational system did me well, but I think it's all about expectations. Generally speaking, American parents expect very little from their children. It's no wonder why these children don't amount to anything when they grow up.

That's true. I probably only did as well as I did because my uncle, an engineer, said that study was vital and slaved me over it.

School never really gave me any ambition until I tried some of the jobs out there. After finding myself stuffing 2000 envelopes a day at a mailing center for $8.25 an hour I basically said "screw this", quit and went to college to study electrical engineering. If anything, schools need to do a better job of inspiring students. One of the reasons I'm a believer in the space program.

I expect a lot from my son. He should be mapping by the time he can count to 10.

Satchmo, I swear to god if you do that you'll have sucked the inspiration dry from him by the time he can count to 100. In fact, he'd likely grow up hating mapping. Most kids despise reading because they were forced to do it at a very young age.

That's not reading ;o

Instead, it's teaching him to create worlds in which he proceeds to blowing people up in them <3

It was obviously an example for the sake of comparison.

I don't even know if that'll be the outcome at all, it just seems like whenever kids are made to do stuff at a really young age, they end up hating it later in life.

At the same time, what he mentioned was obviously an exaggeration.

He'll need to be able to account for numbers greater than 10 before he can map.. and by then he'll probably be hooked on videogames already.

I really dont think it'll be a problem ;o

The education systems in Japan and China are almost universally superior to those in western countries, if we're to look at just knowledge attained - especially in maths. They have a radically different teaching methodology, as previously mentioned, and it's not because they're "run like strict regimes", but more often because they employ better pedagogics. True, the pressure to succeed in Japanese schools is often much higher than here, and there are of course downsides to their system, but don't be so hasty in proclaiming it's "because they're a bunch of fascists". With that attitude, it's no wonder the western world is slipping up.

Oh, and just about any "the problem with America..." argument in this thread could be applied to any western nation.

I don't even know if that'll be the outcome at all, it just seems like whenever kids are made to do stuff at a really young age, they end up hating it later in life.

I suppose that can be the outcome. I always wind up hating learning about different things unless I do it myself. If I had been taught mapping in school, I think a fullbright rectangle with a player_spawn would be my best work.

Maybe it has something to do with the fact I don't like being forced to do anything? Maybe, but I'm not sure.

I sure do have problems with authority.

Children do tend to hate things that they were made to do in school. In my first school, they tried to hammer religeon into us, causing everyone of my friends to revert to atheism. I learned to read before I went into school, and as a result, one of my favourite activities is reading. I tend to read several books over the same period, such as reading one at home, one when I'm at the library, one at school, etc.
On the other hand, I know a guy that was forced to read when he was in school, because his parents never attempted to teach him. He's almost illitirate and would probably take half an hour to read this post.

I think ZL has a good point. And offcourse, budget cuts in education system and vain attempts to try and commercialize it ruins als quite a big part off it. And as soon as you cut schools on there money because some students do not perform as others then you create a environment in which grades are the only thing that matter, and thus all the content for the tests is merely being stuffed in the brains and not linked to other content, thus forcing students to overthink it themselves...

all the content for the tests is merely being stuffed in the brains

Nowadays, people from a lower level of high school can easyly get to a higher level due lowered standards. My class is filled with kids like that and I can really notice the difference in intelligence between me and them... and i'm by no means a wonderchild. It is just a matter of studying the given information for one to pass...and people that actually belong on the destinated level don't even need to learn to pass the tests. It's sickening tbh.

Also, on-topic; we hardly have asian kids on my high school.

Who said I was going to force my son to map?

I think he'll be inspired by all the mappers at TWHL, including his dad.

I'm never going to force him to do anything that he doesn't want.

Maybe you should make him listen to music with hidden messages urging him to map. Then he'll get started in no time!

Just reading through this and i think that the world will end up like the movie 'idiocracy' only all the dumb people live in one half of the world and all the smart people live on the other half! They will probably draw a big line...

I wonder which side i'll end up on...

I think for all those who are even aware of the division, they're on the "smart" side of the world.