<p>Do people think we just born with this magical work ethic that gives us a foot up? Every asian I know works so hard at school but people say we have this 'advantage' and I'd truly like to know WHAT it is. I'm sick of people attributing my intelligence to my race!! Can someone please explain this to me? Is it because our parents are so gung ho about college and grades?</p>
<p>Actually, Asians (Oriental and Indian) are at a disadvantage because they essentially have to compete with the other Asians. Who are probably just as competent and crazy about grades as they are.</p>
<p>At least that's how I've always viewed it.</p>
<p>Advantaged as in minority status with colleges? Is that what you mean? I find it hard to believe that anyone is attributing your intelligence to your race. What I hear is what Ketty says, that Asians do not have an advantage in terms of admissions.</p>
<p>The 'Norm-Bar' for the typical AMERICAN Asian is 'usually' set quite high,and , by definition, when something exceptional becomes the standard, then it becomes simply the standard (bit of circular reasoning but i think you can get what I mean). </p>
<p>Thus people all seem to 'expect' Asians around them to be smart, which is an unfair stereotype, just as people seem to 'expect' most African-Americans to be gangstas/poor or whatnot.</p>
<p>I think it's best said by The Incredibles' supervillain Syndrome:</p>
<p>"When everyone is super, no will be."</p>
<p>What if you are part Asian. I have origins in three different racial categories.</p>
<p>The idea is that Asian culture (especially the culture of recent immigrants) highly values education and achievement, and promotes a strong work ethic. This is and has been true of other immigrant groups. My observation is that there is a lot of truth to it, although it doesn't really have anything to do with how "smart" you are.</p>
<p>Unless you were born into a traditional Asian family where hard work is valued, you are only at a disadvantage in college admissions.</p>
<p>Regarding the OP’s questions,</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Yes, some people either think that or wonder if Asians are born with “magical work ethic” that gives them a foot up. I believe within the past few months, a user made a thread asking whether Asians had a genetic predisposition to be able to study longer than others. I’m not sure if that user realized it, but such a sentiment is Asian supremacist (c.f. white supremacist).</p></li>
<li><p>What is the advantage? As Hunt mentioned, it’s nothing unique to Asians. Many immigrant groups do “highly value education and achievement.”</p></li>
</ol>
<p>If the immigrant groups are from a Spanish-speaking country or a sub-Saharan African country, then their children are rewarded in the admissions process for “bringing diverse perspectives” and “overcoming struggles.” If the immigrant groups are from a country located anywhere in Asia, regardless of ethnic history, then their children are punished for “not being creative or really even that smart, just enlisting the services of private tutors for rote memorization.”</p>
<p>I don’t know how many times I’ve heard white socialists rationalize Asian achievement by deriding them for “paying money to rote memorize.” They like to single out Asians and point the finger at them for making use of service industries. Ironically, the people who do this are often loud critics of “communism.”</p>
<p>I think the OP is talking about why asians are almost "supposed to be smart" just because they are asian</p>
<p>"I'm sick of people attributing my intelligence to my race!!"</p>
<p>The fact is, on average, asians in America perform on a higher level than other ethnic groups, but this has nothing to do with "magical work ethic" and little (although admittedly a little) to do with cultural values. </p>
<p>The reason that asian children are so successful is because the asian population in america is very self selected. In order to be here in the first place, our parents had to be the best of the best(trust me, it's not easy to get a visa). A large percentage of the asian population in america is comprised of ambitious, (then) young men and women who were self made and got to america on their own right, through their own achievements (such as admission to an american university - usually with a scholarship, since it's not like they had money). </p>
<p>Although this is not the case for all asians, this is even more true for chinese, since during the cultural revolution when our parents (baby boomers) were in their prime years of education, schools were canceled for something like ten years. When schools reopened, only the best were able to self study the college entrance examination and beat out the competitive pool (ten years of kids...) and gain admittance to a college. Out of these kids, maybe one in ten made it to America(not necessarily the best tenth, but you get the idea). We are the kids of these people. On average, these people are smarter than the rest of china. On average, these people are smarter than the rest of america. On average, the children of these people are smarter than the rest of america. It's not magic, it's just how things are.</p>
<p>I don't mean to sound pompous or anything (sorry if i did), but i hope i explained the idea of self selection among asians. I know this is by no means true for all asians, but in general, this is the case. Simply put, to get to america, our parnts had to be good. Now, since theyve made such a life for themselves, they expect so much of their children, who often don't turn out as good as they did ( :'( it's true). It is from these lofty expectations that the crazy asian parent stereotype is born. Anyways I ramble. Don't flame me thanks!</p>
<p>also, in no way am i promoting asian supremacy or anything. I realize that the gap between performance of ethnic groups is tiny, and i think i made it sounds like asians in america are superhuman.</p>
<p>^^^you couldn't of said it any better...</p>
<p>While the self-selection explanation is probably part of it (again, like many other immigrant groups), it's pretty easy to see the work-ethic factor as well. There's nothing "magic" about it--it's simply a value promoted by certain cultural groups. Example: why is the local honors orchestra predominantly composed of Asian students? It's because they started lessons earlier and practice more. That's a cultural effect--it doesn't mean they are innately more musically talented.</p>
<p>^^ that has nothing to do with work ethic...yes music requires practice...but so does any other sport...one could say why is the sports of (boxing, football, and gymnastics, etc) generally composed of every race but Asians...i mean if anything, these sports require and insane amount of work ethic and dedication.</p>
<p>being in your local band doesn't show anything...i think its more self selection...</p>
<p>No one said anything about advantaged, it's about represented.</p>
<p>
[quote]
No one said anything about advantaged, it's about represented.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>A lot of people seem to think that whenever an Asian student scores well on a standardized test, it’s because his family paid money to companies like Princeton Review and Kaplan for private tutoring. These are the same people who auto-associate “URM” with “disadvantaged” and “Asian / White” with “advantaged.”</p>
<p>If you want to talk about ‘representation,’ I disagree with the appropriateness of that, as well.</p>
<p>There is no such thing as “over-representation.” There is no such thing as “under-representation.” Use of either term implies that there is a “right” level of representation for every group. That is nothing more than a quota called by a different name.</p>
<p>As Chief Justice Roberts wrote in Parents Involved, you can't turn something that is patently un-Constitutional into a compelling state interest by playing word games.</p>
<p>wow i got alot of responses! thank you all especially the incredibles quoter. i just think it's really unfair when college admissions officers see a good score then think 'oh well they're asian...' my parents never once paid anyone to train or school me; i'm completely self motivated. i understand WHY there are more high performing asians I just hate that people actually justify setting them to higher standards. i guess life has never been fair.</p>
<p>So dumb! not the question, but today in my govt class, my teacher was saying how Asian americans have advantages in college cause everyone wants a hard working asian. But i disagree with them getting an advantage because asians have it worse because of the stereotype that all asians are robots basically. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy--the shining.</p>
<p>y7bbb6: You got it. I don't know if you implied it but there are also genetic factors at play in that the folks that made it out to the US were the more genetically 'endowed' and they passed it on to their children. Most of the "sped" Asians didn't get that visa if you know what I mean.</p>
<p>I think that's an unfortunate stereotype that comes from those types of asian immigrants being the most visible, but asian americans are far from being a homogeneous group. Immigration has come over a period of 150+ years for a variety of reasons in a variety of circumstances, not all because they were self-selected for academic ability.</p>