<p>I have heard of slacker mentality in Japan also; but like you said, the basis of it is that they are guaranteed a job probably with one of the top firms regardless of their grades. Elitism and connection seem to be very important there. It doesn’t necessarily mean the curriculum is easy though. Regardless, that may be how hiring works in Japan but that’s not really the case in Hong Kong and I am not sure if that’s the case in China either. I don’t know anything about Korea. One of my former neighbors majored in architecture at Hong Kong University and he frequently pull all-nighters together with his peers for his individual or group projects. Granted, architecture is probably one of the more demanding majors there but American colleges have easy majors too. I don’t think most American students at top-20 schools need to stay up all night on regular basis. I have not met any graduate student from Japan. But the ones I’d seen from China/Korea/Taiwan had great techical skills.</p>