I have always wanted to know this about Asian and Indian students...

College Confidential Community
41

<p>In Asian countries like Japan and South Korea, the country is so small the competition is cut-throat. If you cant get into the top schools, you actually WILL NOT get a job. That's why the parents push kids until the limit (suicide rate is high), because otherwise, they cannot succed. </p>

<p>So that's the environment the parents grew up in. They a) came to america for a second chance, or b) are one of the smart "brain drained" elitists who came to america to study. </p>

<p>Asians need to have an "edge" above caucasians and even african americans or other races in order to be successful. America, unfortunately is not exactly a land of equality. Asians need to be one step ahead to be treated equally in the caucasian-dominated U.S.</p>

<p>So, consequently, asian parents value eduaction and working hard is passed down like a family characteristic. Parents think violin lessons will be good for the kid, so they push the kids to do so. They won't think softball will be as useful.</p>

<p>Asian kids so end up studying harder, (asian parents are stricter i think), they study instead of doing sports, they join chess club, etc.</p>

<p>Personally, I'm involved in 3 sports, I do play violin (and have for 13 years, I'm kind of proud), and I have a 4.0, and I live in a prodominately "white" neighborhood. I've never had a tutor. I self studied with books like barrons and REAL ACT for my standardized tests. And no, I dont go to Asian languageschool</p>

<p>Most asians i know quit playing their instruments, quit their sports, quit everything because their parents force them to. The parents think high GPAs and record SAT scores will lead their children to the path of no, not righteousness, but the path of Ivy League schools.</p>

<p>That's the mindset of stereotypical asian parents as i understand it, but again, this is evolving too and second generation asian children are starting to form their own identities and such. </p>

<p>I hope that helps a little.</p>

42

<p>
[quote]
In Asian countries like Japan and South Korea, the country is so small the competition is cut-throat. If you cant get into the top schools, you actually WILL NOT get a job. That's why the parents push kids until the limit (suicide rate is high), because otherwise, they cannot succed.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>How do you explain, then the low unemployment that Japan has had for a long long time?</p>

<p>I know people in Japan who did not go to famous or highly ranked schools who did get decent jobs.</p>

43

<p>sorry i just kinda included japan in there
but in korea its definitely true
i mean, this is very general, but that seems to be the trend
im not really an expert here.
im just a high schooler and im not really very emmersed in my asian culture</p>

44

<p>dietcoke14,</p>

<p>I worked for LG. At least a few of the people I met there went to no-name schools. There are only so many people who can go to SKY.</p>

45

<p>What that one guy said about the cut-throat competition in Korea is true... My dad couldn't afford to go to one of the Big Three colleges in Korea. He went to a respectable college and became pretty affluent through VERY hard work. However, now that he deals with wealthy and powerful clients, he feels the prejudice against his "inferior" education more today than ever before.</p>

<p>UCLAri, IQ is LARGELY passed on genetically if not entirely.</p>

46

<p>MrOh,</p>

<p>But that doesn't mean that large populations are going to have drastically different variation. </p>

<p>And yes, I'm fairly well-versed in the so-called mechanics of IQ.</p>

47

<p>girl
im a girl MrOh
lol</p>

48

<p>That's why I believe the "brain drain" theory is a bigger factor than any thing genetic.</p>

<p>edit:</p>

<p>ahah sorry diet coke.</p>

49

<p>But how does this apply at all to Japan, where there is plenty of economic opportunity? It's not like Japanese have had to struggle for jobs in the last 40 or so years, yet children of even recent immigrants do well.</p>

50

<p>UCLAri, sorry
i just included japan because Korea itself looked a little lonely for my point</p>

51

<p>dietcoke,</p>

<p>I was referring to MrOh's brain drain assertion, actually.</p>

<p>MrOh,</p>

<p>Check out [url=<a href="http://www-personal.umich.edu/%7Enisbett/racegen.pdf%5Dthis%5B/url"&gt;http://www-personal.umich.edu/~nisbett/racegen.pdf]this[/url&lt;/a&gt;] article. It's pretty interesting.</p>

52

<p>It's all about the parents. That's the only reason that stereotype exists.</p>

53

<p>
[quote]
Overbearing/helicopter/pushy parents produce students who won't assert themselves in life. They become shy followers, not leaders. Activities in their lives are parent-initiated. Then these kids can't hold normal conversations because they don't know pop culture. At the extreme, they don't go to social events at all because their parents want them to study or their parents don't want the kid 'corrupted' by those sketchy other kids, they don't have facebooks or blogs, they don't watch TV. I know of at least one example of such a situation at my school and people talk behind this person's (who is Chinese, btw!) back like, oh [name] is never going to get anywhere in the future if she continues to let her mom control her life like this.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>As an Asian who's experience all this, I can say that looking back, I was truly zoned into my little academic world. I couldn't really communicate with people cuz I wasn't keeping up with the trends. One of my friends is exactly like the usual nerd, only American: Calc AB in 9th grade, bad public speaker, and probably won't become a great leader.</p>

<p>Is it just me, or are Asians usually middle manager people because I'm not finding any Asian in America who's famous.</p>

54

<p>sheldon when i said the "chinese kid" and the "asian kid" I referred to them as a nationality because they were born there and came here as young child. So no I wasn't referring to them as Americans but where they came from.</p>

55

<p>I'm barely considered asian since I'm only 1/4 Chinese, but neither of my parents ever pushed me. In fact, they barely expected much out of me. I did things for myself, though. I liked learning and to me, it was lots of fun. My parents never pushed me to do anything and they still don't know what AP is. I made my own choices and I was the one that decided to go the extra mile. Not all kids have crazy parents just because they're overachievers.</p>

56

<p>ais - all work and no play make middle managers and not leaders. </p>

<p>Higher level management requires the ability to develop people, create teams or work groups and to lead teams. If you have never been on a team or an officer in an organization that tries to motivate others or plan activities for others to perform, you do not have the requisite skill set for higher levels of managment.</p>

<p>Play on a playground as a child teaches children how to interact with others. If your parents make you sit by yourself and drill your entire childhood you will have developed a great memory for learning mundane information that may eventually be obsolete, but you have not developed interpersonal skills, learned how to solve a problem or resolve a dispute or how to apply new information or transform it into something unique. They call some of this out of the box thinking (I for one never had a box to try to think outside of, but I do believe that is the new jargon used in management and education).</p>

57

<p>i didnt read all the responses so sorry if im repeating</p>

<p>But my view has always been that there are over a billions of Asians and Indians and a lot of people in those countries tend to be poor. However only a few get to come to America. That means the ones in America are often some of the smartest and hardest working so it is not a good representation of the whole population.</p>

<p>Thats just my opinion though i might be wrong</p>

58

<p>An interesting article on Chinese Academic Performance. I have shared this with my children. I was particularly intrigued by the mindset of valuing effort to get desired results moreso than innate ability.</p>

<p>Chinese</a> Parents' Influence on Academic Performance</p>

59

<p>As an Asian colleague explained it to me, the difference is in the conversation you have with your parents after you tell them you scored 2300 on the SAT:</p>

<p>Non-Asian parent's response: That's great, it gives you a good chance for admission anywhere.</p>

<p>Asian parent's response: Is there enough time to retake?</p>

60

<p>
[quote]
I'm not finding any Asian in America who's famous.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>How about Bruce Lee? He's an Asian-American (having been born in San Francisco, and went to high school and college in Seattle). </p>

<p>Or maybe you want to talk about people who are still alive. So then, how about Connie Chung? Yo-Yo Ma? Michelle Kwan? Lucy Liu? All of these people seem pretty darn famous to me.</p>