<p>^Right, but what I meant was that Americans aren’t necessarily the ones playing the sports so they aren’t reaping the benefits of exercise.</p>
<p>^Really, what nationality plays football in America? Chinese or Americans? </p>
<p>Regardless, you don’t seem to be making any point (or atleast any relevant point).</p>
<p>“Number One” was a phrase my father - and, for that matter, my mother - repeated time and time again. It was a phrase spoken by my parents’ friends and by their friends’ children. Whenever adults discussed the great Chinese painters and sculptors from the ancient dynasties, there was always a single artist named as Number One. There was the Number One leader of a manufacturing plant, the Number One worker, the Number One scientist, the Number One car mechanic. In the culture of my childhood, being best was everything. It was the goal that drove us, the motivation that gave life meaning. And if, by chance or fate or the blessings of the generous universe, you were a child in whom talent was evident, Number One became your mantra. It became mine. I never begged my parents to take off the pressure. I accepted it; I even enjoyed it. It was a game, this contest among aspiring pianists, and although I may have been shy, I was bold, even at age five, when faced with a field of rivals. -Lang lang</p>
<p>That pretty much sums it up</p>
<p>i cant answer for asians, but i can for jews. i biols down to one thing-which has been key throughout jewish history. Judaism has a primary and sole focus on intellect and the mind. We are to be a pure, wise, intelligent, knoledgable people-not focused on sports or distractions. That’s why the Jews who would participate in the hellinistic era and play sports and jion their games were criticized and punished. So it’s in our roots. Why do u think no jews are good at sports? But it’s definetly not work ethic- the fact that Jews make up of so many of the ppl of ivies, and make a disproporiante amount of money and wealth-its not solely b/c they try super hard all day- so do alot of ppl. perhaps Jews and asians are naturally smarter? or the focus on intellect and the fact that its in our roots? To end off, i rlly hate the term “do well in life”-jews do well in life cause they amek alot of money? thats what defines doing well in life- the school which u went too? so did bernie madoff do well in life? Yes, Jews get into good schools dispropotiantly- but thats not nearly all that matters.</p>
<p>Hey bro, I’m Asian and I’m lower middle-class.</p>
<p>Stop yo stereotypes foo</p>
<p>
Haha, sike.</p>
<p>“You don’t need that stuff to get A!”</p>
<p>^^ Yes, you sound very intelligent with all your misspellings…</p>
<p>
English please, you’re making my people look stupid.</p>
<p>As a Jew, I know some history that backs up what we’ve been saying. Generations upon generations of persecution of our religion has really caused us as a people to make the most of our situation. Throughout history, the only real time where our religion has been widely accepted and we’ve been a fairly large part of the population was pre-Recoquista Spain. As a result, when we had to spread out throughout Europe, we encountered anti-Semitism. With the generations of abuse that we have suffered, once we got to America and had real oppurtunities, we made sure that we took advantage of them. Up until end end of WWII, it was common to see anti-Semitism throughout America, so since much of the Jews’ families had immigrants used to it, we thought we something to prove. As mentioned on here as well, the Jewish religion itself contributes to the encouragement of strong work ethics too.</p>
<p>It’ll be interesting to see how the Asian American population responds in the future, compared to how the Jewish people did in the past. Of course many people from Asia immigrated to America when the Jews did, but now we’re seeing many 2nd and 3rd generation Asian people push their children to have make sure they do well in life. It’ll be interesting to see how those children push their children in the future, and if it’ll be comparable or not to what the Jews did with our 2nd and 3rd generations in America.</p>
<p>I’ve just completed high school, so it’s up to you to whether you take my words on my experience of 18 years. But observation of students in classrooms and life out of school have shown me that Asians have much more perseverance and commitment to their goals in life. To start of, Asians establish realistic and reasonable goals because they know the importance of goals. Once their goal is established-whether one or ten-they are determined to achieve it. No matter how many times their parents will tell them to study harder or even set forth consequences for not doing the best, it will not have much of an impact as that of when the individual sets goals and works for them. Also, this generation of Asians are mostly the generation after the generation that immigrated to America for the “better life.” Thus, this generation both feels and sees the pain and suffer that their parents had to endure. It is hard to say this factor did not serve as an influence for success to the current generation of Asians.</p>
<p>I have an assumption of why Jews make up a high percentage of HYSPM but I’d rather not say.</p>
<p>All of the Asians I know have at least one parent or at least two aunts and uncles who (a) work in a grocery store, (b) work at a laundromat or (c) most commonly, are a hairdresser. Not exactly full of college professors’ children. (Oh, and I know a lot of Asians. 2010 at my school ONLY had 45% Asians. I think the rising freshman might be up beyond 55% Asian.) They push their children to do much better, though.</p>
<p>Some of those Asian parents are, indeed, well-educated, though. (Especially the Vietnamese ones). They just don’t have the money or the time to go through all the education again, as Asian credentials aren’t always transferable to the U.S., especially Asian credentials from a long time ago, those of refugees, or those who still don’t speak too much English.</p>
<p>So, blacks and Latinos do the opposite of what Jews and Asians do. Right.</p>
<p>^ Not true, there are some who actually teach their children to work hard. Lol I know a black girl who is pretty much Asian.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>The implication is that working hard is not characteristic of blacks or Latinos?</p>
<p>Historically and religiously, Jewish culture has always stressed a sort of scholarly tradition, since a large part of the religion necessitates the interpretation of/application of Scripture. Culturally, there’s just a lot of emphasis on education in Jewish communities; that’s the whole idea of the “my son, the doctor” meme in Jewish culture.</p>
<p>^^Yeah, I’m getting pretty uncomfortable with this thread, too. There is a rich tradition of education in Jewish culture, but that obviously doesn’t preclude other cultures emphasizing or focusing on education, and the idea of the “lazy” minority is both an enduring and effective manufactured tools of oppression. </p>
<p>(Also, Michael Chabon recently wrote a very interesting column for the NYTimes about the myth of Jewish exceptionalism–basically debunking the myth that there are no stupid Jews and explaining why such a myth is dangerous. It’s a great read.)</p>
<p>my two cents:</p>
<p>I’m asian and I go to predominantly white school. The biggest difference I see is with the parents. White parents are really soft on their kids, and will say “Good job!” to basically anything their kids do. If the kid gets a B on a test/in a class, the parents will still be satisfied, or even happy, and the kid will say Hey, I can still make my parents happy even if I get a B, and that mindset develops into laziness. Whereas the asian parent would push the kid until he/she accomplishes the parents’ goal. My friends don’t even care that they got a C on their final, whereas I was disappointed with an A-. So in conclusion, parental treatment ->development of a mindset into the kid ->how the kid will turn out in school.</p>
<p>@epigramimpelled:</p>
<p>I read the article and, indeed, it was very interesting. Related to what Mr. Chabon explained, is how US society tends to “simplify” ethnic and/or cultural groups. For example, Latinos and Asians are generally categorized into big, homogeneous groups despite the fact that what we call “Latinos” or “Asians” are a collection of different cultures and ethnicities with varied socioeconomic backgrounds.</p>
<p>Mexicans, Brazilians, and Argentinians may be categorized as “Latinos” and while these 3 cultures share many similarities, each also possesses unique characteristics. Similar circumstances for Chinese, Koreans, and Japanese.</p>
<p>Jews are a special case since they are a very small ethnoreligious group that has experienced persecution for over 2,000 years. They became a very homogeneous group that had to rely on themselves in order to survive. US blacks are another, perhaps even more special case due to the fact that they experienced brutal slavery and discrimination for over 300 years.</p>
<p>In addition to what I’ve said before, I’d like to add that Jews and Asians “started” their college revolutions decades ago, where success was guaranteed if you went to college. Most minorities who went to college a few years ago are successful now. </p>
<p>The minorities in poverty/low-income backgrounds now are “getting their start” <em>now</em> (because to poverty or immigration), in a time where college doesn’t guarantee you’ll be successful, and HYPSM is considered to be for Asians/Whites. Many I’ve talked to are discouraged.</p>
<p>In a few decades we’ll see a change. :)</p>
<p>Pumpkins:
Be VERY careful making assumptions. That is how “groups” gain their stereotypes. If you have an assumption, but won’t say, why is that? What are you afraid to say? Being that you’re only 18 years old, may I say you still have a lot of “life” experience left to gain the values and knowledge that come along with the responsibility of saying and doing the proper things.</p>
<p>The OP who started this thread…be very careful not to generalize. Every “group” has their share of people who work hard and those that don’t. I believe it’s up to each family and the parenting. It depends on what the family views as a priority. If the family view education as a priority, then I believe they will make it happen no matter the religion or ethnicity.</p>
<p>I just noticed pumpkin’s post… now I’m curious.
XD</p>