Now. As a 65 yo black male, retired. I remember in high school I put in as much effort in Math. Science and music. As my friends put in on the Bball court. As friends would tease me and say you can't dunk. I used to say. I can solve and graph any function. So at 61, sold my Interest in an engineering firm and now I'm designing guitar pickups. My race, nah. My effort yah!
But Why Is There Such a,Pronounced Proclivity, Prefference,And Ability For The Court,Ring,Playing Field or Going Hands On Each Other With The Young blck bruthas As Opposed To An Attraction, Competence, or Interest In Paying Attention, Understanding and Solving Graphs Sir ?
If only your work ethic and intelligence was evenly distributed among your race, but you know it isn't. I'm glad we provided you with a culture you could thrive in, though. You are welcome.
Hard work can get you far but not that far. You can't dismiss talent. Innate abilities play crucial role especially higher you go in a professional field.
Most Asian moms take care of their body very well when they are pregnant, this also contribute highly to producing a high-quality human. I was mocked and made fun of while I was pregnant and refused to intake processed sugar, and caffeine, and avoid activities that can harm my body and the baby inside of me. It's all about how much you want it and ready to sacrifice so what you want.
@@asspiringarchitect7552 true, but most people without a learning disability, if they put in enough effort, should be able to do well. (at least in elementary-high school math)
@@hi-fc6ww Sure they can. I am not dismissing hard work and it's results but people give it too much credit. We often underestimate such things as luck and hereditary traits.
Students who believe they will get beat when they don't get an A will surprisingly get A's! 🤣 That's why every Asian household has that long bamboo feather duster in the middle of the livingroom! When have you ever seen an Asian mom actually "dust?!" 🤨 (S. Koreans excluded bc they have cleaning OCD. LOL)
That's what builds the attitude. In the US, they made us fear math unless we were naturals. I am half South Asian, but being schooled in Missouri, I am a shame to all Pakistani IT professionals.
@@AmiynalAnsare I wonder how can we change that culture. And the fact is the culture here also hurts "smart" kids because there's often a constraint to be at the same grade level as others. For example, where I live, math until grade 8 was incredibly easy (everyone in the "smart" category was getting >95% without studying a single second), but the school didn't encourage anyone or let anyone know that they could move up grade levels in math. So, the "smart" kids in my town usually only end up taking Calc BC in senior year where they really could, and perhaps should be taking some sort of linear algebra.
Generally, this is true. Caution: for young people nowadays, either some of them unable to meet family expectations either choose to fade or submit to pressure and get to desired results.
This actually makes sense when you realise that the education system is poor and the standards are already low. Rarely are children really tested to their actual limit and many are distracted by perceptions of their ability. The placebo effect is real.
I went to school in Indonesia until grade 4. When I went to a western-style international school in grade 5, I was suddenly considered a "gifted" math student and was always placed in the honors class until grade 12. Maybe it is the overall cultural attitude, but that also impacts the education system. Schools in many Asian countries just go through math curriculum faster, from grade 1. What is considered an "honors class" in the US is just the regular curriculum in many Asian countries. And yes, Indonesia is a rice-growing country. But I think our culture is a lot less workaholic than East Asian countries like Korea, Japan, and China.
Your experience in Indonesia is interesting. My experience learning math as a kid in Malaysia is well described in this two-minute video: th-cam.com/video/ORtDImWveU0/w-d-xo.html
Same experience for me. I was considered just average or could even be below average student in class in my country. When I went abroad to study in Australia all of a sudden I was at the top of the class 🤷♂️
Karma Never Sleep. Western world and middle east and surrounding are eternal criminals. Including drawing Indonesia world's largest archipelago world's richest natural resources too small since Mercator projection 1569 in reality Indonesia has 3 timezones. Overpriced small land and very poor soil and very bad weather. No thanks, western world and middle east and surrounding are just my past, far away behind. As I state, those not a complete multiracial not multilingual never been living around the world since child are the same dumb never evolved apes stuck inside your tiny boxes your entire life.
I taught for over 30 years at a high school and then at a college. By far the best predictor of success in all areas of life is the students peer group. Nobody in the high achieving peer group wants to be the low scoring student. Nobody in the low acheiving peer group cares how they scored, so long as they pass. In certain female peer groups consider not using protection or birth control and getting pregnant to be stupid, while in other female peer groups becoming a single mother is almost a rite of passage. Family and teachers certainly can be an influence, but the standards of the peer group has by far the most profound effect.
Nah there is far more going on at home than you seem to understand. Children with solid values, and a solid identity and foundation encouraged in the home will not easily be swayed by a peer group. Often peer groups form around the values that are familiar in the home but this isn't always solid because schools can be diverse. I know when I was school I wanted to socialise with an outgoing peer group because this was missing in my home. My home was hyper conservative and valued studiousness but I wanted to be well rounded and resented the obsessive attention my parents put on school and education. This isn't to say that I discarded my values around doing well for myself because I was smart. It's just that the way children choose friendships is complicated. Nobody could ever dissuade me from being myself I wasn't a ship that could be easily swayed. My achievement was always something internal and self directed not from what my peer group were doing or saying.
@@Jay-Kay-Buwembo those same kids ususlly pick a good peer group. So good parents do have a positive effect, but as kids age that peer group becomes their dominant influence.I’ve seen kids from good homes pick the wrong crowd and end up with problems like drugs , pregnancy and dropping out. Good parenting isn’t a guarantee. I’ve also seen kids from bad homes go with good peer groups and do well.
@@johnkessler9878 If a child chooses a bad peer group & embodies the behaviour of that peer group it's a sign of dysfunction that has roots in the home and can be multifaceted. It can occur in homes where parents are negligent or even homes where parents are too strict and overbearing. Here in the UK these issues often plague poor families because parents are working long hours to provide & children end up left to their devices which leaves them open to being preyed upon. It's also difficult to instill values in children than are missing in the home. A highly educated parent is observing and doubling down when disparities at school occur, & consistently sets values and standards in the home. My point is that for me nobody could ever sway me from the fundamental values that had been laid from early childhood even as early as 10/11 years old. I used to think that I was built differently from many in my peer group and I can say it was frustrating & disappointing not having peers with those fundamental values as a foundation. A high achieving peer group would probably have expanded the expectations & limitations that I had placed on myself. However I was vee to cognisant that the school of life is the real school we have to learn at. Being smart isn't enough, and being a high functioning human being requires a broad range of skills.
When I was in high school, I had a math teacher who gave us 100 problems a night for homework, and we reviewed them the next day. I was really good at math that year.
Repetition is key to locking formulas and patterns into your head. Most TH-cam math channels show you how to do something once and then move onto the next part, which I'm not a fan. Show me something and then give me 20 problems so that I can fully grasp the info.
I think it is that most Asian parents give a lot more importance in education for their children and push them to succeed academically that makes a lot of difference.
My father was an aeronautical engineer. About the time i was in middle school the aviation industry got very competitive so my Dad decided to go back to school so he could move into sales. He said the last people who get laid off were the ones who drum up new business, I was very hard to make excuses when Dad was spending hours a night doing homework too. In addition we always got drilled at home on math, geography and science.
Yes, it's all parents. Studies always say that the peer environment is more important, but guess why all of the peers in a bad school district in some rural area are bad? Because they ALL go home to parents who fill them with defeatist genetic-determinist ways of thinking.
YES dootscat3798 - and when entire cultures are made of those parents... generation after generation will learn and learn and learn and it all becomes more readily ingrained in the people, ultimately in the world
I’m from the Philippines, I’m not that good in Math, hence I have a major in Science, but my niece passed her 4 semesters of calculus, and I’m so proud of her, she’s taking BS chemistry and hopefully she can graduate! You are so right it’s the attitude and the effort she puts into it.❤
When I was in elementary school, the schools in Colorado were switching from one curriculum called “Old math” to “New Math.” I started out at a school with the New Math curriculum, then switched to a school with the Old Math, then that school switched to the new Math. I was messed up for years in math. What made the difference for me was my eighth grade algebra teacher, Mr. White. Everyday he would put up problems on the overhead projector and work through them line by line. Somehow that systematic approach worked for me and I started to “get” math. I went on to take lots of math in college and graduate school for electrical engineering. Amazing the difference one teacher can make.
@@jamesthornton9399 The math is mostly the same. The pedagogy is different, with an emphasis on process and understanding rather than just training to mechanically produce correct calculations.
My 8th grade teacher got one of her college friends to come by every week and tutor me on c programming in the library during math class. I specifically remember doing calendar calculation problems. Interestingly, same thing as with you, I ended up studying electrical engineering. It was actually a toss up between CS and ECEN. I took ECEN because a HS friend who went into ROTC told me CS isn't real engineering, so I switched lol. Back to 8th grade... this was like green light and motivated me to checkout an algebra book over the summer from the library and work through the problems to get ready of HS. Likewise, this systematic approach of working through problems line-by-line worked pretty well. Patience really is the key for deep problems.
I am asian, and here's the thing, for 3 years when I was in middle school, I sucked at just bout anything, maths being one of them. The best I could ever do was barely passing, and that was because I was lazy. Until high school I decided go all out, I did, I solved at least 10 math questions everyday. By the time the semester ends I already did all the questions in the books. The results? I went from a D- student to a B+. It's not genes, it's effort. Maths is about logic and reasoning, how the brain see a pattern, and this is not an innate skills, it needs to be trained. The brain needs to be trained.
I taught maths at an international school for a while. At teacher parent meetings I’d often hear parents, mostly mother, say that they weren’t good at maths when they were in school. I would tell them in no uncertain terms never to say that again, ever. It is giving your kid an excuse to underperform. “My Mom couldn’t do it either, so I’m alright.” Anyone, literally anyone, can learn secondary school maths. No excuses.
I'm not that good at swimming, but it was only years later that my son, who swims very well, realised this. I was the one who used to take him swimming from when he was a toddler, not my wife. It was similar with maths - I never told my son I was pretty rubbish at it, but I did a lot to help him nurture a love for it, even though I don't love it!
@@funkg funny you should mention swimming. My children swim well, but to pass their swimming test (compulsory in Dutch schools) they had to dive in head first and then swim - I forget 10m, 20m? - under water. They wouldn’t/couldn’t dive in head first and my wife suggested “diving lessons”. My wife would take them to their swimming lessons, but I’d take them to the pool just for some fun on Sundays. So when the diving problem emerged, I’d take them to the edge of the pool and tell them to just dive in head first. That mostly resulted in belly flops. Through much trial and error I discovered that they were just frightened by the idea of going in head first and - something I didn’t know - this had been inspired by my wife who was too frightened to dive in head first herself and stimulated the fear in our children. Eventually I solved the diving problem for each of my 3 children, no thanks to their mother.
@@frankteunissen6118 I can totally relate to your experience! I was the one who took my son to the dentist for the first time because my wife has had big issues with her teeth, which I haven't experienced myself. I didn’t want to pass on any anxiety about a dentist visit, and now my 13-year-old son has no hangups at all about going. It was a similar situation when he had his first inoculation-I held him and carried him because I knew my wife might react with a 'wince' or 'ooh', which could have passed on some of that anxiety to him!!
I think it's all driven by what a country values. Countries like the US want to push kids to have extracurricular interests like sports, music, art, drama, etc. This is great if you want more well-rounded kids but not so wonderful if you want them to perform highly in math. This diversity of interest is less prized in Asian culture, and therefore, they can put more emphasis on math. If a country's economic growth is driven by graduates with STEM degrees, then that's where it's going to put its emphasis. The US has always had the allure to import that talent from other countries so there is not a strong desire to produce their own. Moreover, in recent years the emphasis on STEM education decreased even more since the US education system, overly worried about kid's feeling bad if they are behind, are doing things like "dumbing" down math and science, getting rid of homework, or getting rid of algebra in 8th grade. What it boils down to is expectations. I think the reason US kids aren't doing so good in math is simply because the nation doesn't expect them to be.
I work in education in Taiwan. Kids here do a variety of extra curricular activities which really fill in the time that they aren't doing academic stuff. They simply don't have free time.
I taught in a school of the arts for 38 years. The most able academic students were the instrumental music majors regardless of ethnicity. 1) It takes discipline to learn a musical instrument. 2) Learning a musical instrument rewires the brain in a beneficial way. (My doctoral research was on the neuropsychology of musical performance.) If you imagine the brain as a mansion with many rooms, it's as if every room has an intercom to connect it with every other room.
I left iran at the age of 10. There we were doing algebra and trigonometry at 8. When i Arrived in London I couldn't speak much English so for two years I didn't attend maths or science classes and instead i was put in extra English classes. After two years when i rejoined the maths class i was surprised to find that i was still way ahead of everyone in maths. The syllabus makes a big difference too.
There is a bizzare situation in schools where those who do well in Maths and science get labelled as "geeks" , are looked down , social outcasts ....hence much lesser effort to be in that category...btw India is also in Asia , not sure why no data was shared around India
When I was in high school, I was a quiet girl. When I get award during my graduation, a cheerleader was surprised. Western culture value sport and cheerleading for girl. It is cool to be this in school. I didn’t care that they called me geek. I was proud being who I was. Girls should feel more worthy than look nice and dancing . It is again culture.
I think there are more factors at play. Not sure about other countries but in India parents are very involved in kid’s studies. They sit down with them and give them time to understand what they are doing. This creates massive impact
I am an East Asian. Singaporean. I sucked at Math so Bad that you wouldn't believe. But as I grew older , I am much better at " Math " because I somehow got myself into the remittance industry and FX and exchange rates is a very important factor in my industry. And I am making a fair bit of money. I forced myself to be good at math because the income is just too sweet.
I'm American and 72. Back when I was in 6th grade I had a great math teacher. His way to inspire us was to find our interests and dreams and teach us how math is used in those activities. Even those not destined for college were shown how math would be useful to them. I never saw another teacher like him. Everyone needs motivation.
Indeed. The Estonians and the Dutch are no-Asian and their young people are tops in math in the world as the stereotypical “Asians” - and they are not rice-centric cultures. Really, Gladwell is full of BS here as on other topics, also RACIST - he himself is a mix of Scottish white and Haitian black -, but a lot of people in the world, including Asians themselves, buy into his BS.
The lazy European farmer theory has been totally debunked. European peasants worked long hours for their lords on his farm, making him rich. Their time off was spent farming the tiny plot he allowed them for their own subsistence.
@@mairnealachamu I dont think that the argument is "lazy farmer" but rather - the innate difference of rice and wheat agiculture. In simple terms (from me as a non-farmer): with wheat there is only so much you can do - plant all the avaialble space - then you wait and you pray (for weather, pests, and that neighbors dont burn dow your field). With rice the result is much more proportionate to the efforts - you can always spend more time time productively - improve the irrigation a little, expand the paddies etc.
@@kreisaisjelis no, I think you have missed the point. Peasants and serfs worked long hours all year round for no personal gain, except the opportunity to scrape a living from the scraps of land their landlord didn't consider viable. I don't know what the equivalent was in Asia, but the video seems to be implying that there was always a connection between hard work and reward for peasants in Asia. Peasants in Europe were only rewarded with more work!
Fun video but the historical link to rice farming is only a small factor in performance differences. My son was one of very few non asians in his public HS class - the common characteristics of these families: 1) at least one parent was attached to their child and supervised STEM homework actively from grade 6 onward; 2) the families did not buy into currently trendy intersectional ideas of disadvantage; 3) the families instilled a work ethic almost to a fault because immigrant parents sacrifice so much get to NA and to put their kids in a position to succeed
You are seeing the cause in the brightest light... Yes, there parents put down their ego and their needs to give their children the best they could muster and they made sure children take advantage of it...or else.
@@nokia5359that's correct. Rice farming has nothing to do with why Asians are good at math. If you're from the culture looking out and observing, or you're not from the culture looking in and making these observations, those are some of the differences. Asians model work ethic to their kids, it's a way of life. For immigrants, more so. Education is emphasized in the household. Being good at math has more to do with iq than anything else.
Well, your ancestors sacrificed more to get to NA. Have you not been taught? Ah, DeSantis wants to exclude that history from the curriculum in florida so let.me refresh your mind! 1. You sacrificed your God Who taught love your neighbour and do not covet what is your neighbors on the alter of the lands and riches of the new world 2. You enslaved millions in a most brutal fashion to do work your people couldnt or didnnot want to do. So brutal DeSantis doesnt want your children to know about what you it! 3. Let us talk about the intersectionality part. Your ancestors ledt europe supposedly because of oppression for the sake of freedom. Indeed the first lines of your constitution says "pursuit of happiness etc etc..." so dont be too quick to dismiss intersectionality and opportunity! Whiles the european on focused intimidating blacks with our inferiority, the asians was quietly plotting your demise😂. Hmm! It is not a quetion of hard work or attitude attitude!
This really is not a good enough explanation, because the Asian kids IN THE ASIAN COUNTRIES themselves are oodles better at Math (honestly at anything they do) than western kids.
@@gomer2813 For black people too. I am Black and Asian, raised by three Pakistani women; my dad is black, and college educated, first in his family but he was afraid of math too... he had an amateur radio license since he was a kid and knew electronics but he decided political science was the right path... I almost gave up too when I started engineering and had to take 8th grade algebra in my freshman year... in the end I made it all the way to graduation, but it was painful getting that degree. Still have nightmares about it.
Being an Indian woman who grew up in London, a geneticist by training, this rather made me smile. Why did you omit India? I think of it as part of Asia. The modern systems of numerals and number manipulation came originally from India via the Arabic world. The concept of zero was developed in India. it is also a MAJOR rice growing region. For the full account read William Dalrymple's new book The Golden Road. In Indian families education is rated VERY highly and there's no fear greater than one's children's education being interrupted or derailed. Consequently, you are expected to work hard. As a South Indian, I was aware quite young of my region's achievements in Mathematics. This, and my cousins in India, was a spur. However, it doesn't always help to be Asian. I'm 69 and attended junior school in England where I grew up. One year, aged 10 or 11, I was placed #2 in a Maths exam. However, after polling the other kids in my class I realized I should have been #1. I asked my teacher why I had been ranked #2. Her response: "A girl cannot be Top in Maths". A BOY must always be #1. I will never forget it. I pretty much gave up. Why bother? Grammar school Maths to A-Level was ruined because my Maths teacher was a notorious racist who humiliated me in class. At University, I did my degree in Biology, but there was a lot of Maths involved-I worked solutions out from first principles. I wasn't always right, but my Genetics lecturer recognized that I had put in huge effort and devised clear, and importantly in science, testable solutions (his response to one Maths problem was "This is VERY clever, but it is WRONG". The right answer required 2 pages of calculus, which I could not do because my teacher in grammar school had made things impossible with his racism, and, I should say, misogyny, as in addition to being the only colored kid in the class I was also the smartest AND a girl...... So yes persistence is key, but so are creativity, imagination, and thinking outside the box. It has NOTHING to do with gender. I became a scientist. I have excellent calculation skills. In the lab, I worked out any Maths I needed from first principles or asked a pro. It still makes me angry and people need to realize Asian WOMEN are still treated more harshly than Asian MEN. This-despite the Y chromosome being, as we know, 99% Junk DNA......
Ok so... I am an Asian and I am an immigrant in America, now an American who is raising American born kids and yes 🤣when I see their maths.... I always hated maths but here's it's easy as hell.... I make fun of my girl 🤣which I shouldn't but I tell her learn the tricks we used to do in 90 s in Asia
👋A Japanese here. When I came to the States to go to college, I noticed a few things: 1. Math 101 has open book exams and we could use calculators. (Neither is allowed in Japan during an exam (or a class) 2. For some fixed formulas, students asked "why"? That attitude itself is very cool, but it was interesting to see students challenge an established formula in Math 101 and failing simple exams. 3. Parents express loudly how math is horrible and how much they hate, and their kids seem to mirror their attitudes. (this was observed behaviors when I was around little kids and parents... and seemed like there was a common pattern). Unless you are a mathematician or a math scholar, math is learning about which tool (formula) to use to calculate what you need. It's black and white. You can get to the answer, and the answer is pretty clear. But the students in the US had an attitude of "I hate math and I don't understand it" and also had difficulty simply obeying math rules. So yes, I agree about attitude plays a big role. I think parents should stop telling kids how awful math is. That'll help a lot, I think.
You might also want to consider that from elementary school, the Asian kids spend hours every day diligently doing their homework. They also take extra lessons at cram schools in the evenings, after dinner. Yes, this is greater effort, but it applies to other studies too besides math. They also tend to study in a way that helps them pass tests. This involves hours and years of studying the tests and practice in taking them. Math is a systematic intellectual subject, and studying it successfully is also a disciplined and systematic exercise.
I am a Chinese American having two sons, one is good in math and one is not. The latter one never gave up. I was beside him every night until he finished homework. He could ask as many questions he needed but he had to put down the answers by himself. In our family, hard work is most important. This also translates into life.
Leaders in western education have for the past couple of generations discouraged accurate grades and competition, wanting to leave none behind. The trend to leave none behind led to a more heterogeneous classroom, which led teachers to aim lower so that none could fail. In larger schools they tried to neutralize that effect by offering more academic pathways, but in the end many were dragged down to the average level. Of course in America there was the option for private education, which aimed higher, selected students who were more likely to achieve, and offered guidance along pathways that led to success. Nepotism and racist discrimination is an unavoidable result. In parallel with that universities started to see students as a source of income, resulting in grade inflation. Grade inflation has a way of interfering with one of the most important features of meritocracy, reward and upward mobility for the most brilliant. It should be alarming for any country to see that meritocracy is taking a back seat.
You are clueless. Obviously you have never lived in any of these countries and seen how the kids live. If "Westerners" spent 3 or 4 hours a day studying math they would also score very high on math tests. Most Westerners simply do not. We play sports, go to Boy Scouts, Play in Band, Play in an Orchestra, rise our bikes, go fishing, etc. - I live in Korea for a long time. I spoke near fluent Korean. I had many, many Korea friends and colleagues. Not a single child of any of them ever played a sport. None were in school band (there isn't one). The ones that plays a violin, etc. were not in an orchestra. In fact, all they did once they entered middle school was to study. They would go to institutes every day after school and stay until late evening "studying" math and other subjects. - In Japan I saw exactly the same thing. - At my kids school there are many students who are in very advanced math - because they have system where you can self study and skip ahead. Few school in USA offer this level of flexibility. Many kids in our area go to local math institutes (or self study) like Mathnasium and essentially double the number of hours spent on math. They end up taking Calculus in middle school. My son self studied and will take calculus in middle school. - When my kids went to Taiwan they entered a local elementary school (They already read and wrote Mandarin fluently. They are not Chinese). It was no contest for my son. He accidentally took his sister's math entrance exam (3 grades ahead) and all were correct. The principle was stunned. Well, Taiwanese do not start studying hard until middle school. So my son who was in advanced math in USA was far, far ahead. The previous year he was homeschooled and worked through several grades by himself. - If you out in enough time you will be better. It is that simple. Hence why Western countries rule team sports.
I’m going to call you on your lies because in Japan they have better sports and music programs that the high school and junior high system in the west. The fact that you say sports and music does not exist is it utter lie!!!!
I enjoy all of Malcolm Gladwell’s books and Outliers was most interesting on this topic. As a retired teacher of 40 years, I agree with him. 👨🏼🎓👩🎓👨🏼🏫👩🏻🏫👍🇨🇦
It's also the abacus foundation. I had a Chinese room mate who instantaneously came up with a solution to a very complicated power bill that wasn't evenly split. We were busting out calculators and she just took it from us like idiots and said this is how you work it out who owes what. Nowhere in Western maths is that style of thinking taught.
I'm a retired public school math teacher in California. I've worked in the inner city and in the suburb. Early in my career, I came to the same conclusion as this video. Culture (family and close society expectations) is the predominant factor in a students desire to succeed in math.
Can be, yes. But it takes a certain level of intelligence to even want to imitate intelligence, so the lower end of the spectrum won't even see intelligence as something even worth emulating. Some things are actually innate.
I came here as a refugee from Vietnam and almost every friend I had in high school was a refugee from Asia. What I noticed is that the friends that sucked at reading comprehension and writing tend to work hard at math. The ones that sucked at everything went for sociology, communications or liberal arts degrees. I was in the same honors math courses, and except for my best friend (who was exceptionally gifted, so an outlier) no Asian I knew was exceptionally bright at math (i.e., they needed to do the homework--often spending a lot more time than prudent).
lol that’s so wrong. I was a recognized gifted student. And writing is a skill, which many do not possess. I was in the higher math levels and many of my classmates who were talented could not write their way out of a paper bag. Writing is indeed a skill, it is about gathering multiple thoughts and presenting the information. Many students can tell you of brilliant professors who were amazing at math but could hardly explain math to anyone because there are multiple skills and the world and no one person possesses them all.
@@AndreiFantastic I was an English Lit major and graduated #1 in the department even though English was my third language. In high school, even though I wasn't fully fluent in English, my essays were sometimes displayed as examples of top-quality writing to emulate. I also worked as a writing tutor in the university writing center (yes, often tutoring native-born students). And yup, I took classes in advanced optics, philosophy and calculus, though they were not required for the English degree. So, yeah, like you say: writing is just a skill. Send those fools to the writing center. They'll probably never be the next Stephen King or John Grisham, but if they're serious about improving their writing skills, they'll be fine. I only became a decent writer after my sister helped. I've noticed the biggest issue holding back those who are otherwise smart, articulate when it comes to writing is their arrogance--it's a serious skill and takes serious work--but it ain't advanced optics.
Our family is Puerto Rican. When I had my daughter I wanted to know why Asians are good students. I wanted my daughter to be one. When she was 3 I put her in a storefront Chinese cram school with other Asian kids. 2 hours every Saturday learning math/english. My family said it was abuse especially when she started real school and had homework. She went to that Chinese school for 4 years and then I pulled her out due to pressure I couldn’t withstand. Fast forward: she ended up going to a private hs on scholarship. Breezed through her math classes and is now in college studying computer science.
Here was how I went to school growing up: woke up at 6am, made breakfast, biked 45min to school. School started at 7am, studied till 12pm, 1h lunch break, continued to study until 5pm. 1h dinner, biked 1h to tutor, studied until 9pm, biked home, finished homework of the day, showered, went to bed. Weekends were dedicated to tutors and extra-curriculum (e.g: more tutors.😂) We studied 5-7 subjects a day, almost the same schedule everyday, and all homework must be submitted before classes start the next day, everyday. That’s how I got into a university in a country that I don’t even speak much of it’s language 😅
@@LibraYall personality can’t fill up my stomach, or my son’s 🤭🤭🤭 And if I starved, I am dead. Then there will be no personality necessary. End of story 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
As someone who studied in China, Singapore, and USA for long periods of time and who now teaches in Singapore, the questions and topics taught in the east are simply harder than those in the west. Problems of the same topic from IBDP, Cambridge A Level or AP are just child's play compared to their counterparts from Gaokao. But if you wish to get beyond pre-tertiary math and go into STEM applications, western kids or kids studied in western-style schools tend to do better from my experience.
@@UnconventionalReasoning : No it works well for them They get tutoring, and practice until they perfect it, then take those ACT, SAT, et c. They take mock tests over, and over. When they reached the highest score possible, they then take the test. I have been to these Korean programs. These kids study all summer. If they are starting 10 grade, by September they have covered all the important topics. Parents invest the time, and money in these programs. Nigerians do a similar thing.
@@patriciawarmoth661 That is learning how to do well on a test, which is very different from learning mathematics. They learn how to answer questions they've already seen the answers to. The real skill is to find answers to new and unsolved questions.
I've heard some schools teach math too quickly, shallowly rather than slowly and deeply. Some refresh, repeat lessons as they add new lessons. Some teachers teach too many topics some of which they are ggod at. Classes move on leaving many behind not having learned the lesson deeply enough to add the new stuff. Then add to that our culture's belief in inherency vs keep at it because you will learn if you do.
This is a very simplified view. I have taught (not Maths) in Asia (China, Thailand, Myanmar) for the past 22 years. Even though, I don't teach Maths, I still sometimes incorporate simple Maths in my classes. So, experience tells me that "Asians" are not generally good, or better at Maths, but on the contrary. What is, perhaps, correct, is that kids of Asian immigrants (e.g. in the U.S.) do well, because there is pressure to succeed.
Considering the situation in Germany, I can see that basic training has been massively neglected for several decades. Why learn the multiplication tables when you can get straight into set theory? The result was that entire generations of these pupils did not master neither the multiplication tables nor set theory, let alone acquire other mathematical skills. In some states, math curricula are determined by social workers who aim to ensure that no one feels humiliated or excluded if they don't understand higher-level concepts. The breakdown then occurs at universities.
As a Hongkonger, it makes perfect sense to us. To select the best students for further studies, British HK government even made our Maths pubic exam so difficult that people who get a D in HK secondary public exam could easily get an A or A* in GCSE (back to days when we both do the same 5-year secondary and 2 years of 6th Forms) It's matter of attitude and culture that bred effort for doing tasks. Thanks for your sharing.
Taught mathematics in both UK and Asia and would totally agree with the video up until the whole rice growing section. I think it is simply the case that Asian (Chinese) societies highly value the importance of good education (qualifications ) to make a difference to ones life. And Math is definitely one of the subjects that will give you a distinct advantage in that sense. So they are willing to spend time and money to gain those advantages. Face, and the idea of children's success reflecting good parenting is also still a much stronger idea in Asia. In UK I guess people have the belief that there are many ways that you might be successful in life so why beat yourself up about trying to be good at mathematics if you can I invest your time in something else and be good at that and still go on to have a fruitful life. And your kids not doing well in school does not reflect that your were bad parents in the same way. So overall kids just have less pressure on them academically. In terms of doing well academically and doing well in mathematics particularly the Asians definitely have the better approach. In terms of raising happy well adjusted human beings I'm sure there are things all sides could still learn from each other.
It also have a lot to do with Imperial examination system in China which last more than 1 thousand years. The government chose bureaucrats by merit through written examinations. Any one can sign up for the exams. Studying and passing these exams have been a way of climbing up the social ladders for many people.
Incorrect. It is not rice-growing that makes the difference in attitude. Indeed, ancient China in the Yellow River valley did not grow rice, but wheat. Likewise, many rice-growing regions produce poor students. The difference is Confucianism as presented in the Three Character Classic (三字經）, where duty to family is stressed
That's VERY interesting and makes intuitive sense. I think that for several decades the trope / theory we heard in the west was it was all cultural -- but because the parents helped more AND INSISTED the kids do well, applied strong social pressure and or punishment if they didn't etc.
Because they are in an authoritarian culture, the children listen. This allows the authoritarian culture to persist. The Western culture values freedom more.
@@UnconventionalReasoning Nope. A very skewed view of the largest continent in the world. Not surprisingly a function of diminishing IQ in the Western world. Strict parents does not necessitate authoritarianism. You think entire Asia is a dictatorship. No wonder you suck at math. Asian parents have figured out that if a child is good at math he can master any other subject. They begin with the hardest.
If Asian kids towards math is hard work instead of ability and according to this video, is the right attitude, by corollary, those who do very poorly at math has the wrong attitude. Can we likewise say that Asian income in the United States relative to other minorities is reflective of attitude as well. With Asian income substantially higher than any other race in the U.S. including whites, can we say then that racial differences in income is more reflective of attitude than the impact of discrimination?
I'm an American, ivy League educated and a lawyer. I now teach at a university in SE Asia. So there's quite a bit wrong here. First, it's absurd to generalize about Asians. That should be self explanatory. Second, are we talking about Asian students here or Asian American? Two different things. Third, if we are going to generalize, across much of east and SE Asia, many of the educational systems are sort of intellectually impoverished. Student willingness is good, but rote memorization is emphasized and critical thinking skills are often poor. Gladwell is an interesting guy, but this video essay goes sideways from the start
Thanks for your forthrightness in establishing that student effort makes a difference. For me English was strong and Mathematics very weak. Now I know that application, attention and attitude can positively affect outcomes.
I'm going to start eating more rice! I was a science teacher in a private high school in the US. Our student body had about 20% Asians. Based on my experience I believe that Asians are better at math is because of the emphasis their early education in Asia had on math. In addition, they spend way more time studying than their western counter parts. Typically, they stay at school after hours until 7 or 8 pm studying and learning. Another important difference is the emphasis their parents place on success. These kids have bought in to the idea and expectation that they need to succeed in education to make their parents proud.
@@shinobi2119I think it’s more cultural than racial. How do you explain why Nigerians are more successful than the rest of Africa? Or Jamaican’s work ethic compared to other’s?
I dated a chinese woman and a vietnamese woman. They consider tutoring as part of a regular school schedule where as we in the west only pay for tutoring if our kids fall behind. My exes both would pay for tutors everyday even in the summertime. So by the time they started school in September they were already a year ahead.
I completely agree it is to do with societal attitudes more than anything else. They tried to bring Asian teachers to the UK and change the syllabus to be more like Singapore and it was a failure. I have no problem at all with the topics in the curriculum, the teachers here are very diligent and hard working, but not every student is. Surprise, surprise, those students that do put in a bit of effort perform better. I think one problem is that in Western society it is not just accepted that people perform badly in STEM subjects, but it is almost encouraged. Those that do well are called geeks, squares, etc. I think some see it as a zero sum game as well, if you do well at maths you must be deficient in some other way, like maybe you have no creativity or social skills, but it doesn't work like that.
Math is about reps done daily built on a solid foundation of the basics. Also most humans can’t see it unless it’s explained. Most math is about discipline pre calculus. It’s basic foundational stuff.
Math is *NOT* about reps done daily, that is one of the myths. Arithmetic for a year in elementary school might be that. Math is about seeing the structure of a problem, deconstructing it, solving the sub-components, and synthesizing the complete answer. Very little "reps" are needed, since this is a consistent process throughout the math education track. Learn it once, keep using it for more and more complex situations.
From the age of 4 and 5, kids in Singapore and Hong Kong start maths and proceed at an accelerated rate relative to the West. By the time these kids reach 8-9 they are doing the maths of 10-11yo in the West. That is the standard rate of learning. Many kids have difficulty keeping up so they are sent to "enrichment" classes, basically paid additional classes with professional tutors/teachers to help them. Even if your kid is doing well, it is highly likely the kid is still doing 2-3h a week of additonal classes. That's just for maths. They likely also have additonal classes for other subjects. In Singapore it's common for kids to have an additonal 5-10h per week of additonal paid enrichment claases. That would cost parents $200-400 every week for their child's education. Since they are expensive the parents demand results. The kids are not smarter, or the method of teaching necessarily better, they are just pushed that much harder. To make things even more demanding there are selective public schools and these start at Kindergarten, not at the high school level. The PLSE exams to determine if you can go to an selective high school in year 7 is seen as important as University entrance exams and both Singapore students and parents stress greatly over the results. When the PLSE exams are on, all the other years are told to study at home for those days so they do not disturb the exam candidates. That's how important they are perceived to be for your child's future.
You know… his take on this seems very plausible to me; and what I especially like about it is that it places the responsibility for performance exactly where it aught to be: the student. It’s a matter of attitude and effort: work ethic.
@@UnconventionalReasoning Yep, we cannot blame culture, fund, parents, society, the government for the entire education system. WE HAVE TO BLAME 14 YEAR OLDS
@@LM-he7eb The issue is really quite simple: we present an approach to math to students which is completely different than the approach to math take by people in mathematical fields.
I have taught math to American, Chinese, Korean, Indian, and European high school and college students. This video is wrong. It finds correlation and mistakes it for causation. The difference IS in the curriculum and the teachers. To oversimplify: American teachers are dependent on textbooks, and train kids to MEMORIZE facts and skills only for the next test. In successful countries, creative teachers help and expect students to UNDERSTAND the foundational ideas perfectly, and treat them as tools to be used. Foreign students make an effort because they try a tool and if it doesn't work, they try another until one works. American students try to REMEMBER what they are "supposed" to do. If their memory fails them, which of course it will if understanding is lacking, then they are stuck and it looks like they "aren't making an effort."
Do you have an opinion on the 'Common Core' approach? It seemed to me that it was far more conceptual and less rote, but students, teachers, and parents alike ended up rejecting it viscerally. Perhaps it's a cultural thing for us individualistic, consumerism-oriented types; maybe we've simply become hardwired to prefer doing whatever we think we're "supposed to" do. In this country, choosing the path less traveled brands you with a stigma.
Me too. It's true Asian culture fosters hard work and determination. But more importantly the way they teach kids to do math in Asia is different. First the technique is different and actually easier. Second they are not afraid to practice. Being good at anything takes a lot of practice. So they start with a simpler technique and then practice many, many problems. It kinda freaks me out that the West still can't figure this out. It's not such a difficult question to answer. Just have to spend a few minutes watching Asian kids do their homework.
While some of what you say may be right, let me mention a couple of reasons why a north European farmer worked shorter hours - 1000 vs 3000 hours per year. (1) The growing season was shorter; (2) Daylight hours is shorter.
I have a genetic condition called NF1. Part of what it does to me is give me a visual spacial disability. When I got to college and was struggling with math, I went to a dorm mate from Taiwan for help. She would show me how to work a particular type of problem, then have me work one problem at a time. She would check it. If it were correct, we would move on. If it was incorrect, she would tell me so, but not tell me where my mistake was, just erase it and tell me to do it again. I finally found success in my, but please don’t ask me to read a map.
@@marieferrer3516 Of course, but it doesn't guarantee that the child will be an honor's student and not all parents are good parents. It's a cultural problem. The OP's comment is a dog-whistle.
@@marieferrer3516 Of course, but not all parents encourage their kids to try hard academically. It's a cultural problem, the USA generally doesn't value education. The OP's comment is a dog-whistle.
@@marieferrer3516 Of course, but not all parents encourage their kids to try hard academically. It's a cultural problem, the US doesn't value education. The OP's comment is a dog-whistle.
Kumon is nothing but effort. It is gruelling. Kids who get through Kumon early on do exceptionally well in Math even later at high school level. It gives them not just math learning but the discipline of sitting down and getting through stuff.
How many hours does the average child in China spend studying math each year, and how many hours does the average child in America spend studying math each year? My analysis would begin there.
I'm chinese filipino and went to a chinese school until grade 6. The way we study math is entirely different, I only realized when I transferred to a more western school for highschool/college (what would be grade 7 in the west), the chinese number system is amazing because it RHYMES, I swear we spent days memorizing multiplication tables but it became easy because the numbers would rhyme. To this day, people think I can do math in my head really fast but it just IS FAST because I use math in CHINESE. I have already forgotten everything I learned from the chinese school about the language except a few words, but the math really stuck with me and I use it to this day. I am not even one of the better students, in an asian school I would be way below average. But Heck, I kid you not, that in grades 3 or so we were already studying areas of triangles and circles, when I got back to that same subject in the more western college I almost laughed because this stuff was what we struggled over when we were tiny kids in my chinese school. I still hate math tho, cosigns and trig can go to hell! I ended up a lawyer.
I only like geometry, Algebra was no fun but calculus was like torture, All that repetition, But even advanced geometry is good because I can use it in my art.
I am Indonesian which is South East Asia btw. Yes, our grandparents woke up at 4am and went to rice field at 5am since sun rise around 5am then work until 12 noon. Stop from 12 to 2pm because sun is to hot, they usually have lunch and a nap. Woke up at 2pm and work until 6pm since the sun set at 6pm and to dark to work after 6pm. Me and my parents are not farmer but we do wake up at 4am since we need to do pray at 4.30am (we are muslim) and go for school or work at 6am (School in Indonesia start at 6.30am and finish at 4pm). The office worker finish their work at 5pm or 6pm than go home to rest and ready for 4am routine 😊
Why do Asian kids outperform Western kids in math? The answer is very simple - they STUDY more. That's it! There's no magic involved, no complicated explanations required. The more you study, the better you perform. While Western kids have sleepover parties and play basketball on the court after school, Asian kids can be found at home studying. This is why they do better, there's no mystery to it whatsoever. At the age of 10 growing up in Jamaica, we had to take a VERY DEMANDING exam (much harder than the American SAT) to get into high school called the "Common Entrance Examination". You took it in grade 5 or 6 and spent 2 or so years in grueling preparation. The test consisted of 300 questions in Math, 300 questions in English and 300 questions in Mental Abilities. Your score determined which of the country's elite high schools you got into and the results were published in the newspapers for all to see. Only the TOP 1% of kids got into the very best elite schools. Parents and teachers alike waited with bated breath for the test results to be published, and if you scored in the top 1% you were praised and celebrated for days on end. What did it take to get a top score on the Common Entrance Exam? Well our 5th grade teacher Miss Scott was well-known for the high number of passing kids her teaching method produced. She grilled us mercilessly in Math and English from 7:40 in the morning till 3:30pm in the afternoon. We had to STUDY like no one's business and memorize lengthy math equations, the multiplication table from 1 to 12 and various quotes from literature all by heart. For homework we had to complete 1 or 2 mock exams EVERY NIGHT consisting of 900 questions each. If you failed to finish your homework or got too many wrong answers, you were promptly flogged in front of the class. At the end of the school day at about 4pm or so, we then went on to private tutoring, what was then called "Extra Lessons". Our private tutor was a formidable retired teacher with connections at the Ministry of Education. She was said to have inside knowledge on the type of questions that appeared on the Common Entrance Exam as well as secret methods on how to solve them. She was BRUTAL, most unforgiving and had an eye like a hawk! You got away with NOTHING! That lasted 3 hours everyday after school. Then you went home, took a shower, had dinner and spent the next few hours doing homework. At about 9pm you went to bed, got up the next day and repeat all over again. That was my life as a 10 year old kid back in Jamaica. Of course you had your fun, etc., but that ALWAYS took a back seat to academics. And this was the mentality of not just your parents, but the ENTIRE country and culture. There was simply the expectation that kids are supposed to study in order to pass the Common Entrance Exam. It came as no surprise therefore that I passed in the top 1% and got accepted to the high school of my choice, the very elite and oldest high school in the Americas, Wolmer's Boys. Out of the 30 kids in my 5th grade class, all of us passed in the top 1% except for 3 girls, which shocked everyone since they were among the three brightest kids in our class. There was much weeping that day as we all read the newspaper in class together and noticed their names were missing. We all hugged and cried together. Our teacher Miss Scott tearfully theorized that they must have suffered from test anxiety which prevented them from doing their best, else how do you explain the failure of the three brightest kids at our school to pass the Common Entrance? After my family moved to New York at the age of 13, I was shocked to see what was being taught at the public high schools there. In grade 9 we were learning "clock arithmetic", basically adding and subtracting time. Meanwhile all my high school friends back in Jamaica were learning advanced algebra and trigonometry. At age 15 we finally started learning algebra in New York, my friends back in Jamaica had already moved on to calculus. My point is, if you want to be good at math all you have to do is study. It has nothing to do with race, nothing to do with IQ, nothing to do with history. By the way, the reason Asian countries are so rigid in their study practices has nothing to do with agriculture and EVERYTHING to do with a massive inferiority complex against the West. Up until a few hundred years ago it was Asian societies, especially the Chinese, that led the world in science, technology and advanced civilization. Back in the Medieval Age when Europeans were backwards and living in mud huts, China and Japan had glorious and advanced civilizations. They were so developed that when the first Europeans made contact with the Chinese, the Emperor was understandably unimpressed by their cheap trinkets. He labeled the Europeans undesirable barbarians and had them promptly expelled from his court, after which he cut off all contact with the "Barbarian" West. Fast forward a couple hundred years and the situation had completely reversed. The East became backwards and impoverished and the Western European Powers were able to easily walz into China and Japan and effortlessly subjugate and carve them up into vassal colonies. Asians, especially the Chinese, have never forgotten or forgiven this humiliation. And their way of exacting revenge is to outdo the West at their own game. This is why Asians play classical music BETTER than Westerners, study HARDER, work LONGER, etc. It has nothing to do with agriculture and EVERYTHING to do with outperforming the "barbarians" and regaining their historic and rightful place as the center of civilization.
@@brytankak9598 Because the US benefits by importing all of Jamaica's best and brightest. From Kamala Harris' economy professor father all the way down to many of America's leading black figures, most or at least a very good percentage of them are of Jamaican heritage. This has been happening for at least a hundred years now - the individual single-handedly responsible for starting the black power movement in America was none other than Marcus Garvey, a Jamaican, all the way back in the 1910's and '20s. This gave rise to the Civil Rights movement and such popular (and colorful) figures such as Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, etc. Just a list of well-known Jamaican-Americans: Tyson Beckford Grace Jones Sheryl Lee Ralph Jada Pinkett Smith Madge Sinclair Kerry Washington Harry Belafonte Busta Rhymes Alicia Keys Sean Paul DJ Kool Herc Notorious BIG Shaggy Patrick Ewing Floyd Mayweather Tanya Chutkan, Federal judge overseeing Trump case Kamala Harris, Presidential candidate Leondra Kruger, California Supreme Court Justice David Paterson, former NY Governor Colin Powell, former US Secretary of State Winsome Sears, candidate for Virginia Governor Wes Moore, current Governor of Maryland Al Roker ...and many, many more
@CurtisCT US imports the best and brightest from all over the world, and not just Jamaica... In some ways, the over emphasis on academic performance is a sign of an inferiority complex and population oppression that lead to poorer outcomes down the line. It's imposing near impossible standards at a very young age, so most will fail, and consider themselves inferior for the rest of their lives. Multiple bright individuals may be discouraged by the structure and effort required to be considered even average in such settings. Once considered inferior, their self-esteem might suffer, and they may later go on to engage their cognitive faculties to find easier gain - e.g. criminal activity. Others might fall into drug use. Most of all, many will not get the experience you had and always consider themselves less than. E.g. an average Jamaican student will see himself as worse vs. "straight A" student in the US, despite the two being equivalent. Many people require positive encouragement to do well, and many mature later in life.
Most of success is hard work. Even intelligence is linked to hard work. It is like a sharp instrument that needs sharpening after being used for a while.
It's quite simple: we are disciplined. Euro countries are better than America too. Estonia is a high ranking math country that can even compete with Asian countries. American parents have totally failed on many fronts, especially math. They're way too soft.
Narrowing down Mathematical performance to persistence and hardwork is very naive and quite derogative to Math. Truth be told, Math requires genius; mostly at an international competition level. I tried to solve some of those problems and I found that they have been designed to discourage exhaustive, brute force, unintuitive thinking; but to favor brilliancy, imagination, creativity,... The reason being that those international competition are used to select some of the top scientists of the next generation; many of them end up winning Nobel prizes or field Medal. One of the undeniable confirmation about my claim is that those kids who excel at international math Olympiads are young. So that by itself almost completely rules out the hardwork hypothesis. Since young people have had less time to work hard and they also have developed less character for hardwork. Again, wherever there is poverty, people work hard; like in Africa. I am African and I can ensure you that our ancestors work perhaps harder than Asians. So if harwork was very decisive in Math, then Africans would be among the best. But unfortunately Africa performs very poorly at international Math competitions. Another way to understand that hardwork has little to do with international level Mathematical ability, is that if we consider other contexts where hardwork contributes a lot to success like sport, we will see that the best come a bit from every part of the world and there is not a great difference between the best and the rest. Take for instance 100m race; there is not a great difference between the best Usain bolt and the average; it's just a matter of less than 2 seconds. Because when hardwork is very decisive in a discipline, performances tend to converge to a fixed maximum. But Mathematics are not sport. Hardwork is very decisive in sports, but not in Mathematics! It's again easy to confirm that when we realize that modern Maths has been created by the brightest humans; so it makes sense that the average humans should struggle to understand and excel at things created by the brightest humans. Take for instance the inventor of calculus. Isaac Newton. He had an extimated iq of 190; which is close to the human celling based on IQs recorded. So it makes complete sense that the average human needs some level of intelligence to not just understand Maths like calculus, but also excel at them during a context of competition. The truth is that Asians are getting much smarter than westerners. That's the elephant in the room that westerners don't want to address. The western culture has promoted more and more entertainment and it has changed the values of people in the west. Women love dancers, rappers, comedians, artists,... and give them a lot of children; women tend to ignore scientists or those who are skilled at math; because they are not entertaining. As a result the later don't pass down their genes as much as the former. Western women don't prioritize intelligence for relationships; they tend to prioritize superficial things and neglect intelligent men. Many of them even line up to give children to entertainers and athletes. On the other hand, in Asia women prioritized intellectual abilities when searching relationships. They are pressured by their families to do that. So smart people pass down their genes faster than the rest. Another reason for Asian and I will even add Russian dominance in Maths is their languages. Complicated visual languages prepares children to think mathematically with visual patterns rather than just recalling words and memorizing a lot of words. Also do a small check of the photos of children who excel at those math competitions; they tend to have wider brains than average; particularly their foreheads; I venture to guess that their brain functions like a microprocessor with more cores compare to the average person brain.
I am an Asian American. I have never lived, nor ever went to school in Asia. So I can't compare Eastern and Western countries and their attitude to math. I will say that I was one of the best math students in my class. I studied up to PreCalculus and mostly got As. Scored 600 out of 800 on the SATs in math. It was a subject that I found fun and I did well at effortlessly. It wasn't so effortless for my White classmates. Math wasn't even my best subject. I preferred English, and majored in English literature in college. I definitely had the mindset that all math problems put before me were solvable. As long as the level wasn't greater than precalc. And I guess most Americans don't have that mindset.
Math in American & western high schools is ridiculously easy. When I see their curriculum I was like, is that it? And many students cant even get a B. All u need is to put 10% of effort that Asian students in Asian countries put and u are guaranteed at least a B. If u give 20% of effort A is a guarantee. And I might be wrong but I believe you can choose how many subjects you want to take for the SAT or if you don't want to go to the top universities SAT is not required and you can still graduate high school. I've heard students get to top universities by taking only 2 subjects for the SAT. In Malaysia where I came from, u can't graduate unless u take the SPM (SAT equivalence). U are required to take 9-10 subjects depending on if you are a science or art major. Back when I was in high school, my schedule was 7am - 2pm school, 2-3 I have my lunch and rest a bit, 4-5 I do my homework, 5-7 tuition classes, 7-8 pm dinner and rest, 8-10 pm revision (My parents would force me to study and go to evening tuition classes). Even after all that hard work, I failed to get straight A's. I was devastated when the results were out. My parents were considered lenient because they allow me to rest on weekends. Many of my Chinese colleagues don't even get a rest on weekends.
@@secrets.295 Interesting. But I have never studied in another country than America, so how does that explain how well I was at math? I don't think I worked harder than my classmates. I barely put any effort into math. Could it just be genetics? Or I was just abnormal?
@@justinchan6043 You probably put some effort into it, minor effort at least. Also, Asian students tend to have better concentration during classes. Concentrating hard when the teacher is teaching in front is very important. That is something I struggled with growing up but I forced myself. Many of my friends are so laser focused, I can't believe it. Lol. I edited my previous answer just now. I add how tough it is at Malaysian schools vs US schools. Just to let u know how different it is. I hate my teenage years because all I do is study. PS : You might have a higher iq than most other people which explains why you get pretty good scores. But one person doesn't change a statistic. The average Asian students are more hardworking than other races in America. When I studied at UCLA, every time I went to the library the majority of students there were Asians. Other races are too busy partying. Lol. When u work harder you get better results.
What I get from this is preK-6 math education matters a lot, at affect attitude. It’s kinda the same for science and how you can differentiate honors vs regular students.
Intellectual endurance. The ability to study and retain information is something that is built over time. It is developed and ingrained in Asian children, but not as much on the Western side. It's not all about effort at that particular time because the data has to be retained. If you've never studied 60 hours in a week, the first time you do it you will retain very little information. But if you've been doing it for years, then you retain much more data.
I just retired after 26 years in American education and also spent time in schools in Taiwan, China, and Japan. Their is a cultural difference. In East Asia you compete after elementary school to get into the best schools in the city. You do not just go to the school nearest you. It is a merit based system. Parents push their kids hard to study and behave because they are your retirement program when you get old. Kids that do not work hard or behave well are soon tracked to a vocational school to learn a trade. You compete to get into the best national universities. The Asian countries do not have the time or money to waste on those who do not try hard and show ability. Yet, they do not cast you aside instead you are given a good vocational skill to provide a good living wage. I have seen Asians here in the USA who have become Americanized and do not do as well as those who are first or second generation immigrants. The Americanized Asians have lost their cultural roots and adopted the worst of our habits. We must have an Asian style system here in the USA or we are finished in academics. MA East Asian Studies Chinese, Fulbright Scholar Japan 2003, and Fulbright Scholar China 2005.
It's our society changing. Our decline as a great nation in so very many respects. Our entire population is being softened and our childrens' mind set is being softened.
Isn’t that the purpose of a successful society so that future generations have to do less? I understand what you’re saying, but I think it’s such a funny statement so many people work so hard to improve the lives of others and then when the lives of others are improved why those people lived in luxury relative don’t have the same drive
What I have noticed is that, Asian schools tend to be very competitive when it comes to academics. Even the students have a mindset of competitiveness so that even their slightest mistake in solving math problems make them think of themselves as failure or dishonor to their clan (Of course, not all Asian students are this way, but many are.). That is because whoever would score the lowest in a math test inside the classroom, that poor student would be left behind, and that is a shame. However I have noticed in the West that many young people (Again, I'm not saying all though) have a mindset of "who needs these math formulas in real life anyway?" so that they easily become frustrated and will no longer like to sit through the math problem they ought to solve. Just an observation though, I might be having a wrong conclusion.
I notice in Asia they have a test culture. I never lived in Asia But I lived in a country where if you are to go to college you have to take an hard exam. What weaken this culture in the US is grades is a important factor. Of course I am againist Chinese style education and destroys creativity. But test culture helps. I think the main reason is the atitude toward education in the US. I have experience this, many teacher but a glass ceiling on top of many bright student only because he is lightly autistic or they do like him/her. The education system in the US is horrible and I think is better to home School. Even State government offers online class for free in the US, k-12.
Karma Never Sleep. Western world and middle east and surrounding are eternal criminals. Including drawing Indonesia world's largest archipelago world's richest natural resources too small since Mercator projection 1569 in reality Indonesia has 3 timezones. Overpriced small land and very poor soil and very bad weather. No thanks, western world and middle east and surrounding are just my past, far away behind. As I state, those not a complete multiracial not multilingual never been living around the world since child are the same dumb never evolved apes stuck inside your tiny boxes your entire life.
No only in East Asia, try in High school in America that majority East Asian😅 you can't find in university because bamboo ceiling isn't allowed east Asian too much enter
@@malakatan3235 Colleges take disproportionately fewer Asian males because they are boring. They are cookie-cutter, and tend to contribute to the campus less than other demographics. This is a consequence of their parents' culture from Asia and the fixation with grades instead of actual learning and growth.
Malcolm, you are stating the main principle that Carol Dweck put forth in her book Mindset, and the more than 40 years of research that was behind it. It is important, but not the main reason why Asian kids do better. Did you read The Teaching Gap by Stigler and Hiebert? The book is based on the TIMSS video study of random samples of math classrooms in America, Germany and Japan. The findings mirror those described in The Learning Gap. It is also consistent with the comparison of Chinese and American teachers by Liping Ma in her book, Knowing and Teaching Elementary Mathematics. She coined the phrase, "profound understanding of fundamental mathematics." The main reason Asian kids do better is their and their teachers' attitude toward knowing math. In Western countries, especially the United States, knowing math means memorizing procedures to compute the answers to math problems. If you can compute the answer, then you "understand the concept." In Asian countries, knowing math means truly understanding the concepts and being able to reason mathematically and explain why an answer is correct. If you can't see the difference between these two ways of knowing, it shows how focused you are on just getting the answer. This is difficult to fix, because teachers in America are a product of the system and only learned the procedures. They do not have a profound understanding of fundamental mathematics so cannot pass that on to their students. They need to learn a better way to teach and the mathematics behind it at the same time. James Spillane's study shows how it can be done. Spillane, J. P. (1999). External reform initiatives and teachers’ efforts to reconstruct their practice: The mediating role of teachers’ zones of enactment. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 31(2), 143-175.
Also it is cultural to work harder, and study harder. When your culture puts the greatest emphasis on education, they will do better overall. Americans will fall even further behind because of "Critical race theory" Teaching kids that men can have babies instead of math, and "wokeness " is not helping
and the breakdown of the family unit, it helps to have two perants, you can say what you want but having both helps as a support structure, and that can give confidence to keep at it, learn to temper anger, and bring other prospectives if the mom cant do it maybe dad, boyfriend, or uncle can help, and let kids learn what to look for when they grow up it has a factor it does, most of all how to love its ment to be shared shown and given away, and at its heart make one work harder so they can be strong enough at something to master it so they can afford to be gentle, and have enough strength to keep control of that power, though this is less about math and more about philosophy, but there seems to be a lack of hard work from many anymore, or if they can they just wont.
One issue behind the lower scores in the US is the difference in emphasis. Primary school students in the US spend a lot of time learning to manipulate fractions eg. Divide five and three fourths by two and two thirds. Or adding fractions with mixed denominators. (also issues with constantly changing educational fads: common core curriculum, etc.) The metric-based world bypasses these fraction skills which hardly appear in the TIMSS tests. The US test results would improve if we matched the international math curriculum more closely.
Western education systems, especially in the US the math and science classes are much easier compared to the ones in South Korea. Parents in South Korea generally deeply care about their children's education and sacrifice themselves, supporting them all the way through to their fullest potential. American parents?... Hmm
I would argue that the rice theory doesn't fully hold water, as America was a very hard working country prior to the 60s. There is a culture of jack-of-all trades and self sufficiency, which requires a lot of hard work lest you die. Quite a few things destroyed this work ethic: the counterculture which was very lazy and hedonistic, globalization which took away a lot of jobs, welfare and incentivizing to not work, feminist and race politics which eventually became discriminatory to those not in their groups. You correctly identified that American culture is severely lacking for handling math and tackling problems. That is because America turned its back on what works. You will find that even within US, the math scores have inverted from liberal coastal cities and midwest, from 90s till now. The liberal coastal cities used to dominate, now it's reversed. Ask yourself why. It's because of the coddling and all of the above reasons.
Globalization didn't "take away a lot of jobs", American businesses sent away a lot of jobs. The rest of your comments are similarly misguided grievances. Unfortunately, you'll have to wait over a year for Festivus 2024.
Surprisingly however, the modern mathematics, physics and other related fields are developed in the west in last 400 years, particularly in Germany, France and Britain.
I’m a 53 year old South East Asian male with 5 university degrees. I was an immigrant. In my day Asians kids were rarely accepted by ‘locals’. My kids are 4 and 9 are being raised in Canada. Question, is there a rice paddy field I can send my kids to? Their identity is now the identity of their peers-and everything is Sooooo hard. They are embraced by their community. They seem happy-but studying is a form of torture despite my best efforts to encourage them-including reading with them, doing school work with them, and enrolling them in private school-I even bring them to see me lecture as a professor. My kids may look Asian but they’re not Asian. I’m also not hard on them. I’d be happy if they do Anything related to intellectual curiosity. I’m not hard on them at all. My parents never saw even one of my report cards. They just expected I would try hard.
Most parents push their kids especially in todays environment yet certain people always rise to the top. It's not just cultural. Also how does a people come up with its culture? Why asians/jews advocate for being a doctor/lawyer/teacher, but other groups advocated for being rappers,dancers,athletes?
All peoples come up with their cultures by thinking deeply about what future they want. Jewish people's holy book promises that their nation will be "raised above all of the other nations that God created." At a certain point in history (actually not that long ago, it is mostly a modern thing), Rabbis stopped worrying too much about their superstitions of a prophesied Messiah doing this, and started to just take the project of raising the Jewish nation to the top, into their own hands. They created a culture dedicated to success (a.k.a. victory). Don't want to go into detail about other cultures, but I think you can understand how, different cultures have different fundamental values, and those values drive cultures to want different things in the future, and those dreams of the future then inspire elites to care more/less about how they drive the populace.
Wrong. Go watch videos of black people being raised in Japan or Germany, or even in adopted families, and see the difference compared to what you’re describing. I know plenty of Asians Americans who dgaf because they are, American. We all have our highs and lows. African Americans have been affected heavily by hip hop in which record label owners would want the most stereotypical gangster rapper, and also had stocks in private prisons. 40 years later you have what we have now, but this also affects everyone in America as well. Culture and upbringing along with your genes have probably some of the biggest influence on what you become. Did you think black people wanted to be rappers and basketball players in the 1600s? Lmao bruh people change. Northern Europeans were once the savages in the 0-500 AD, with the Middle East, North Africa, India, China and Southern Europe being the civilized world. Islam was the land for colleges and intellectuals from the 800-1200 AD, and Europeans rediscovered antiquity which sparked the Renaissance due to the Islamic libraries that had books on Greece and Rome that did not survive due to Constantine and the Christianization of Rome. Everyone has their highs and lows. Right now Europe and the West look like their 6 centuries of reigning is on a decline, with Asia and Eurasia rising. It’s exciting and shows you how fair life is. We all get our turn (the US is for sure trying to hog and monopolize this though).
Totally wrong perspectives. As a Chinese person who went through the tough Chinese College Entrance Exam, math score only weighs 20% percent of the exam while English and Chinese weighs 40%. Math was never the most important thing in our education system or our traditional culture. Traditional Chinese culture value literature and philosophy way more than math. For example, we like name babies with wen(literature in Chinese), no one name their babies with shu(math in Chinese)
@user-jv5qq7cz4h Different races have different levels of intelligence and aggression, just like different dog breds have different behaviors even when they eat the same brand of dog food. It's just that some people wouldn't admit that truth because it hurts their self-esteem.
I mean, as a teaching tool, Gladwell makes sense. As to actually why... If you're a Chinese or Japanese kid, which is easier: Math, or memorizing 10,000 individual characters so you can read? In the West, poetry is easier than calculus for many people. In much of Asia, someone has to memorize thousands of characters before they can even begin to write basic poetry, while math is something they can start on in a day. Math is an easier language to read than Chinese or Japanese, so it gets more attention.
Now. As a 65 yo black male, retired. I remember in high school I put in as much effort in Math. Science and music. As my friends put in on the Bball court. As friends would tease me and say you can't dunk. I used to say. I can solve and graph any function. So at 61, sold my Interest in an engineering firm and now I'm designing guitar pickups. My race, nah. My effort yah!
If black people spend as much effort on academic as on sports, they would have been way more successful.
You beat me by 1 year. I will wrap it up in august and start doing golf and gardening in comfort. Like you, i believe it all by my personal effort.
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Exactly. See my post.
If only your work ethic and intelligence was evenly distributed among your race, but you know it isn't. I'm glad we provided you with a culture you could thrive in, though. You are welcome.
Students who believe that success depends on innate ability do poorly compared to those who believe that success depends on effort.
Hard work can get you far but not that far. You can't dismiss talent. Innate abilities play crucial role especially higher you go in a professional field.
Most Asian moms take care of their body very well when they are pregnant, this also contribute highly to producing a high-quality human.
I was mocked and made fun of while I was pregnant and refused to intake processed sugar, and caffeine, and avoid activities that can harm my body and the baby inside of me. It's all about how much you want it and ready to sacrifice so what you want.
@@asspiringarchitect7552 true, but most people without a learning disability, if they put in enough effort, should be able to do well. (at least in elementary-high school math)
@@hi-fc6ww Sure they can. I am not dismissing hard work and it's results but people give it too much credit. We often underestimate such things as luck and hereditary traits.
Students who believe they will get beat when they don't get an A will surprisingly get A's! 🤣 That's why every Asian household has that long bamboo feather duster in the middle of the livingroom! When have you ever seen an Asian mom actually "dust?!" 🤨 (S. Koreans excluded bc they have cleaning OCD. LOL)
My bro has worked in Taiwan for forty years. They spend way more time studying Math than Americans do. That's the reason.
That's what builds the attitude. In the US, they made us fear math unless we were naturals.
I am half South Asian, but being schooled in Missouri, I am a shame to all Pakistani IT professionals.
No…Asians are just smarter
@@AmiynalAnsare I wonder how can we change that culture. And the fact is the culture here also hurts "smart" kids because there's often a constraint to be at the same grade level as others. For example, where I live, math until grade 8 was incredibly easy (everyone in the "smart" category was getting >95% without studying a single second), but the school didn't encourage anyone or let anyone know that they could move up grade levels in math. So, the "smart" kids in my town usually only end up taking Calc BC in senior year where they really could, and perhaps should be taking some sort of linear algebra.
Way, way more time brother
grades according to Asian parents:
A - average
B - below average
C - can't get dinner
D - don't come home
F - find a new family
Like Cosby said, "That is why they are called Asians".
Actually, B is an Asian Failure.
In the 70s and 80s, 90 was the minimal mark for me or else I would be murdered by my mum. True story. I averaged 92 . That's why I'm alive.😁
Generally, this is true. Caution: for young people nowadays, either some of them unable to meet family expectations either choose to fade or submit to pressure and get to desired results.
This actually makes sense when you realise that the education system is poor and the standards are already low.
Rarely are children really tested to their actual limit and many are distracted by perceptions of their ability. The placebo effect is real.
I went to school in Indonesia until grade 4. When I went to a western-style international school in grade 5, I was suddenly considered a "gifted" math student and was always placed in the honors class until grade 12. Maybe it is the overall cultural attitude, but that also impacts the education system. Schools in many Asian countries just go through math curriculum faster, from grade 1. What is considered an "honors class" in the US is just the regular curriculum in many Asian countries.
And yes, Indonesia is a rice-growing country. But I think our culture is a lot less workaholic than East Asian countries like Korea, Japan, and China.
Your experience in Indonesia is interesting. My experience learning math as a kid in Malaysia is well described in this two-minute video: th-cam.com/video/ORtDImWveU0/w-d-xo.html
indonesian school? are you kidding me?????? they are at the lower bottom chart in PISA rank!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Same experience for me. I was considered just average or could even be below average student in class in my country. When I went abroad to study in Australia all of a sudden I was at the top of the class 🤷♂️
Karma Never Sleep.
Western world and middle east and surrounding are eternal criminals.
Including drawing Indonesia world's largest archipelago world's richest natural resources too small since Mercator projection 1569 in reality Indonesia has 3 timezones.
Overpriced small land and very poor soil and very bad weather.
No thanks, western world and middle east and surrounding are just my past, far away behind.
As I state, those not a complete multiracial not multilingual never been living around the world since child are the same dumb never evolved apes stuck inside your tiny boxes your entire life.
@@sonofyoutube6248 Indonesia is a big country and has many culture. Many schools in Indonesian cities are better than many average schools in America.
I taught for over 30 years at a high school and then at a college. By far the best predictor of success in all areas of life is the students peer group. Nobody in the high achieving peer group wants to be the low scoring student. Nobody in the low acheiving peer group cares how they scored, so long as they pass. In certain female peer groups consider not using protection or birth control and getting pregnant to be stupid, while in other female peer groups becoming a single mother is almost a rite of passage. Family and teachers certainly can be an influence, but the standards of the peer group has by far the most profound effect.
Environment is everything, hereditary is nothing.
Nah there is far more going on at home than you seem to understand. Children with solid values, and a solid identity and foundation encouraged in the home will not easily be swayed by a peer group.
Often peer groups form around the values that are familiar in the home but this isn't always solid because schools can be diverse.
I know when I was school I wanted to socialise with an outgoing peer group because this was missing in my home. My home was hyper conservative and valued studiousness but I wanted to be well rounded and resented the obsessive attention my parents put on school and education.
This isn't to say that I discarded my values around doing well for myself because I was smart. It's just that the way children choose friendships is complicated. Nobody could ever dissuade me from being myself I wasn't a ship that could be easily swayed. My achievement was always something internal and self directed not from what my peer group were doing or saying.
@@Jay-Kay-Buwembo those same kids ususlly pick a good peer group. So good parents do have a positive effect, but as kids age that peer group becomes their dominant influence.I’ve seen kids from good homes pick the wrong crowd and end up with problems like drugs , pregnancy and dropping out. Good parenting isn’t a guarantee. I’ve also seen kids from bad homes go with good peer groups and do well.
@@johnkessler9878 If a child chooses a bad peer group & embodies the behaviour of that peer group it's a sign of dysfunction that has roots in the home and can be multifaceted. It can occur in homes where parents are negligent or even homes where parents are too strict and overbearing.
Here in the UK these issues often plague poor families because parents are working long hours to provide & children end up left to their devices which leaves them open to being preyed upon.
It's also difficult to instill values in children than are missing in the home. A highly educated parent is observing and doubling down when disparities at school occur, & consistently sets values and standards in the home.
My point is that for me nobody could ever sway me from the fundamental values that had been laid from early childhood even as early as 10/11 years old. I used to think that I was built differently from many in my peer group and I can say it was frustrating & disappointing not having peers with those fundamental values as a foundation.
A high achieving peer group would probably have expanded the expectations & limitations that I had placed on myself.
However I was vee to cognisant that the school of life is the real school we have to learn at. Being smart isn't enough, and being a high functioning human being requires a broad range of skills.
Both of you are very smart bravo!!
When I was in high school, I had a math teacher who gave us 100 problems a night for homework, and we reviewed them the next day. I was really good at math that year.
Repetition is key to locking formulas and patterns into your head. Most TH-cam math channels show you how to do something once and then move onto the next part, which I'm not a fan. Show me something and then give me 20 problems so that I can fully grasp the info.
@@JoeCnNd facts
I think it is that most Asian parents give a lot more importance in education for their children and push them to succeed academically that makes a lot of difference.
It makes a lot of difference in creating math-robots.
@@UnconventionalReasoning haha yeah right....🙄
@@johnjaro I missed the part where you're an expert on all things Asian students in academia.
Is that why Blacks dominate in the NBA and track? ...because their parents really like sports?
The only reason is our parents, that's why we are good at math, the only thing we all Asian kid can relate to
The parental example of having a strong work ethic and parental involvement in their kids’ education is another factor.
My father was an aeronautical engineer. About the time i was in middle school the aviation industry got very competitive so my Dad decided to go back to school so he could move into sales. He said the last people who get laid off were the ones who drum up new business, I was very hard to make excuses when Dad was spending hours a night doing homework too. In addition we always got drilled at home on math, geography and science.
Not these days. Chinese kids are spoiled. Back in the old days, yes. We were forced to study. No tuition.
Yep and a strong work ethic is built up over time through rituals and practices.
Yes, it's all parents. Studies always say that the peer environment is more important, but guess why all of the peers in a bad school district in some rural area are bad? Because they ALL go home to parents who fill them with defeatist genetic-determinist ways of thinking.
YES dootscat3798 - and when entire cultures are made of those parents... generation after generation will learn and learn and learn and it all becomes more readily ingrained in the people, ultimately in the world
I’m from the Philippines, I’m not that good in Math, hence I have a major in Science, but my niece passed her 4 semesters of calculus, and I’m so proud of her, she’s taking BS chemistry and hopefully she can graduate! You are so right it’s the attitude and the effort she puts into it.❤
When I was in elementary school, the schools in Colorado were switching from one curriculum called “Old math” to “New Math.” I started out at a school with the New Math curriculum, then switched to a school with the Old Math, then that school switched to the new Math. I was messed up for years in math. What made the difference for me was my eighth grade algebra teacher, Mr. White. Everyday he would put up problems on the overhead projector and work through them line by line. Somehow that systematic approach worked for me and I started to “get” math. I went on to take lots of math in college and graduate school for electrical engineering. Amazing the difference one teacher can make.
Aren't new math and old math the same thing?
@@jamesthornton9399 The math is mostly the same. The pedagogy is different, with an emphasis on process and understanding rather than just training to mechanically produce correct calculations.
My 8th grade teacher got one of her college friends to come by every week and tutor me on c programming in the library during math class. I specifically remember doing calendar calculation problems. Interestingly, same thing as with you, I ended up studying electrical engineering. It was actually a toss up between CS and ECEN. I took ECEN because a HS friend who went into ROTC told me CS isn't real engineering, so I switched lol. Back to 8th grade... this was like green light and motivated me to checkout an algebra book over the summer from the library and work through the problems to get ready of HS. Likewise, this systematic approach of working through problems line-by-line worked pretty well. Patience really is the key for deep problems.
I am asian, and here's the thing, for 3 years when I was in middle school, I sucked at just bout anything, maths being one of them. The best I could ever do was barely passing, and that was because I was lazy. Until high school I decided go all out, I did, I solved at least 10 math questions everyday. By the time the semester ends I already did all the questions in the books. The results? I went from a D- student to a B+. It's not genes, it's effort. Maths is about logic and reasoning, how the brain see a pattern, and this is not an innate skills, it needs to be trained. The brain needs to be trained.
I taught maths at an international school for a while. At teacher parent meetings I’d often hear parents, mostly mother, say that they weren’t good at maths when they were in school. I would tell them in no uncertain terms never to say that again, ever. It is giving your kid an excuse to underperform. “My Mom couldn’t do it either, so I’m alright.”
Anyone, literally anyone, can learn secondary school maths. No excuses.
I think anyone can learn math at any level if they put enough effort into it and genuinely enjoy doing so.
@@debasishraychawdhuri I genuinely enjoyed math but the master's level was the limit of my ability. The doctorate level stuff was beyond me.
I'm not that good at swimming, but it was only years later that my son, who swims very well, realised this. I was the one who used to take him swimming from when he was a toddler, not my wife. It was similar with maths - I never told my son I was pretty rubbish at it, but I did a lot to help him nurture a love for it, even though I don't love it!
@@funkg funny you should mention swimming. My children swim well, but to pass their swimming test (compulsory in Dutch schools) they had to dive in head first and then swim - I forget 10m, 20m? - under water. They wouldn’t/couldn’t dive in head first and my wife suggested “diving lessons”. My wife would take them to their swimming lessons, but I’d take them to the pool just for some fun on Sundays. So when the diving problem emerged, I’d take them to the edge of the pool and tell them to just dive in head first. That mostly resulted in belly flops. Through much trial and error I discovered that they were just frightened by the idea of going in head first and - something I didn’t know - this had been inspired by my wife who was too frightened to dive in head first herself and stimulated the fear in our children. Eventually I solved the diving problem for each of my 3 children, no thanks to their mother.
@@frankteunissen6118 I can totally relate to your experience! I was the one who took my son to the dentist for the first time because my wife has had big issues with her teeth, which I haven't experienced myself. I didn’t want to pass on any anxiety about a dentist visit, and now my 13-year-old son has no hangups at all about going. It was a similar situation when he had his first inoculation-I held him and carried him because I knew my wife might react with a 'wince' or 'ooh', which could have passed on some of that anxiety to him!!
I think it's all driven by what a country values. Countries like the US want to push kids to have extracurricular interests like sports, music, art, drama, etc. This is great if you want more well-rounded kids but not so wonderful if you want them to perform highly in math. This diversity of interest is less prized in Asian culture, and therefore, they can put more emphasis on math. If a country's economic growth is driven by graduates with STEM degrees, then that's where it's going to put its emphasis. The US has always had the allure to import that talent from other countries so there is not a strong desire to produce their own. Moreover, in recent years the emphasis on STEM education decreased even more since the US education system, overly worried about kid's feeling bad if they are behind, are doing things like "dumbing" down math and science, getting rid of homework, or getting rid of algebra in 8th grade. What it boils down to is expectations. I think the reason US kids aren't doing so good in math is simply because the nation doesn't expect them to be.
Bingo. Exactly. 🎯 This is a good comment.
Well-rounded? Then why is it that america has the mostpedophiles,mrderers, criminals etc.?
I work in education in Taiwan. Kids here do a variety of extra curricular activities which really fill in the time that they aren't doing academic stuff.
They simply don't have free time.
Perfectly said
I taught in a school of the arts for 38 years. The most able academic students were the instrumental music majors regardless of ethnicity. 1) It takes discipline to learn a musical instrument. 2) Learning a musical instrument rewires the brain in a beneficial way. (My doctoral research was on the neuropsychology of musical performance.) If you imagine the brain as a mansion with many rooms, it's as if every room has an intercom to connect it with every other room.
I left iran at the age of 10. There we were doing algebra and trigonometry at 8. When i Arrived in London I couldn't speak much English so for two years I didn't attend maths or science classes and instead i was put in extra English classes. After two years when i rejoined the maths class i was surprised to find that i was still way ahead of everyone in maths. The syllabus makes a big difference too.
There is a bizzare situation in schools where those who do well in Maths and science get labelled as "geeks" , are looked down , social outcasts ....hence much lesser effort to be in that category...btw India is also in Asia , not sure why no data was shared around India
When I was in high school, I was a quiet girl. When I get award during my graduation, a cheerleader was surprised. Western culture value sport and cheerleading for girl. It is cool to be this in school. I didn’t care that they called me geek. I was proud being who I was. Girls should feel more worthy than look nice and dancing . It is again culture.
I think there are more factors at play. Not sure about other countries but in India parents are very involved in kid’s studies. They sit down with them and give them time to understand what they are doing. This creates massive impact
I am an East Asian. Singaporean. I sucked at Math so Bad that you wouldn't believe. But as I grew older , I am much better at " Math " because I somehow got myself into the remittance industry and FX and exchange rates is a very important factor in my industry. And I am making a fair bit of money. I forced myself to be good at math because the income is just too sweet.
I'm American and 72. Back when I was in 6th grade I had a great math teacher. His way to inspire us was to find our interests and dreams and teach us how math is used in those activities. Even those not destined for college were shown how math would be useful to them. I never saw another teacher like him. Everyone needs motivation.
@@angelachouinard4581 My dad told me motivation is fake. In the end everyone needs hate to improve their life.
@@marcuschen786Is your father a Sith lord? 😂
This rice-farming argument sounds quite simplistic, I'm not going to lie.
Indeed. The Estonians and the Dutch are no-Asian and their young people are tops in math in the world as the stereotypical “Asians” - and they are not rice-centric cultures. Really, Gladwell is full of BS here as on other topics, also RACIST - he himself is a mix of Scottish white and Haitian black -, but a lot of people in the world, including Asians themselves, buy into his BS.
The lazy European farmer theory has been totally debunked.
European peasants worked long hours for their lords on his farm, making him rich. Their time off was spent farming the tiny plot he allowed them for their own subsistence.
@@mairnealachamu I dont think that the argument is "lazy farmer" but rather - the innate difference of rice and wheat agiculture.
In simple terms (from me as a non-farmer): with wheat there is only so much you can do - plant all the avaialble space - then you wait and you pray (for weather, pests, and that neighbors dont burn dow your field).
With rice the result is much more proportionate to the efforts - you can always spend more time time productively - improve the irrigation a little, expand the paddies etc.
@@kreisaisjelis no, I think you have missed the point.
Peasants and serfs worked long hours all year round for no personal gain, except the opportunity to scrape a living from the scraps of land their landlord didn't consider viable.
I don't know what the equivalent was in Asia, but the video seems to be implying that there was always a connection between hard work and reward for peasants in Asia. Peasants in Europe were only rewarded with more work!
It's almost as if Malcolm Gladwell is a hack fraud.
Fun video but the historical link to rice farming is only a small factor in performance differences. My son was one of very few non asians in his public HS class - the common characteristics of these families: 1) at least one parent was attached to their child and supervised STEM homework actively from grade 6 onward; 2) the families did not buy into currently trendy intersectional ideas of disadvantage; 3) the families instilled a work ethic almost to a fault because immigrant parents sacrifice so much get to NA and to put their kids in a position to succeed
You are seeing the cause in the brightest light...
Yes, there parents put down their ego and their needs to give their children the best they could muster and they made sure children take advantage of it...or else.
@@nokia5359that's correct. Rice farming has nothing to do with why Asians are good at math. If you're from the culture looking out and observing, or you're not from the culture looking in and making these observations, those are some of the differences. Asians model work ethic to their kids, it's a way of life. For immigrants, more so. Education is emphasized in the household. Being good at math has more to do with iq than anything else.
Well, your ancestors sacrificed more to get to NA. Have you not been taught? Ah, DeSantis wants to exclude that history from the curriculum in florida so let.me refresh your mind!
1. You sacrificed your God Who taught love your neighbour and do not covet what is your neighbors on the alter of the lands and riches of the new world
2. You enslaved millions in a most brutal fashion to do work your people couldnt or didnnot want to do. So brutal DeSantis doesnt want your children to know about what you it!
3. Let us talk about the intersectionality part. Your ancestors ledt europe supposedly because of oppression for the sake of freedom. Indeed the first lines of your constitution says "pursuit of happiness etc etc..." so dont be too quick to dismiss intersectionality and opportunity!
Whiles the european on focused intimidating blacks with our inferiority, the asians was quietly plotting your demise😂. Hmm!
It is not a quetion of hard work or attitude attitude!
This really is not a good enough explanation, because the Asian kids IN THE ASIAN COUNTRIES themselves are oodles better at Math (honestly at anything they do) than western kids.
I sincerely felt that "i didn't have what it takes" when taking math (calc) but i didn't apply myself. I gave up before I even tried.
This is an incredibly common story with white people. Your parents tell you "calculus is so hard, you have to be some kind of genius to do calculus."
You are probably dumb
@@gomer2813 For black people too. I am Black and Asian, raised by three Pakistani women; my dad is black, and college educated, first in his family but he was afraid of math too... he had an amateur radio license since he was a kid and knew electronics but he decided political science was the right path...
I almost gave up too when I started engineering and had to take 8th grade algebra in my freshman year... in the end I made it all the way to graduation, but it was painful getting that degree. Still have nightmares about it.
@@gomer2813 Why do you have to bring race into this?
@@Galidorquest bc Caucasians have major problems that are going to be very bad in the future.
Being an Indian woman who grew up in London, a geneticist by training, this rather made me smile. Why did you omit India? I think of it as part of Asia. The modern systems of numerals and number manipulation came originally from India via the Arabic world. The concept of zero was developed in India. it is also a MAJOR rice growing region. For the full account read William Dalrymple's new book The Golden Road. In Indian families education is rated VERY highly and there's no fear greater than one's children's education being interrupted or derailed. Consequently, you are expected to work hard. As a South Indian, I was aware quite young of my region's achievements in Mathematics. This, and my cousins in India, was a spur.
However, it doesn't always help to be Asian. I'm 69 and attended junior school in England where I grew up. One year, aged 10 or 11, I was placed #2 in a Maths exam. However, after polling the other kids in my class I realized I should have been #1. I asked my teacher why I had been ranked #2. Her response: "A girl cannot be Top in Maths". A BOY must always be #1. I will never forget it. I pretty much gave up. Why bother? Grammar school Maths to A-Level was ruined because my Maths teacher was a notorious racist who humiliated me in class. At University, I did my degree in Biology, but there was a lot of Maths involved-I worked solutions out from first principles. I wasn't always right, but my Genetics lecturer recognized that I had put in huge effort and devised clear, and importantly in science, testable solutions (his response to one Maths problem was "This is VERY clever, but it is WRONG". The right answer required 2 pages of calculus, which I could not do because my teacher in grammar school had made things impossible with his racism, and, I should say, misogyny, as in addition to being the only colored kid in the class I was also the smartest AND a girl...... So yes persistence is key, but so are creativity, imagination, and thinking outside the box. It has NOTHING to do with gender.
I became a scientist. I have excellent calculation skills. In the lab, I worked out any Maths I needed from first principles or asked a pro. It still makes me angry and people need to realize Asian WOMEN are still treated more harshly than Asian MEN. This-despite the Y chromosome being, as we know, 99% Junk DNA......
Ok so... I am an Asian and I am an immigrant in America, now an American who is raising American born kids and yes 🤣when I see their maths.... I always hated maths but here's it's easy as hell.... I make fun of my girl 🤣which I shouldn't but I tell her learn the tricks we used to do in 90 s in Asia
The tricks were good for arithmetic, but that is barely math. Have her learn *Algebra*, that is much more important.
👋A Japanese here. When I came to the States to go to college, I noticed a few things:
1. Math 101 has open book exams and we could use calculators. (Neither is allowed in Japan during an exam (or a class)
2. For some fixed formulas, students asked "why"? That attitude itself is very cool, but it was interesting to see students challenge an established formula in Math 101 and failing simple exams.
3. Parents express loudly how math is horrible and how much they hate, and their kids seem to mirror their attitudes. (this was observed behaviors when I was around little kids and parents... and seemed like there was a common pattern).
Unless you are a mathematician or a math scholar, math is learning about which tool (formula) to use to calculate what you need. It's black and white. You can get to the answer, and the answer is pretty clear. But the students in the US had an attitude of "I hate math and I don't understand it" and also had difficulty simply obeying math rules.
So yes, I agree about attitude plays a big role. I think parents should stop telling kids how awful math is. That'll help a lot, I think.
You might also want to consider that from elementary school, the Asian kids spend hours every day diligently doing their homework. They also take extra lessons at cram schools in the evenings, after dinner. Yes, this is greater effort, but it applies to other studies too besides math. They also tend to study in a way that helps them pass tests. This involves hours and years of studying the tests and practice in taking them. Math is a systematic intellectual subject, and studying it successfully is also a disciplined and systematic exercise.
Good point. People seem to have no problem with hours and hours of practice in sports to achieve skill or improve it, not so much academics.
Ok, that's fine, but what would happen if you send a white kid to an after-school thing? Why?
@@angelachouinard4581That's what I've been saying for years. No-one listens.
I am a Chinese American having two sons, one is good in math and one is not. The latter one never gave up. I was beside him every night until he finished homework. He could ask as many questions he needed but he had to put down the answers by himself. In our family, hard work is most important. This also translates into life.
Leaders in western education have for the past couple of generations discouraged accurate grades and competition, wanting to leave none behind. The trend to leave none behind led to a more heterogeneous classroom, which led teachers to aim lower so that none could fail. In larger schools they tried to neutralize that effect by offering more academic pathways, but in the end many were dragged down to the average level. Of course in America there was the option for private education, which aimed higher, selected students who were more likely to achieve, and offered guidance along pathways that led to success. Nepotism and racist discrimination is an unavoidable result. In parallel with that universities started to see students as a source of income, resulting in grade inflation. Grade inflation has a way of interfering with one of the most important features of meritocracy, reward and upward mobility for the most brilliant. It should be alarming for any country to see that meritocracy is taking a back seat.
The Asian kids we get are selected from a MUCH bigger population, and the selection process, while not engineered, isn't random.
Asian kids , in Asia, do this much better at tests.
Nüfus çok yoğun, sayı niteliği artırıyor.
Singapore has a population of 6 million. No excuses.
Singapore population isn't the same socialy speacking. Lots of wealthy people, and guess what? Rich are better at maths
@@gomer2813again, not a random selection process.
You are clueless. Obviously you have never lived in any of these countries and seen how the kids live.
If "Westerners" spent 3 or 4 hours a day studying math they would also score very high on math tests.
Most Westerners simply do not. We play sports, go to Boy Scouts, Play in Band, Play in an Orchestra, rise our bikes, go fishing, etc.
- I live in Korea for a long time. I spoke near fluent Korean. I had many, many Korea friends and colleagues. Not a single child of any of them ever played a sport. None were in school band (there isn't one). The ones that plays a violin, etc. were not in an orchestra. In fact, all they did once they entered middle school was to study. They would go to institutes every day after school and stay until late evening "studying" math and other subjects.
- In Japan I saw exactly the same thing.
- At my kids school there are many students who are in very advanced math - because they have system where you can self study and skip ahead. Few school in USA offer this level of flexibility. Many kids in our area go to local math institutes (or self study) like Mathnasium and essentially double the number of hours spent on math. They end up taking Calculus in middle school. My son self studied and will take calculus in middle school.
- When my kids went to Taiwan they entered a local elementary school (They already read and wrote Mandarin fluently. They are not Chinese). It was no contest for my son. He accidentally took his sister's math entrance exam (3 grades ahead) and all were correct. The principle was stunned. Well, Taiwanese do not start studying hard until middle school. So my son who was in advanced math in USA was far, far ahead. The previous year he was homeschooled and worked through several grades by himself.
- If you out in enough time you will be better. It is that simple. Hence why Western countries rule team sports.
I’m going to call you on your lies because in Japan they have better sports and music programs that the high school and junior high system in the west. The fact that you say sports and music does not exist is it utter lie!!!!
Also, there are plenty of Asians who are not good at math. They end up going to subpar schools and are left out of the statistics.
I enjoy all of Malcolm Gladwell’s books and
Outliers was most interesting on this topic.
As a retired teacher of 40 years, I agree with
him. 👨🏼🎓👩🎓👨🏼🏫👩🏻🏫👍🇨🇦
It's also the abacus foundation. I had a Chinese room mate who instantaneously came up with a solution to a very complicated power bill that wasn't evenly split. We were busting out calculators and she just took it from us like idiots and said this is how you work it out who owes what. Nowhere in Western maths is that style of thinking taught.
I'm a retired public school math teacher in California. I've worked in the inner city and in the suburb. Early in my career, I came to the same conclusion as this video. Culture (family and close society expectations) is the predominant factor in a students desire to succeed in math.
It's heartening to know that successful cultural traits can be emulated.
Can be, yes. But it takes a certain level of intelligence to even want to imitate intelligence, so the lower end of the spectrum won't even see intelligence as something even worth emulating. Some things are actually innate.
I came here as a refugee from Vietnam and almost every friend I had in high school was a refugee from Asia. What I noticed is that the friends that sucked at reading comprehension and writing tend to work hard at math. The ones that sucked at everything went for sociology, communications or liberal arts degrees. I was in the same honors math courses, and except for my best friend (who was exceptionally gifted, so an outlier) no Asian I knew was exceptionally bright at math (i.e., they needed to do the homework--often spending a lot more time than prudent).
lol that’s so wrong. I was a recognized gifted student. And writing is a skill, which many do not possess. I was in the higher math levels and many of my classmates who were talented could not write their way out of a paper bag. Writing is indeed a skill, it is about gathering multiple thoughts and presenting the information. Many students can tell you of brilliant professors who were amazing at math but could hardly explain math to anyone because there are multiple skills and the world and no one person possesses them all.
@@AndreiFantastic I was an English Lit major and graduated #1 in the department even though English was my third language. In high school, even though I wasn't fully fluent in English, my essays were sometimes displayed as examples of top-quality writing to emulate. I also worked as a writing tutor in the university writing center (yes, often tutoring native-born students).
And yup, I took classes in advanced optics, philosophy and calculus, though they were not required for the English degree. So, yeah, like you say: writing is just a skill. Send those fools to the writing center. They'll probably never be the next Stephen King or John Grisham, but if they're serious about improving their writing skills, they'll be fine. I only became a decent writer after my sister helped.
I've noticed the biggest issue holding back those who are otherwise smart, articulate when it comes to writing is their arrogance--it's a serious skill and takes serious work--but it ain't advanced optics.
Our family is Puerto Rican. When I had my daughter I wanted to know why Asians are good students. I wanted my daughter to be one.
When she was 3 I put her in a storefront Chinese cram school with other Asian kids. 2 hours every Saturday learning math/english.
My family said it was abuse especially when she started real school and had homework. She went to that Chinese school for 4 years and then I pulled her out due to pressure I couldn’t withstand.
Fast forward: she ended up going to a private hs on scholarship. Breezed through her math classes and is now in college studying computer science.
The intensity of competition due to high population density in East Asia also push people toward harder and harder working in everything they do
High population density is a good theory. Just feeling the eyes of people on you is a motivator.
Here was how I went to school growing up: woke up at 6am, made breakfast, biked 45min to school. School started at 7am, studied till 12pm, 1h lunch break, continued to study until 5pm. 1h dinner, biked 1h to tutor, studied until 9pm, biked home, finished homework of the day, showered, went to bed. Weekends were dedicated to tutors and extra-curriculum (e.g: more tutors.😂) We studied 5-7 subjects a day, almost the same schedule everyday, and all homework must be submitted before classes start the next day, everyday.
That’s how I got into a university in a country that I don’t even speak much of it’s language 😅
And now look at you...void of any real personality 😂😂😂
@@LibraYall As long as I make a good living and can afford the lifestyle I want, “personality” isn’t that important. Priorities 🤗
@Misskhavle You just can't buy a personality you need to go see the Wizard of Oz and ask for a heart that beats 😂😂
@@LibraYall personality can’t fill up my stomach, or my son’s 🤭🤭🤭
And if I starved, I am dead.
Then there will be no personality necessary.
End of story 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
@Misskhavle Survival is what it sounds like no different from anyone else but then on top of that you have no personality 😂😂
As someone who studied in China, Singapore, and USA for long periods of time and who now teaches in Singapore, the questions and topics taught in the east are simply harder than those in the west. Problems of the same topic from IBDP, Cambridge A Level or AP are just child's play compared to their counterparts from Gaokao. But if you wish to get beyond pre-tertiary math and go into STEM applications, western kids or kids studied in western-style schools tend to do better from my experience.
Repetition, repetition, repetition. Places like Kumon really help. Practicing over, and over again until its engrained in your head.
LOL, Indonesia's best extra college after school "KUMON"
Repetition is the worst way to learn math. It is quite detrimental to the effort.
@@UnconventionalReasoning : No it works well for them They get tutoring, and practice until they perfect it, then take those ACT, SAT, et c. They take mock tests over, and over. When they reached the highest score possible, they then take the test. I have been to these Korean programs. These kids study all summer. If they are starting 10 grade, by September they have covered all the important topics. Parents invest the time, and money in these programs. Nigerians do a similar thing.
@@patriciawarmoth661 That is learning how to do well on a test, which is very different from learning mathematics. They learn how to answer questions they've already seen the answers to. The real skill is to find answers to new and unsolved questions.
Can you actually get a white kid to practice?
Very interesting content and the drawing ads nicely to delivery. Well done
I've heard some schools teach math too quickly, shallowly rather than slowly and deeply. Some refresh, repeat lessons as they add new lessons. Some teachers teach too many topics some of which they are ggod at. Classes move on leaving many behind not having learned the lesson deeply enough to add the new stuff. Then add to that our culture's belief in inherency vs keep at it because you will learn if you do.
This is a very simplified view. I have taught (not Maths) in Asia (China, Thailand, Myanmar) for the past 22 years. Even though, I don't teach Maths, I still sometimes incorporate simple Maths in my classes. So, experience tells me that "Asians" are not generally good, or better at Maths, but on the contrary. What is, perhaps, correct, is that kids of Asian immigrants (e.g. in the U.S.) do well, because there is pressure to succeed.
Considering the situation in Germany, I can see that basic training has been massively neglected for several decades. Why learn the multiplication tables when you can get straight into set theory? The result was that entire generations of these pupils did not master neither the multiplication tables nor set theory, let alone acquire other mathematical skills. In some states, math curricula are determined by social workers who aim to ensure that no one feels humiliated or excluded if they don't understand higher-level concepts. The breakdown then occurs at universities.
As a Hongkonger, it makes perfect sense to us. To select the best students for further studies, British HK government even made our Maths pubic exam so difficult that people who get a D in HK secondary public exam could easily get an A or A* in GCSE (back to days when we both do the same 5-year secondary and 2 years of 6th Forms)
It's matter of attitude and culture that bred effort for doing tasks.
Thanks for your sharing.
Taught mathematics in both UK and Asia and would totally agree with the video up until the whole rice growing section. I think it is simply the case that Asian (Chinese) societies highly value the importance of good education (qualifications ) to make a difference to ones life. And Math is definitely one of the subjects that will give you a distinct advantage in that sense. So they are willing to spend time and money to gain those advantages. Face, and the idea of children's success reflecting good parenting is also still a much stronger idea in Asia. In UK I guess people have the belief that there are many ways that you might be successful in life so why beat yourself up about trying to be good at mathematics if you can I invest your time in something else and be good at that and still go on to have a fruitful life. And your kids not doing well in school does not reflect that your were bad parents in the same way. So overall kids just have less pressure on them academically. In terms of doing well academically and doing well in mathematics particularly the Asians definitely have the better approach. In terms of raising happy well adjusted human beings I'm sure there are things all sides could still learn from each other.
It also have a lot to do with Imperial examination system in China which last more than 1 thousand years. The government chose bureaucrats by merit through written examinations. Any one can sign up for the exams. Studying and passing these exams have been a way of climbing up the social ladders for many people.
Incorrect. It is not rice-growing that makes the difference in attitude. Indeed, ancient China in the Yellow River valley did not grow rice, but wheat. Likewise, many rice-growing regions produce poor students.
The difference is Confucianism as presented in the Three Character Classic (三字經）, where duty to family is stressed
That's VERY interesting and makes intuitive sense.
I think that for several decades the trope / theory we heard in the west was it was all cultural -- but because the parents helped more AND INSISTED the kids do well, applied strong social pressure and or punishment if they didn't etc.
Its because their parents are stricter and they encourage their children to do well...🙂🇬🇧
Because they are in an authoritarian culture, the children listen. This allows the authoritarian culture to persist. The Western culture values freedom more.
@@UnconventionalReasoning Nope. A very skewed view of the largest continent in the world. Not surprisingly a function of diminishing IQ in the Western world. Strict parents does not necessitate authoritarianism. You think entire Asia is a dictatorship. No wonder you suck at math. Asian parents have figured out that if a child is good at math he can master any other subject. They begin with the hardest.
@@UnconventionalReasoningwestern culture? looters and thugs and goons amassed wealth by raping the native people.
Who tf r brit mfer mate
If Asian kids towards math is hard work instead of ability and according to this video, is the right attitude, by corollary, those who do very poorly at math has the wrong attitude. Can we likewise say that Asian income in the United States relative to other minorities is reflective of attitude as well. With Asian income substantially higher than any other race in the U.S. including whites, can we say then that racial differences in income is more reflective of attitude than the impact of discrimination?
A WHOLE QUESTION
Yes you are spot on!
I'm an American, ivy League educated and a lawyer. I now teach at a university in SE Asia. So there's quite a bit wrong here. First, it's absurd to generalize about Asians. That should be self explanatory. Second, are we talking about Asian students here or Asian American? Two different things. Third, if we are going to generalize, across much of east and SE Asia, many of the educational systems are sort of intellectually impoverished. Student willingness is good, but rote memorization is emphasized and critical thinking skills are often poor. Gladwell is an interesting guy, but this video essay goes sideways from the start
I thought he highlighted Hong Kong, Singapore, Korea, and Japan 20 seconds into the video.
Thanks for your forthrightness in establishing that student effort makes a difference. For me English was strong and Mathematics very weak. Now I know that application, attention and attitude can positively affect outcomes.
I'm going to start eating more rice! I was a science teacher in a private high school in the US. Our student body had about 20% Asians. Based on my experience I believe that Asians are better at math is because of the emphasis their early education in Asia had on math. In addition, they spend way more time studying than their western counter parts. Typically, they stay at school after hours until 7 or 8 pm studying and learning. Another important difference is the emphasis their parents place on success. These kids have bought in to the idea and expectation that they need to succeed in education to make their parents proud.
No, buddy, it’s racial.
@@shinobi2119I think it’s more cultural than racial. How do you explain why Nigerians are more successful than the rest of Africa? Or Jamaican’s work ethic compared to other’s?
I dated a chinese woman and a vietnamese woman. They consider tutoring as part of a regular school schedule where as we in the west only pay for tutoring if our kids fall behind. My exes both would pay for tutors everyday even in the summertime. So by the time they started school in September they were already a year ahead.
Success = Talent * Effort^Focus + Random Events.
I completely agree it is to do with societal attitudes more than anything else. They tried to bring Asian teachers to the UK and change the syllabus to be more like Singapore and it was a failure. I have no problem at all with the topics in the curriculum, the teachers here are very diligent and hard working, but not every student is. Surprise, surprise, those students that do put in a bit of effort perform better. I think one problem is that in Western society it is not just accepted that people perform badly in STEM subjects, but it is almost encouraged. Those that do well are called geeks, squares, etc. I think some see it as a zero sum game as well, if you do well at maths you must be deficient in some other way, like maybe you have no creativity or social skills, but it doesn't work like that.
Math is about reps done daily built on a solid foundation of the basics. Also most humans can’t see it unless it’s explained. Most math is about discipline pre calculus. It’s basic foundational stuff.
Math is *NOT* about reps done daily, that is one of the myths. Arithmetic for a year in elementary school might be that. Math is about seeing the structure of a problem, deconstructing it, solving the sub-components, and synthesizing the complete answer. Very little "reps" are needed, since this is a consistent process throughout the math education track. Learn it once, keep using it for more and more complex situations.
From the age of 4 and 5, kids in Singapore and Hong Kong start maths and proceed at an accelerated rate relative to the West. By the time these kids reach 8-9 they are doing the maths of 10-11yo in the West. That is the standard rate of learning. Many kids have difficulty keeping up so they are sent to "enrichment" classes, basically paid additional classes with professional tutors/teachers to help them. Even if your kid is doing well, it is highly likely the kid is still doing 2-3h a week of additonal classes. That's just for maths. They likely also have additonal classes for other subjects. In Singapore it's common for kids to have an additonal 5-10h per week of additonal paid enrichment claases. That would cost parents $200-400 every week for their child's education. Since they are expensive the parents demand results. The kids are not smarter, or the method of teaching necessarily better, they are just pushed that much harder. To make things even more demanding there are selective public schools and these start at Kindergarten, not at the high school level. The PLSE exams to determine if you can go to an selective high school in year 7 is seen as important as University entrance exams and both Singapore students and parents stress greatly over the results. When the PLSE exams are on, all the other years are told to study at home for those days so they do not disturb the exam candidates. That's how important they are perceived to be for your child's future.
You know… his take on this seems very plausible to me; and what I especially like about it is that it places the responsibility for performance exactly where it aught to be: the student. It’s a matter of attitude and effort: work ethic.
Yes, a 12 year old should be exactly where the responsibility lies.
@@UnconventionalReasoning Yep, we cannot blame culture, fund, parents, society, the government for the entire education system. WE HAVE TO BLAME 14 YEAR OLDS
@@LM-he7eb The issue is really quite simple: we present an approach to math to students which is completely different than the approach to math take by people in mathematical fields.
I have taught math to American, Chinese, Korean, Indian, and European high school and college students. This video is wrong. It finds correlation and mistakes it for causation. The difference IS in the curriculum and the teachers. To oversimplify: American teachers are dependent on textbooks, and train kids to MEMORIZE facts and skills only for the next test. In successful countries, creative teachers help and expect students to UNDERSTAND the foundational ideas perfectly, and treat them as tools to be used. Foreign students make an effort because they try a tool and if it doesn't work, they try another until one works. American students try to REMEMBER what they are "supposed" to do. If their memory fails them, which of course it will if understanding is lacking, then they are stuck and it looks like they "aren't making an effort."
No, buddy, it’s racial. Asian kids perform well at mental tasks. Blacks perform well at physical tasks.
Do you have an opinion on the 'Common Core' approach? It seemed to me that it was far more conceptual and less rote, but students, teachers, and parents alike ended up rejecting it viscerally. Perhaps it's a cultural thing for us individualistic, consumerism-oriented types; maybe we've simply become hardwired to prefer doing whatever we think we're "supposed to" do. In this country, choosing the path less traveled brands you with a stigma.
@@ibnrushd1141 Surely there is a genetic component you’re conveniently overlooking? Blacks are shockingly poor at maths.
Personally, while i think he has a nice hypothesis, i seriously failed to see it as if it was the most important factor in this equation...
Me too. It's true Asian culture fosters hard work and determination. But more importantly the way they teach kids to do math in Asia is different. First the technique is different and actually easier. Second they are not afraid to practice. Being good at anything takes a lot of practice. So they start with a simpler technique and then practice many, many problems. It kinda freaks me out that the West still can't figure this out. It's not such a difficult question to answer. Just have to spend a few minutes watching Asian kids do their homework.
The reason is IQ.
While some of what you say may be right, let me mention a couple of reasons why a north European farmer worked shorter hours - 1000 vs 3000 hours per year. (1) The growing season was shorter; (2) Daylight hours is shorter.
I have a genetic condition called NF1. Part of what it does to me is give me a visual spacial disability. When I got to college and was struggling with math, I went to a dorm mate from Taiwan for help. She would show me how to work a particular type of problem, then have me work one problem at a time. She would check it. If it were correct, we would move on. If it was incorrect, she would tell me so, but not tell me where my mistake was, just erase it and tell me to do it again. I finally found success in my, but please don’t ask me to read a map.
And what will happen if someone asked you to read a map?
Either your dorm mate was in love with you, or she doesn't exist
He's basically saying they aren't talented at math but talented at putting forth effort or focusing. Got it, so still innate.
Many Asian people I know usually grow up with 2 parents in the household.
Growing up with 2 parents doesn't guarantee that the child will excel at math.
@@Galidorquest But it helps...
@@marieferrer3516 Of course, but it doesn't guarantee that the child will be an honor's student and not all parents are good parents. It's a cultural problem. The OP's comment is a dog-whistle.
@@marieferrer3516 Of course, but not all parents encourage their kids to try hard academically. It's a cultural problem, the USA generally doesn't value education. The OP's comment is a dog-whistle.
@@marieferrer3516 Of course, but not all parents encourage their kids to try hard academically. It's a cultural problem, the US doesn't value education. The OP's comment is a dog-whistle.
He's very right. Interesting angle on the agricultural differences
holidays for medieval European farmers - have you lost your mind ???
Kumon is nothing but effort. It is gruelling. Kids who get through Kumon early on do exceptionally well in Math even later at high school level. It gives them not just math learning but the discipline of sitting down and getting through stuff.
How many hours does the average child in China spend studying math each year, and how many hours does the average child in America spend studying math each year? My analysis would begin there.
If you watched the video, you'd see that you literally can't get a white kid to study. You can't even get them to finish a questionairre.
In Asia, math geeks are celebrated. In America, "nerds" are made fun of... THAT is the difference.
I'm chinese filipino and went to a chinese school until grade 6. The way we study math is entirely different, I only realized when I transferred to a more western school for highschool/college (what would be grade 7 in the west), the chinese number system is amazing because it RHYMES, I swear we spent days memorizing multiplication tables but it became easy because the numbers would rhyme. To this day, people think I can do math in my head really fast but it just IS FAST because I use math in CHINESE. I have already forgotten everything I learned from the chinese school about the language except a few words, but the math really stuck with me and I use it to this day. I am not even one of the better students, in an asian school I would be way below average. But Heck, I kid you not, that in grades 3 or so we were already studying areas of triangles and circles, when I got back to that same subject in the more western college I almost laughed because this stuff was what we struggled over when we were tiny kids in my chinese school. I still hate math tho, cosigns and trig can go to hell! I ended up a lawyer.
I only like geometry, Algebra was no fun but calculus was like torture, All that repetition, But even advanced geometry is good because I can use it in my art.
I am Indonesian which is South East Asia btw. Yes, our grandparents woke up at 4am and went to rice field at 5am since sun rise around 5am then work until 12 noon. Stop from 12 to 2pm because sun is to hot, they usually have lunch and a nap. Woke up at 2pm and work until 6pm since the sun set at 6pm and to dark to work after 6pm. Me and my parents are not farmer but we do wake up at 4am since we need to do pray at 4.30am (we are muslim) and go for school or work at 6am (School in Indonesia start at 6.30am and finish at 4pm). The office worker finish their work at 5pm or 6pm than go home to rest and ready for 4am routine 😊
So basically they were slaves.
Why do Asian kids outperform Western kids in math? The answer is very simple - they STUDY more. That's it! There's no magic involved, no complicated explanations required. The more you study, the better you perform. While Western kids have sleepover parties and play basketball on the court after school, Asian kids can be found at home studying. This is why they do better, there's no mystery to it whatsoever.
At the age of 10 growing up in Jamaica, we had to take a VERY DEMANDING exam (much harder than the American SAT) to get into high school called the "Common Entrance Examination". You took it in grade 5 or 6 and spent 2 or so years in grueling preparation. The test consisted of 300 questions in Math, 300 questions in English and 300 questions in Mental Abilities. Your score determined which of the country's elite high schools you got into and the results were published in the newspapers for all to see. Only the TOP 1% of kids got into the very best elite schools. Parents and teachers alike waited with bated breath for the test results to be published, and if you scored in the top 1% you were praised and celebrated for days on end.
What did it take to get a top score on the Common Entrance Exam? Well our 5th grade teacher Miss Scott was well-known for the high number of passing kids her teaching method produced. She grilled us mercilessly in Math and English from 7:40 in the morning till 3:30pm in the afternoon. We had to STUDY like no one's business and memorize lengthy math equations, the multiplication table from 1 to 12 and various quotes from literature all by heart. For homework we had to complete 1 or 2 mock exams EVERY NIGHT consisting of 900 questions each. If you failed to finish your homework or got too many wrong answers, you were promptly flogged in front of the class. At the end of the school day at about 4pm or so, we then went on to private tutoring, what was then called "Extra Lessons". Our private tutor was a formidable retired teacher with connections at the Ministry of Education. She was said to have inside knowledge on the type of questions that appeared on the Common Entrance Exam as well as secret methods on how to solve them. She was BRUTAL, most unforgiving and had an eye like a hawk! You got away with NOTHING! That lasted 3 hours everyday after school. Then you went home, took a shower, had dinner and spent the next few hours doing homework. At about 9pm you went to bed, got up the next day and repeat all over again. That was my life as a 10 year old kid back in Jamaica. Of course you had your fun, etc., but that ALWAYS took a back seat to academics. And this was the mentality of not just your parents, but the ENTIRE country and culture. There was simply the expectation that kids are supposed to study in order to pass the Common Entrance Exam. It came as no surprise therefore that I passed in the top 1% and got accepted to the high school of my choice, the very elite and oldest high school in the Americas, Wolmer's Boys. Out of the 30 kids in my 5th grade class, all of us passed in the top 1% except for 3 girls, which shocked everyone since they were among the three brightest kids in our class. There was much weeping that day as we all read the newspaper in class together and noticed their names were missing. We all hugged and cried together. Our teacher Miss Scott tearfully theorized that they must have suffered from test anxiety which prevented them from doing their best, else how do you explain the failure of the three brightest kids at our school to pass the Common Entrance?
After my family moved to New York at the age of 13, I was shocked to see what was being taught at the public high schools there. In grade 9 we were learning "clock arithmetic", basically adding and subtracting time. Meanwhile all my high school friends back in Jamaica were learning advanced algebra and trigonometry. At age 15 we finally started learning algebra in New York, my friends back in Jamaica had already moved on to calculus. My point is, if you want to be good at math all you have to do is study. It has nothing to do with race, nothing to do with IQ, nothing to do with history.
By the way, the reason Asian countries are so rigid in their study practices has nothing to do with agriculture and EVERYTHING to do with a massive inferiority complex against the West. Up until a few hundred years ago it was Asian societies, especially the Chinese, that led the world in science, technology and advanced civilization. Back in the Medieval Age when Europeans were backwards and living in mud huts, China and Japan had glorious and advanced civilizations. They were so developed that when the first Europeans made contact with the Chinese, the Emperor was understandably unimpressed by their cheap trinkets. He labeled the Europeans undesirable barbarians and had them promptly expelled from his court, after which he cut off all contact with the "Barbarian" West. Fast forward a couple hundred years and the situation had completely reversed. The East became backwards and impoverished and the Western European Powers were able to easily walz into China and Japan and effortlessly subjugate and carve them up into vassal colonies. Asians, especially the Chinese, have never forgotten or forgiven this humiliation. And their way of exacting revenge is to outdo the West at their own game. This is why Asians play classical music BETTER than Westerners, study HARDER, work LONGER, etc. It has nothing to do with agriculture and EVERYTHING to do with outperforming the "barbarians" and regaining their historic and rightful place as the center of civilization.
You said the quiet part outloud.
Just a wonder Jamaica's not yet a major superpower
@@brytankak9598 Because the US benefits by importing all of Jamaica's best and brightest. From Kamala Harris' economy professor father all the way down to many of America's leading black figures, most or at least a very good percentage of them are of Jamaican heritage. This has been happening for at least a hundred years now - the individual single-handedly responsible for starting the black power movement in America was none other than Marcus Garvey, a Jamaican, all the way back in the 1910's and '20s. This gave rise to the Civil Rights movement and such popular (and colorful) figures such as Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, etc. Just a list of well-known Jamaican-Americans:
Tyson Beckford
Grace Jones
Sheryl Lee Ralph
Jada Pinkett Smith
Madge Sinclair
Kerry Washington
Harry Belafonte
Busta Rhymes
Alicia Keys
Sean Paul
DJ Kool Herc
Notorious BIG
Shaggy
Patrick Ewing
Floyd Mayweather
Tanya Chutkan, Federal judge overseeing Trump case
Kamala Harris, Presidential candidate
Leondra Kruger, California Supreme Court Justice
David Paterson, former NY Governor
Colin Powell, former US Secretary of State
Winsome Sears, candidate for Virginia Governor
Wes Moore, current Governor of Maryland
Al Roker
...and many, many more
@CurtisCT US imports the best and brightest from all over the world, and not just Jamaica... In some ways, the over emphasis on academic performance is a sign of an inferiority complex and population oppression that lead to poorer outcomes down the line. It's imposing near impossible standards at a very young age, so most will fail, and consider themselves inferior for the rest of their lives. Multiple bright individuals may be discouraged by the structure and effort required to be considered even average in such settings. Once considered inferior, their self-esteem might suffer, and they may later go on to engage their cognitive faculties to find easier gain - e.g. criminal activity. Others might fall into drug use. Most of all, many will not get the experience you had and always consider themselves less than. E.g. an average Jamaican student will see himself as worse vs. "straight A" student in the US, despite the two being equivalent. Many people require positive encouragement to do well, and many mature later in life.
Attitude + IQ + Effort + Focus + expectations of Self + understanding of process/purpose
Phak IQ!
It’s Attitude , effort, focus expectation, culture.
That IQ nonsense is a racist, white supremacist bullsht from colonial past. Phak it!
Why all the spelling mistakes in a presentation about academic achievement?
Most of success is hard work. Even intelligence is linked to hard work. It is like a sharp instrument that needs sharpening after being used for a while.
It's quite simple: we are disciplined. Euro countries are better than America too. Estonia is a high ranking math country that can even compete with Asian countries. American parents have totally failed on many fronts, especially math. They're way too soft.
You succumb to authoritarianism. Russia is looking at you again...
Great graphic technique. Never saw that before.
Narrowing down Mathematical performance to persistence and hardwork is very naive and quite derogative to Math.
Truth be told, Math requires genius; mostly at an international competition level.
I tried to solve some of those problems and I found that they have been designed to discourage exhaustive, brute force, unintuitive thinking; but to favor brilliancy, imagination, creativity,...
The reason being that those international competition are used to select some of the top scientists of the next generation; many of them end up winning Nobel prizes or field Medal.
One of the undeniable confirmation about my claim is that those kids who excel at international math Olympiads are young. So that by itself almost completely rules out the hardwork hypothesis. Since young people have had less time to work hard and they also have developed less character for hardwork.
Again, wherever there is poverty, people work hard; like in Africa. I am African and I can ensure you that our ancestors work perhaps harder than Asians. So if harwork was very decisive in Math, then Africans would be among the best. But unfortunately Africa performs very poorly at international Math competitions.
Another way to understand that hardwork has little to do with international level Mathematical ability, is that if we consider other contexts where hardwork contributes a lot to success like sport, we will see that the best come a bit from every part of the world and there is not a great difference between the best and the rest. Take for instance 100m race; there is not a great difference between the best Usain bolt and the average; it's just a matter of less than 2 seconds. Because when hardwork is very decisive in a discipline, performances tend to converge to a fixed maximum.
But Mathematics are not sport. Hardwork is very decisive in sports, but not in Mathematics!
It's again easy to confirm that when we realize that modern Maths has been created by the brightest humans; so it makes sense that the average humans should struggle to understand and excel at things created by the brightest humans.
Take for instance the inventor of calculus. Isaac Newton. He had an extimated iq of 190; which is close to the human celling based on IQs recorded. So it makes complete sense that the average human needs some level of intelligence to not just understand Maths like calculus, but also excel at them during a context of competition.
The truth is that Asians are getting much smarter than westerners. That's the elephant in the room that westerners don't want to address. The western culture has promoted more and more entertainment and it has changed the values of people in the west. Women love dancers, rappers, comedians, artists,... and give them a lot of children; women tend to ignore scientists or those who are skilled at math; because they are not entertaining. As a result the later don't pass down their genes as much as the former. Western women don't prioritize intelligence for relationships; they tend to prioritize superficial things and neglect intelligent men. Many of them even line up to give children to entertainers and athletes.
On the other hand, in Asia women prioritized intellectual abilities when searching relationships. They are pressured by their families to do that. So smart people pass down their genes faster than the rest.
Another reason for Asian and I will even add Russian dominance in Maths is their languages. Complicated visual languages prepares children to think mathematically with visual patterns rather than just recalling words and memorizing a lot of words.
Also do a small check of the photos of children who excel at those math competitions; they tend to have wider brains than average; particularly their foreheads; I venture to guess that their brain functions like a microprocessor with more cores compare to the average person brain.
oh wow! thank you! I'll make sure to teach my kid this way of approaching life.
I am an Asian American. I have never lived, nor ever went to school in Asia. So I can't compare Eastern and Western countries and their attitude to math.
I will say that I was one of the best math students in my class. I studied up to PreCalculus and mostly got As. Scored 600 out of 800 on the SATs in math. It was a subject that I found fun and I did well at effortlessly. It wasn't so effortless for my White classmates.
Math wasn't even my best subject. I preferred English, and majored in English literature in college.
I definitely had the mindset that all math problems put before me were solvable. As long as the level wasn't greater than precalc. And I guess most Americans don't have that mindset.
My experience learning math as a kid in Malaysia is well described in this two-minute video: th-cam.com/video/ORtDImWveU0/w-d-xo.html
Math in American & western high schools is ridiculously easy. When I see their curriculum I was like, is that it? And many students cant even get a B. All u need is to put 10% of effort that Asian students in Asian countries put and u are guaranteed at least a B. If u give 20% of effort A is a guarantee. And I might be wrong but I believe you can choose how many subjects you want to take for the SAT or if you don't want to go to the top universities SAT is not required and you can still graduate high school. I've heard students get to top universities by taking only 2 subjects for the SAT. In Malaysia where I came from, u can't graduate unless u take the SPM (SAT equivalence). U are required to take 9-10 subjects depending on if you are a science or art major. Back when I was in high school, my schedule was 7am - 2pm school, 2-3 I have my lunch and rest a bit, 4-5 I do my homework, 5-7 tuition classes, 7-8 pm dinner and rest, 8-10 pm revision (My parents would force me to study and go to evening tuition classes). Even after all that hard work, I failed to get straight A's. I was devastated when the results were out. My parents were considered lenient because they allow me to rest on weekends. Many of my Chinese colleagues don't even get a rest on weekends.
@@secrets.295 Interesting. But I have never studied in another country than America, so how does that explain how well I was at math? I don't think I worked harder than my classmates. I barely put any effort into math. Could it just be genetics? Or I was just abnormal?
@@justinchan6043 You probably put some effort into it, minor effort at least. Also, Asian students tend to have better concentration during classes. Concentrating hard when the teacher is teaching in front is very important. That is something I struggled with growing up but I forced myself. Many of my friends are so laser focused, I can't believe it. Lol. I edited my previous answer just now. I add how tough it is at Malaysian schools vs US schools. Just to let u know how different it is. I hate my teenage years because all I do is study.
PS : You might have a higher iq than most other people which explains why you get pretty good scores. But one person doesn't change a statistic. The average Asian students are more hardworking than other races in America. When I studied at UCLA, every time I went to the library the majority of students there were Asians. Other races are too busy partying. Lol. When u work harder you get better results.
You are Asian so you have a higher IQ. I am German so I also am good at math and have a high IQ unlike blacks or mexicans who have neither.
What I get from this is preK-6 math education matters a lot, at affect attitude. It’s kinda the same for science and how you can differentiate honors vs regular students.
The attitude is taught by the parents. I do the same with my kids, i tell them : "Work hard, or you will end up washing the dishes in a restaurant."
Intellectual endurance. The ability to study and retain information is something that is built over time. It is developed and ingrained in Asian children, but not as much on the Western side. It's not all about effort at that particular time because the data has to be retained. If you've never studied 60 hours in a week, the first time you do it you will retain very little information. But if you've been doing it for years, then you retain much more data.
I just retired after 26 years in American education and also spent time in schools in Taiwan, China, and Japan. Their is a cultural difference. In East Asia you compete after elementary school to get into the best schools in the city. You do not just go to the school nearest you. It is a merit based system. Parents push their kids hard to study and behave because they are your retirement program when you get old. Kids that do not work hard or behave well are soon tracked to a vocational school to learn a trade. You compete to get into the best national universities. The Asian countries do not have the time or money to waste on those who do not try hard and show ability. Yet, they do not cast you aside instead you are given a good vocational skill to provide a good living wage. I have seen Asians here in the USA who have become Americanized and do not do as well as those who are first or second generation immigrants. The Americanized Asians have lost their cultural roots and adopted the worst of our habits. We must have an Asian style system here in the USA or we are finished in academics. MA East Asian Studies Chinese, Fulbright Scholar Japan 2003, and Fulbright Scholar China 2005.
It's our society changing. Our decline as a great nation in so very many respects. Our entire population is being softened and our childrens' mind set is being softened.
Isn’t that the purpose of a successful society so that future generations have to do less? I understand what you’re saying, but I think it’s such a funny statement so many people work so hard to improve the lives of others and then when the lives of others are improved why those people lived in luxury relative don’t have the same drive
What I have noticed is that, Asian schools tend to be very competitive when it comes to academics. Even the students have a mindset of competitiveness so that even their slightest mistake in solving math problems make them think of themselves as failure or dishonor to their clan (Of course, not all Asian students are this way, but many are.). That is because whoever would score the lowest in a math test inside the classroom, that poor student would be left behind, and that is a shame. However I have noticed in the West that many young people (Again, I'm not saying all though) have a mindset of "who needs these math formulas in real life anyway?" so that they easily become frustrated and will no longer like to sit through the math problem they ought to solve.
Just an observation though, I might be having a wrong conclusion.
I noticed too. My experience learning math as a kid in Malaysia is well described in this two-minute video: th-cam.com/video/ORtDImWveU0/w-d-xo.html
I notice in Asia they have a test culture. I never lived in Asia But I lived in a country where if you are to go to college you have to take an hard exam. What weaken this culture in the US is grades is a important factor. Of course I am againist Chinese style education and destroys creativity. But test culture helps. I think the main reason is the atitude toward education in the US. I have experience this, many teacher but a glass ceiling on top of many bright student only because he is lightly autistic or they do like him/her. The education system in the US is horrible and I think is better to home School. Even State government offers online class for free in the US, k-12.
Karma Never Sleep.
Western world and middle east and surrounding are eternal criminals.
Including drawing Indonesia world's largest archipelago world's richest natural resources too small since Mercator projection 1569 in reality Indonesia has 3 timezones.
Overpriced small land and very poor soil and very bad weather.
No thanks, western world and middle east and surrounding are just my past, far away behind.
As I state, those not a complete multiracial not multilingual never been living around the world since child are the same dumb never evolved apes stuck inside your tiny boxes your entire life.
No only in East Asia, try in High school in America that majority East Asian😅 you can't find in university because bamboo ceiling isn't allowed east Asian too much enter
@@malakatan3235 Colleges take disproportionately fewer Asian males because they are boring. They are cookie-cutter, and tend to contribute to the campus less than other demographics. This is a consequence of their parents' culture from Asia and the fixation with grades instead of actual learning and growth.
Malcolm, you are stating the main principle that Carol Dweck put forth in her book Mindset, and the more than 40 years of research that was behind it. It is important, but not the main reason why Asian kids do better.
Did you read The Teaching Gap by Stigler and Hiebert? The book is based on the TIMSS video study of random samples of math classrooms in America, Germany and Japan. The findings mirror those described in The Learning Gap. It is also consistent with the comparison of Chinese and American teachers by Liping Ma in her book, Knowing and Teaching Elementary Mathematics. She coined the phrase, "profound understanding of fundamental mathematics."
The main reason Asian kids do better is their and their teachers' attitude toward knowing math. In Western countries, especially the United States, knowing math means memorizing procedures to compute the answers to math problems. If you can compute the answer, then you "understand the concept." In Asian countries, knowing math means truly understanding the concepts and being able to reason mathematically and explain why an answer is correct. If you can't see the difference between these two ways of knowing, it shows how focused you are on just getting the answer.
This is difficult to fix, because teachers in America are a product of the system and only learned the procedures. They do not have a profound understanding of fundamental mathematics so cannot pass that on to their students. They need to learn a better way to teach and the mathematics behind it at the same time. James Spillane's study shows how it can be done.
Spillane, J. P. (1999). External reform initiatives and teachers’ efforts to reconstruct their practice: The mediating role of teachers’ zones of enactment. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 31(2), 143-175.
Also it is cultural to work harder, and study harder. When your culture puts the greatest emphasis on education, they will do better overall. Americans will fall even further behind because of "Critical race theory" Teaching kids that men can have babies instead of math, and "wokeness " is not helping
and the breakdown of the family unit, it helps to have two perants, you can say what you want but having both helps as a support structure, and that can give confidence to keep at it, learn to temper anger, and bring other prospectives if the mom cant do it maybe dad, boyfriend, or uncle can help, and let kids learn what to look for when they grow up it has a factor it does, most of all how to love its ment to be shared shown and given away, and at its heart make one work harder so they can be strong enough at something to master it so they can afford to be gentle, and have enough strength to keep control of that power, though this is less about math and more about philosophy, but there seems to be a lack of hard work from many anymore, or if they can they just wont.
People will find any reason to get political lol. Asian countries have always out performed western countries, even before the 2000s.
Your education failed you.
0:15. Exactly. They work harder, and place a huge emphasis on education. You can not blame them if excellence is part of their culture.
@@patriciawarmoth661 I blame them if excellence on a test, rather than excellence in life, is what their culture has ingrained in them [pun intended].
One issue behind the lower scores in the US is the difference in emphasis. Primary school students in the US spend a lot of time learning to manipulate fractions eg. Divide five and three fourths by two and two thirds. Or adding fractions with mixed denominators. (also issues with constantly changing educational fads: common core curriculum, etc.) The metric-based world bypasses these fraction skills which hardly appear in the TIMSS tests. The US test results would improve if we matched the international math curriculum more closely.
Excellent animation. Congrats!
- BECAUSE ASIANS ARE AWESOME !!!
Smarter than blacks and even smarter than most whites.
Western education systems, especially in the US the math and science classes are much easier compared to the ones in South Korea. Parents in South Korea generally deeply care about their children's education and sacrifice themselves, supporting them all the way through to their fullest potential. American parents?... Hmm
I would argue that the rice theory doesn't fully hold water, as America was a very hard working country prior to the 60s. There is a culture of jack-of-all trades and self sufficiency, which requires a lot of hard work lest you die. Quite a few things destroyed this work ethic: the counterculture which was very lazy and hedonistic, globalization which took away a lot of jobs, welfare and incentivizing to not work, feminist and race politics which eventually became discriminatory to those not in their groups. You correctly identified that American culture is severely lacking for handling math and tackling problems. That is because America turned its back on what works.
You will find that even within US, the math scores have inverted from liberal coastal cities and midwest, from 90s till now. The liberal coastal cities used to dominate, now it's reversed. Ask yourself why. It's because of the coddling and all of the above reasons.
Globalization didn't "take away a lot of jobs", American businesses sent away a lot of jobs. The rest of your comments are similarly misguided grievances. Unfortunately, you'll have to wait over a year for Festivus 2024.
Surprisingly however, the modern mathematics, physics and other related fields are developed in the west in last 400 years, particularly in Germany, France and Britain.
very interesting content!!
I’m a 53 year old South East Asian male with 5 university degrees. I was an immigrant. In my day Asians kids were rarely accepted by ‘locals’. My kids are 4 and 9 are being raised in Canada. Question, is there a rice paddy field I can send my kids to? Their identity is now the identity of their peers-and everything is Sooooo hard. They are embraced by their community. They seem happy-but studying is a form of torture despite my best efforts to encourage them-including reading with them, doing school work with them, and enrolling them in private school-I even bring them to see me lecture as a professor. My kids may look Asian but they’re not Asian. I’m also not hard on them. I’d be happy if they do Anything related to intellectual curiosity. I’m not hard on them at all. My parents never saw even one of my report cards. They just expected I would try hard.
Most parents push their kids especially in todays environment yet certain people always rise to the top. It's not just cultural. Also how does a people come up with its culture? Why asians/jews advocate for being a doctor/lawyer/teacher, but other groups advocated for being rappers,dancers,athletes?
It’s culture, Nigerians push education in their culture. Happen to be the most educated group in America.
@@jayquandean7754 Facts. Race and genetics has nothing to do with it
All peoples come up with their cultures by thinking deeply about what future they want.
Jewish people's holy book promises that their nation will be "raised above all of the other nations that God created." At a certain point in history (actually not that long ago, it is mostly a modern thing), Rabbis stopped worrying too much about their superstitions of a prophesied Messiah doing this, and started to just take the project of raising the Jewish nation to the top, into their own hands. They created a culture dedicated to success (a.k.a. victory).
Don't want to go into detail about other cultures, but I think you can understand how, different cultures have different fundamental values, and those values drive cultures to want different things in the future, and those dreams of the future then inspire elites to care more/less about how they drive the populace.
Wrong. Go watch videos of black people being raised in Japan or Germany, or even in adopted families, and see the difference compared to what you’re describing. I know plenty of Asians Americans who dgaf because they are, American.
We all have our highs and lows. African Americans have been affected heavily by hip hop in which record label owners would want the most stereotypical gangster rapper, and also had stocks in private prisons. 40 years later you have what we have now, but this also affects everyone in America as well.
Culture and upbringing along with your genes have probably some of the biggest influence on what you become. Did you think black people wanted to be rappers and basketball players in the 1600s? Lmao bruh people change. Northern Europeans were once the savages in the 0-500 AD, with the Middle East, North Africa, India, China and Southern Europe being the civilized world. Islam was the land for colleges and intellectuals from the 800-1200 AD, and Europeans rediscovered antiquity which sparked the Renaissance due to the Islamic libraries that had books on Greece and Rome that did not survive due to Constantine and the Christianization of Rome.
Everyone has their highs and lows. Right now Europe and the West look like their 6 centuries of reigning is on a decline, with Asia and Eurasia rising. It’s exciting and shows you how fair life is. We all get our turn (the US is for sure trying to hog and monopolize this though).
Totally wrong perspectives. As a Chinese person who went through the tough Chinese College Entrance Exam, math score only weighs 20% percent of the exam while English and Chinese weighs 40%. Math was never the most important thing in our education system or our traditional culture. Traditional Chinese culture value literature and philosophy way more than math. For example, we like name babies with wen(literature in Chinese), no one name their babies with shu(math in Chinese)
So, anyways the bulk of researches says that asians better in math, your comment make no sense
@user-jv5qq7cz4h Different races have different levels of intelligence and aggression, just like different dog breds have different behaviors even when they eat the same brand of dog food. It's just that some people wouldn't admit that truth because it hurts their self-esteem.
I mean, as a teaching tool, Gladwell makes sense.
As to actually why...
If you're a Chinese or Japanese kid, which is easier: Math, or memorizing 10,000 individual characters so you can read? In the West, poetry is easier than calculus for many people. In much of Asia, someone has to memorize thousands of characters before they can even begin to write basic poetry, while math is something they can start on in a day.
Math is an easier language to read than Chinese or Japanese, so it gets more attention.
That is so true.