2010-02-11, 08:07 PM
Now, referring back to the original post, I haven't watched the video mind you, but I'll tell you of the information a friend of mine that moved to my city about 3 years told me about. She's from China and lived there most of the life, and I've thought of a few reasons why Asians may be smarter.
Now first of all, in China, with such a huge population and mainly communist values, there is a massive amount of competition for the better jobs and education spots available. But rather than lowering the "pass" rates like North America does almost constantly, only the highest achievers actually get anywhere. My friend got to Grade 12 there and went into teaching, but she said that there is more of a backing for what you want to go into as requirements for jobs are more defined. Appointed really. That's an idea in Communism that some people miss, you get education in order to be appointed to a job with security rather than our North American right to change jobs when we want. Anyways, since there are fewer individuals accepted for further education, and that further education rarely results in a job that's worth more than $15,000 US a year, students must try harder. Another point which I came across with her was that their curriculum was far more advanced than ours. They normally are always 3 grades higher than you and me. Imagine going to school each day and doing NOTHING but reading and writing from and in textbooks that are bigger than the size of your head. Oh ya, and getting there at 7:30 AM and getting home at 4:30 PM(I only went to school maybe 6 hours a day). And last, but not least, she hit on something strange when it came up one day:
There was not much in the way of bullying/harassment/name-calling etc. in the school she went to. She was absolutely surprised when she learned that girls here pick on each other and completely ruin each others reputations etc. So maybe they spend less time bitching, complaining, and making up stupid pomegranate to do "because we're bored" then North American children/adults do. Think of it this way, if a 18 year old didn't go out and drink every night till he's 25, you save a good 1-4 hours a day for 7 years minus handover times. If you used that time to study or learn, you could have saved 2555-10220 hours of your life to become more intelligent. It's simply better time management.
Now first of all, in China, with such a huge population and mainly communist values, there is a massive amount of competition for the better jobs and education spots available. But rather than lowering the "pass" rates like North America does almost constantly, only the highest achievers actually get anywhere. My friend got to Grade 12 there and went into teaching, but she said that there is more of a backing for what you want to go into as requirements for jobs are more defined. Appointed really. That's an idea in Communism that some people miss, you get education in order to be appointed to a job with security rather than our North American right to change jobs when we want. Anyways, since there are fewer individuals accepted for further education, and that further education rarely results in a job that's worth more than $15,000 US a year, students must try harder. Another point which I came across with her was that their curriculum was far more advanced than ours. They normally are always 3 grades higher than you and me. Imagine going to school each day and doing NOTHING but reading and writing from and in textbooks that are bigger than the size of your head. Oh ya, and getting there at 7:30 AM and getting home at 4:30 PM(I only went to school maybe 6 hours a day). And last, but not least, she hit on something strange when it came up one day:
There was not much in the way of bullying/harassment/name-calling etc. in the school she went to. She was absolutely surprised when she learned that girls here pick on each other and completely ruin each others reputations etc. So maybe they spend less time bitching, complaining, and making up stupid pomegranate to do "because we're bored" then North American children/adults do. Think of it this way, if a 18 year old didn't go out and drink every night till he's 25, you save a good 1-4 hours a day for 7 years minus handover times. If you used that time to study or learn, you could have saved 2555-10220 hours of your life to become more intelligent. It's simply better time management.