Are Asians Smarter?

According to this documentary, they are.

[YOUTUBE]opBfHXePM2Y[/YOUTUBE
I think this is BS.

Asians are smarter as a result of strict ass parenting.

Because they really needed to do a documentary to figure this out.

This isn't the Funhouse.

No. I don't consider myself smarter than any other black, white, indian, whatever person out there. It depends on parenting, and a life that people are born into. Look into "Nurture vs Nature" for more detailed information.

They are really idiots. I didn't view the whole thing, but it's trash.

As mentioned, although in sometimes pretty crude ways, most Asians are smart because of their cultural background. If Asians were smarter, then this would apply to all Asians, but there are many exceptions.

This isn't the Funhouse.

Then continue to use blanket stereotypes as a basis for logical discussion. This will get you very far in life.

I second Khoi, Nurture is more important than nature. Using this logic you can say all Black people are still slaves

Where did I use that stereotype? I clearly mentioned that I thought it is BS in the first post. (And you can even see that the first post is unedited.)

I only said it because I felt people were not treating this video seriously and posting just for the sake of posting. That would defeat the purpose of having the seperation between the Rubik's Cube and the Funhouse.

My own perspective on the issue is that I agree with a lot of what the Hazel Markus says about MSJ. She says that academics is "...the most important role. It's your job. It's what you're supposed to do, is to bring honor to the family by becoming educated."

I am Asian. However, I'm different in that I've been heavily white-washed from my many interactions with people from European cultures, because I did spend a large number of hours online and my best friend is white. I've also pushed my parents away in a way that I now regret. However, this has allowed me to look at my peers from a distance, and I really do observe exactly what Markus says, such as this: "First comes just making your mind quiet and then taking in the information that's there, organize it, put it together, later on there can be questioning."

This is where I think Asians fall short and will continue to fall short wherever they go.

The first problem with Asians is that many of them aren't studying for themselves. Whenever I try talking to people I know, many of them will tell me that they're studying. I can't really understand why, and when I pursue the question further, they tell me that their parents will be angry with them if they fail (Asian-fail, not even really failing). I still don't really understand this and I probably never will. Every time I hear that, I want to believe that these people are just making up a BS reply so that they don't have to explain. But now hearing it over the years, it unfortunately seems true to me.

The second problem with Asians is that many of them fail to question, and this is why I think Asians are so great at math and deficient at everything else. In math, there's only one solution, and you don't really have to think to get the answers. You merely follow certain mathematical rules. For example, 1+1 is always 2, S2xdx is always going to be x^2+C, and d/dx x^2 is always going to be 2x. However, in other subjects such as English, there are hardly ever any wrong interpretations as long as the answers are reasonably supported by evidence, and there is never any "formula" for getting a right answer in literary analysis.

The two combined lead ultimately to Asian failure. Many Asians mispercieve what learning is about. For example, many believe that music is about "blending the notes written on the sheet music with the band to a strict tempo". Many believe that English is about reading stories to the point that you can recall every little detail. Many believe that science, and even history, is about memorizing cold, hard facts. None of these are true, yet they're what's taught throughout school and such ideas continue to persist throughout high school.

In addition, I find many Asians really, really shallow. They have never considered self-examination, and have never considered even the most basic questions in life. For example, I asked many people a simple question, such as "what is happiness?", and the only Asian I've ever heard who could produce a satisfactory answer (as in something more complex than a variation of "a feeling of euphoria") is Vicky. She answered, "I don't know, but it's derived from making others happy". I then asked her another question, "Then why do you make others angry?" She didn't know why.

I admit that I don't have the exact answer is either, but I have examined such basic questions to a considerable extent, especially the question, "what is love? (which led to my own distortion on what love is, even though its satisfying to myself). Many of the Asians I know fail to even consider that such a question exists, which is unfortunate. I don't want to put down my own culture, but whenever I ask, I get really basic replies. For example, I asked an Asian friend about a week ago and her reply is, "love is when you feel happy with another person." Like... wtp. >_>

What makes me especially depressed, though, is when people fail to consider the question "what is intelligence?", because the general consensus is that "intelligence is defined by your GPA and your SAT test scores". It's not uncommon for an Asian to just walk up to me and ask me, "what's your SAT score", "what's your GPA?", or "what'd you get on that last test we took?" and judge me entirely on that.

Sorry for the stereotyping, but it's just what I've observed. I apologize beforehand if anyone finds this offensive.

Where did I use that stereotype? I clearly mentioned that I thought it is BS in the first post. (And you can even see that the first post is unedited.)

I only said it because I felt people were blowing this off and posting just to post.

This belongs in the Speakeasy then, since this is more of a matter of personal opinion over intellectual discussion.

And stating opinions isn't considered intellectual discussion? Implying that the only quesions that belong here are mathematical ones?

Asians being shallow? Buddy. This can be true for any ethnicities. Not defending my own though, my very first gf was shallow. She's Asian. My 2nd one, was not by any means. She was extremely pretty, but she was also complicated. But by no means was she shallow, at all.

[in response to Harrison's huge wall of text]

It depends on your definition of "smarter". If the question is if Asian students are inherently smarter from birth, then that's just false. However, if they question is if Asians are smarter students because of parental and cultural influences, then that is somewhat plausible.

I think it depends a lot on whether an Asian kid's parents were born in Asia or not. The parenting styles greatly affect how academically successful he/she will be.


Wow. Just saw the wall of text, it didn't show up earlier. You should probably rethink how many Asians you've seen or known, compared to the number of Asians there are overall. Almost all the Asians that I know wouldn't even consider using the "don't question" method.
(Frick, I can't get my wording right. I mean that they wouldn't just take in random facts without knowing why.)

Khoi, notice that I already acknowledged that I'm stereotyping. I know for a fact that not all Asians are shallow. I'm still attending high-school (as you can tell from my references to SAT in my previous post), so maybe my perspective will change in a few months when I attend Uni. I also edited my original post to explain more on the shallowness that I find common among Asians.

[COLOR="Red"]Technically, if we take Nobel Prizes as a measure for smarts, the Jews would be the smartest.
Out of the 700+ prizes, the most have gone to Jews.
Look it up, I'm too tired to find you the facts.[/COLOR]

honestly, i dont think race makes any difference. If you think about it, when is the last time you heard about a stupid Asian in the media? Its all just media bias behind this idea.

It's cause asians are brought up differently than other ethnicities. I'm not saying that the Asian way is better, it's just each ethnicity has it's own priorities that they want their kids to have. Asians just happen to focus on education, wwhile some ethnicities don't focus on anything at all.

For example, I asked an Asian friend about a week ago and her reply is, "love is when you feel happy with another person." Like... wtp. >_>

That kind of is what love is.

That kind of is what love is.

You're speaking of two different kinds of love, I think.

On-topic: Many Asian countries have superior education systems. That said, there will always be people who choose to learn, as opposed to being forced into doing so. These are the people who I consider "smart", and they're everywhere.

MOre motivated to learn on average? Thats quite possible, but just plan out smarter? I have extreme doubts about that.

Depends on upbringing, environment, motivation,and that individual person. Has very little to do with ethnicity.