<p>The problem as others have pointed out is generalizing, without looking at context or the realities. Statements like “Asian students cheat” or “American Students are lazy” are slogans that are empty of meaning.</p>
<p>The reality is many of the Asian students we are talking about either are coming from overseas, where competition is more then fierce and where getting to a US university is considered the pinnacle of success by many. Thus, what you see in colleges are kids who have had to work their tail off, who have had to be hyper competitive to get anywhere…</p>
<p>Other kids of Asian background could be either immigrant children or first generation born here, and like many immigrants, there is a tremendous culture that doing well in school is the way to succeed. The fact that someone immigrates makes them very different then those who chose to stay at home, it already is someone driven by some need to move, to a ‘better place’, and that takes work, it takes facing hardship and so forth. Go back 70 years or more, and you would be substituting Jewish kids for Asian (or other ethnic groups). These kids are pushed and pushed (and in some ways, that may not exactly be the best thing), driven to get high grades and such, and it shows in how they do in school (though what we don’t hear about is what happens to these kids in their lives, do they succeed, do they end up being happy, and how many of them end up paying a price for that pressure, including suicide?). </p>
<p>One of the interesting things I hear from Asian friends of mine, who were of the first generation track, is that their kids are not the same, which doesn’t surprise me, they tend to be more like other ‘native born Americans’, though how much of the culture they hold and whatnot varies.Often I hear complaints, half serious, half joking, that they have learned to be lazy, yet most of these kids, though they may not be right there at the top, end up going to good schools and doing well…</p>
<p>There also are other factors with Asian immigrants that are part of the culture of the countries they came from. In China and India and Japan (least according to what I have read) a lot is based on exams, on competitive exams getting you to the next level, and that what really matters is getting to the highest level at each step.In Japan, at least when I was studying their culture in grad school course in the mid 90’s, the big achievement was to get into a top flight university (public, interestingly enough, were the premiere schools), and after getting in they kind of glided, because what mattered was getting to that school, that decided their careers for them often, it set up the basis for future success. And everything was based on these exams, not really in learning, but memorizing to do well in the exams…so it is not surprising that kids from these cultures have the impetus to get high grades which in turn means high grades on tests, it is what they have known the whole time. </p>
<p>The other thing to keep in mind, as others have alluded, is that in these countries getting to college is a big deal, they are populous, and a large part of the population doesn’t have the resources to send their kid to school, let alone college, so in getting the chance these kids know how rare it is, how hard it is and what a gift it is. Despite what you hear on the news, a relatively small percentage of kids in these countries ever make it to college, and what we are seeing is often the cream of the crop, no matter what college we are talking about that they get into. </p>
<p>In a country like the US, where despite all the ills, we have a universal education system that delivers a decent education to a lot of kids, where the opportunities are not so limited (just look at the number of public and private universities there are in this country, it is staggering). Because of that, because there has been access to a lot of kids to college, there just isn’t that incredible competition…or the feeling like that if I don’t get into an ivy league college, my life is over, it just isn’t like that for a lot of kids, and in reality there is truth to that, that going to a non ivy doesn’t mean your life is relegated to working at Wal Mart, it doesn’t work like that. </p>
<p>Also, US culture is kind of mixed when it comes to grades in school and learning. Are high grades really the be all and end all? Does having straight A’s in college really translate into reality of success?Obviously, when it comes to programs like med school, where competition is fierce, it does mean something, but there are a lot of students who come out with 4.0 GPA’s who end up in dead end jobs or not doing well, and kids with less stellar GPA’s who go on to fly; there are some billionaires who never bothered to finish college, or who had C’s in college. To them, getting the straight A’s might not mean as much as to a kid from a different culture, and sometimes getting straight A’s means you are great at spitting back what professors want but can’t otherwise get the job done…not saying it is an excuse to be lazy, just contrasting attitudes.</p>
<p>As far as cheating and corruption goes, I think you have to be careful there. I have a cousin who made pretty good money when he was at an IVY league college writing term papers for what are known as the ‘legacy students’, the 20% who get admitted even at Ivies because their grandad went there, donated a library, etc, and besides the ‘gentleman’s C’s’ these scions get, they cheat all the time to get through, where either they don’t have to worry about making a living or have jobs lined up for them…I am sure kids looking for edges in places like China and India have resorted to cheating, but is it all? No,not even close. </p>
<p>Is bribery practiced, to get better grades,to get into a school, in those societies? I have heard stories, that may or may not be apocryphal, that there are professors and admissions people who expect to get bribed to help kids get admitted or get a better grade, that in some cases it is expected by all parties (very much like the buildings departments in many large towns and cities). Because universities there are competitive, and salaries are relatively low, and follow bureacratic systems, it is more then likely that bribery do goes on I would speculate. In a more first hand account, Dorothy Delay at Juilliard spoke to the author about kids coming in from Asia, trying to get into her studio, and having some of them try to bribe her and explaining to her after she turned them down that it was common practice back home, that in more then a few cases it was the only way to get admittance to a school or a teachers studio or get a recommendation, etc…so I am sure it goes on, but I think broadly using that to paint Asians as likely to cheat is way over the falls (and in effect, what is a kid from a rich family getting into Harvard or Yale because his family went there and presumably gives a lot of money to the school, but another form of bribe?). </p>
<p>Does this mean that there aren’t (maybe more then a few) lazy American students? No. Does this mean that all students from Asia cheat, or none of them do? No. What it means is that you have to be careful about what people generalize about, that stereotypes, while they have generally some basis in fact, don’t tell a complete picture. There are a ton of hardworking kids out there who get into top level schools and really distinguish themselves, there are non Asians working everything they can to try and get into music (a field not known for being a warm mistress), at levels that would make anyone’s eyes open, there are tons of Asians kids we never see who don’t do well in school, there are kids who graduate from colleges in India who don’t seem to know a hell of a lot…but accounts like this in a sense are the pits, because they are trying to use one fact (that the kids in their class who do well are Asian) and contrast it to the American kids in the class to claim that this proves something, when all it proves is that the teacher and the writer of the article better not move into research, because their method frankly stinks. Maybe the kids in her English class are low achievers, maybe the high achievers take other classes, maybe the school enrolls a lot of kids because they have to fill a lot of slots and have more then a few ill prepared students…point is, that one class doesn’t make a rule, and you have to look at all sides and investigate before claiming anything.</p>