Raise kids the Asian way

UCLAri
Sat, 22 Oct 2005 23:23:40 +0000

First off:



Chances are that your profiency in Japanese is due to the fact that you have been immersed in the language. All those Asian students with their English classes are trying to learn a language through textbooks, lectures, etc., I presume. I doubt that when they leave the classroom, they converse to each other in English. BTW, I live in Vancouver where there are large influxes of Asian students who come for the purposes of learning English. They catch on quickly, and surprise, they understand concepts of “I”. Their main problem lies in the fact that they’re cliquey, but that’s another story altogether.



Right, but again, immersion. It doesn’t change the fact that the Japanese themselves have admitted that they have huge failures in language education. That’s all I’m saying.



I seriously doubt that more Anglophones are proficient in Japanese than Japanese-speakers are proficient in English. I’ve been told that it’s pointless for English-speakers to try and learn Japanese (one of the most difficult languages in the world) because the Japanese will speak better English than you can hope to speak Japanese.



I said “per capita.” That means, equally to the same number of population (i.e. out of 100) I think that more Americans are proficient in Japanese than native Japanese are proficient in English. Nobody believes me in this, but you really need to come and live here to believe it. Japan is known for being one of the most unilingual countries in the world. Why is this so shocking, or even require argumentation?

This all started because I just told alumother she was dead wrong. Jeebus guys, I’m sorry. I’ll never criticize Asian education again. :p

I’m not even saying that Asians in the US aren’t doing well. I think they’re a great example to follow. But notice how well Asians are doing in the AMERICAN educational system. It’s not the American educational system that’s to blame, it’s the people that aren’t taking advantage of it.



What about the extremely high incarceration rates? The crime rate? I thought the point of education was to give everybody an equal chance at a stable life. For every Nobel Prize winner, there are thousands of underprivileged kids who are not being taught to read properly, or solve math problems.



This is most likely a red herring. I grew up poor, and I’m not in jail. I’d say that the issues of crime in the US stem from something far less connected to education than you let on. Why are poor Asians able to succeed?

I’m going to make myself a social pariah here, but what distinguishes most successful “rise from the bottom” Asians from other minority groups and whites who languish at the bottom? Could it be the strong focus on family and education?