<p>Thought I would chime in and give a somewhat different perspective on the discussion of one race being more gifted then another in arts, sciences, etc. Although I have no scientific basis for these thoughts I do have an adopted Asian daughter and two biological caucasian sons. They were all three raised by the same parents and in the same environment. We did not encourage any one of them more then the other when it came to educational approach. Both sons were barely able to get through High School, both graduating near the bottom of the class. Both chose not to attend college , though they were encouraged to do so. Both are very successful in their chosen careers. They chose to use their abilities and strong work ethic to propel their careers. Our daughter, on the other hand graduated 12th out of a class of 268. She applied to 10 schools and was accepted and or waitlisted at 9 of them with excellent merit scholarships/financial aid packages. She seems to be very natuarlly gifted in math and sciences. So here is one argument that suggests that perhaps some races do have natural abilities in some areas. It sure Appears that way in our case. Nonetheless - I am quite proud of all three. :)</p>
<p>Correlation does not equal causation. It could be many other, equally important factors. It could have been her age and time when you raised her (i.e. last child getting the most attention.) You might have raised her differently because she’s female. You might have perceived her Asianness to be reason to push academics more. She might have been treated that way as a student in school.</p>
<p>If Asians are better at science and math naturally, then so are Europeans.</p>
<p>As an aside, when relocating to NJ I avoided West-Windsor/Plainsboro for the same reason, even though it was clearly the strongest school. The intensity was a poor fit for our D.</p>
<p>The fact that Asian students are out-competing others for scarce resources is part of a long history of assimilation by ethnic groups.
For example Jewish students were viewed in the same way from about 1940-1970.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the competition seems particulary fierce at this time. The last 10 years or so has seen what I refer to as an “arms race” among college bound hopefuls fueled by factors like a demographic bulge (classic supply and demand) and by accelerating income gaps between a highly educated elite and the rest of society. Unlike in the past, where the goal was simply a college education, the goal is now an education from one of the 50 or so ‘elite’ institutions. One might refer to this as a flight pr panic on perceived quality.</p>
<p>The demographics are starting to change in direction, and this should neutralize some of the fuel for this competition, but as long as the income gaps persist, this trend will continue.</p>
<p>It’s hard to generalize from one case; it could be that your (adopted) daughter, being a girl, was better focused in school than her brothers.</p>
<p>We also should note that when we speak of Asians, it is the Asians or Asian-Americans who live in this country rather than in Asia. Their behavior is more characteristic of immigrants than of communities with a longer history of settlement. As well, many of these immigrants come from middle class, well-educated families in their country of origin.
For a take on a very different kind of Asians, seldom mentioned together with college, I suggest reading Anne Fadiman"s The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down. There are Hmong who have received Ph.Ds, but the book illustrates the immense gap between the dominant Hmong culture and what people think about Asianness.</p>
<p>I’m glad to see that there are responses to this thread (it was posted in different forms elsewhere with little response).</p>
<p>But I’m sad to see that most of the responses focus on Asian vs Caucasian rather than on the “white flight” itself.</p>
<p>As I said in the other thread, I love how as soon as the White folks start to feel like a minority or feel inferior all hell breaks loose and they start fleeing schools and the WSJ documents everything.</p>
<p>I think what we all have to remember here is that we’re all Americans - and that what’s very, very positive about Asian-American achievement is that ultimately it will benefit all of us. Their successes are our successes - they will help us compete with China, many are likely to make great scientific discoveries, i.e. the cure for cancer, etc. America is about competition - and if the Asian-Americans are working harder, so be it. Let’s not return to the days when Princeton and other colleges set quotas on how many Jews they allowed in each class because it might disturb the balance. My son came very close to going to UCLA - he came back from a visit there and made the comment that he’d have to work really hard because of the competition from the Asian-American kids there. He didn’t shy away from the competition - he appreciated it.</p>
<p>UCLAri, I have tons of asian friends, but when I end up in a situation where its like 75% asian (when I was on the badminton team) it gets lame and they get annoying, I dont know the science behind it.</p>
<p>“it gets lame and they get annoying, I dont know the science behind it.” </p>
<p>I don’t think there is any science behind it. I don’t understand how you can judge a person by their background. Imagine if that statement was applied to to caucasians. It would be ridiculous. Asians are not any smarter than the rest of the world. Many Asians in America just work harder because they are expected to make the most out of their opportunities. The UC system provides very good education while having cheaper in state tuitions than other schools of the same level. It is a good bargain for anyone who resides in California. Having to work harder for an A should not be a bad thing since your degree would then be worth more in the job market.</p>
<p>Stereotypes happen the other way around too. I went to a predominantly Asian high school, and when I tried to convince some people to at least consider UCSB, they dismissed it as a white party school.</p>
<p>But to worry about ethnic makeup differences of a few percent is silly. I doubt very many top universities in America don’t have at least a 10% Asian population.</p>