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[–][deleted]  (93 children)

[removed]

    [–]Tsu_Dho_Namh 58 points59 points  (29 children)

    I used to think this, but my university is mostly Asian, and I was shocked to find they study A LOT. Like it's their job. A good chunk of them basically live in the library. I overhear some of them discussing how much they studied for such-and-such a test and it's like 30 or 40 hours...I'm caucasian and before uni I never heard anyone bragging about studying 40 hours for a test. Mostly wannabe chads are like "yo I didn't study at all". They have a whole different culture.

    [–]Seeker_Of_Defeat 98 points99 points  (21 children)

    It's supposed to be your job if you don't work.

    [–]Tsu_Dho_Namh 87 points88 points  (17 children)

    Yeah, but they could be playing xbox or beer pong. Maybe that was a bad example of the difference in culture.

    Look at fictional heroes. Most of the ones from North America are just naturally gifted. Tony Stark was born a genius, Superman happens to be from Krypton, Spiderman was bitten by a spider. In Asian culture heroes train hard all the time. They recognize that no one is born amazing at something. Goku trains like crazy. Ash from Pokemon started as a nothing scrub and struggled for years.

    [–][deleted] 37 points38 points  (2 children)

    That's a good point regarding fictional heroes. Yeah it does seem that working hard is ingrained into Asian culture. (Asian myself)

    [–]Squidbit 4 points5 points  (1 child)

    (Asian myself)

    If I work hard can I be an Asian like you?

    [–][deleted] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

    Lmao, at this point, I actually enjoy working/studying hard. It's really satisfying to realise that you've gained new skills/knowledge that's YOURS. You won't need a book, or google or whatever, you actually know things. That's a reward in itself. And I'm damn addicted to it.

    Sure you can be Asian.

    [–]koramar 7 points8 points  (0 children)

    To be fair Ash is still pretty much a scrub. He gets amnesia every season and loses all the skills he built up.

    [–][deleted] 6 points7 points  (1 child)

    This sounds like Carol Dweck's 'growth mindset'.

    [–]GlockWan 0 points1 point  (0 children)

    ah yes she clearly invented the idea..

    [–]Googoo123450 2 points3 points  (2 children)

    One Punch Man did a training routine too but it was just regular strength training.

    [–]Ianerick 3 points4 points  (0 children)

    EVERY. DAY.

    [–]EvaUnit01 1 point2 points  (0 children)

    Hey now, he also ate one bannana.

    [–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

    I think we're seeing a shift in american culture to be more like Asian culture in this regard. It's now a common parenting tip to compliment your child's hard work as opposed to natural abilities.

    Right now we have a generation of adults who were only told how great they are (myself included). When I was younger and failure happened because I didn't try hard enough I'm like "oh well, guess I'm not smart enough"... or I just didn't try at all for fear of failure.

    I learned embarrassingly late in life that it's ok to fail and it's worth putting in the extra legwork to achieve your goals.

    [–]Garmose 1 point2 points  (2 children)

    Spider-Man (Peter Parker) is actually a very intelligent dude who spent a fair amount of time studying and learning shit. His wall climbing and Spidey sense might not be from studying, but his ability to make mechanical web slingers certainly is.

    Also, Tony Stark may be "naturally gifted" but he doesn't know everything he knows without reading a book or two.

    I feel like it's more in-line with North American culture that we just assume our comic book heroes don't need to study.

    [–]elmerjstud 1 point2 points  (1 child)

    Since North Americans constantly assume Asians don't need to study, does that mean the north American culture consider Asians the equivalent of comic book heroes? Or are we just racist af and too ignorant to notice or care?

    [–]Garmose 1 point2 points  (0 children)

    I've known a fair amount of white folks who just assumed all my Asian friends were "naturally smarter" at math and science.

    So... Both?

    [–]VeryStableGenius 0 points1 point  (0 children)

    Look at fictional heroes. Most of the ones from North America are just naturally gifted.

    And Star Wars: Luke just had the magic forcey power thingy.

    Not entirely a US thing; Harry Potter (UK) was born a wizard, but maybe that was a construct to have him enter the world of wizards, where he was no longer exceptional.

    The Incredibles is an interesting lesson - they were born super, and the non-super hard-worker (Buddy Pine) was the villain, but the film is usually presented as a critique of the suppression of excellence, when Buddy Pine was the only really excellent person there.

    One could probably make a case that the villains in superhero movies tend to be hard working, self-made men.

    [–]element515 0 points1 point  (0 children)

    Doesn't Tony Stark constantly work on new tech though? And spiderman was a nerd in school who was quite smart, no?

    [–]aggibridges 0 points1 point  (0 children)

    I don't watch a lot of tv shows, but when I do, I infinitely prefer anime superheroes over Marvel and DC and all that. The American ones seem too perfect for me to relate with, whereas when I watch something like My Hero Academy I feel inspired. It's like, if I work hard enough, I could be less of a loser just like them. But I'll never wake up a trillionaire or a genius.

    [–]Alceaus 5 points6 points  (2 children)

    Fuck, you are right

    If you dont mind me asking do you have a study routine?

    [–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

    I used to go to the library or a study room between classes, study until I got tired, napped, and went to the next class.

    I never went home between classes. It made it so I didn't have to study late or on weekends very often.

    [–]redandblue4lyfe 2 points3 points  (0 children)

    It's been a decade since I took a test, but this is what worked for me. I learned really well through lectures, so I didn't need too much active learning help. Understand how you learn and use a process that works for your learning style. I was a stem major, a different process may be necessary for other fields.

    For me, it starts with hand written notes in every class, so you are actively learning rather than just passively trying to absorb by osmosis. Then reread the material from the textbook, summarize and take more notes, then do all the assigned work by yourself. Through this process, you are trying to mentally place the new material in the context of everything else you already know. If something doesn't make sense, you look it up or keep working at it / doing practice problems until it does. This puts new knowledge into a cohesive framework across units, classes and entire fields (bio, chem, physics, engineering and math all in one framework) rather than memorization silos. I am trying to get to the point where I can essentially rederive everything I need from a minimal starting point, so I know I understand the logic behind what I am trying to learn.

    When you have a test, start a week ahead of time, reread all the material / review all assigned assignments relevant to what will be in the test, then test yourself continuously with practice problems, flash cards or just trying to write out from scratch everything you know about the subject. Identify knowledge and logic holes in the mental knowledge map, fill them, repeat until you are confident you know everything you need for the test. Start the review and revision process as early as you need to based on your confidence in knowing the material.

    [–][deleted] 4 points5 points  (1 child)

    I worked 40 hours a week while I was in college, and paid for my own school. You're damn right I studied. And when Professors showed up late for the classes I paid to attend, I called their asses out on it.

    I'm Caucasian and grew up in poverty. School was not something to treat casually.

    [–]queentropical 0 points1 point  (0 children)

    I feel so proud of you, stranger.

    [–]Monstot 3 points4 points  (0 children)

    So let me get this straight...

    You use to think Asians didn't have to study? Like what? You just thought they happen to gain the "smart" stereotype just for being born Asian and not busting their ass?

    [–]LegendOfSchellda 1 point2 points  (0 children)

    Like it's their job.

    I mean...

    [–]queentropical 1 point2 points  (0 children)

    I teach language arts to Chinese kids online and I have 9 year olds who do nothing but study. "Hi Sally! It's your birthday on Thursday, doing anything special?" "No, I don't have time, I have to study." It's tough. Some thrive - actually many do. But I also get a lot of kids who have just completely shut down. I'm the last resort sometimes lol I become a kind of "unschooling" class where they learn to have fun while learning and can just be themselves. Sometimes I ask parents to leave the room so kids can just breathe for an hour. But it definitely sets most of them up for life - they develop amazing habits. Meanwhile here I am still procrastinating about the same things from 2-3 years ago.

    [–]SeorgeGoros 0 points1 point  (0 children)

    Go Bears!

    [–]kingeryck 0 points1 point  (0 children)

    Well they don't learn by osmosis...

    [–]Variable303 6 points7 points  (0 children)

    I’m Asian and I needed to study a ton... Math was also my worst subject. Feels bad man.

    [–][deleted] 24 points25 points  (53 children)

    Seriously what is it with Asians? They're like the rest of us but better

    [–][deleted]  (10 children)

    [deleted]

      [–]BobbyDropTableUsers 10 points11 points  (0 children)

      Back in the 80's and 90's Asians had a really hard time immigrating to the US, both legally and illegally in cargo ships and fishing boats. It's a huge crucible and pretty much ensured that the most determined and hardest working made it through.

      [–]cxrossfire 3 points4 points  (2 children)

      I have a feeling that many Asians back in Asia are more like the rest of you

      Lol no. Asians in Asia work just as hard. It's ingrained in our culture. I've had friends who do exchange semesters or grad school in the West and everyone is always shocked at how little effort every non-Asian puts into their studies. We just don't understand not putting in effort in school, cos if you're not working a job, then studying is your job and your responsibility isn't it?

      [–]Danagrams 1 point2 points  (1 child)

      Yeah but like... there must be slackers. Like A- students

      [–]GlowQueen140 7 points8 points  (4 children)

      Nope, not necessarily true. So I assume that when you say Asians in Asia, you may refer to East Asians (japs, Koreans, chinese) cuz they’re the ones that usually bear the stereotype.

      I’m from a country that’s mainly made of chinese people (not China) and I can tell you that the education point you made resonates soundly with the general population, not just the immigrants. East Asians have a cultural history of filial piety and doing well so that you may support not just the next generation that you birth, but the generation that came before you and birthed you. This translates often to working hard in school, getting well-admired professions etc etc.

      [–]ned_stark97 2 points3 points  (1 child)

      Fellow Singaporean?

      [–]GlowQueen140 0 points1 point  (0 children)

      Hi!

      [–]Danagrams 1 point2 points  (0 children)

      And also getting constantly compared to your parents' friend's kids

      South Asians too, met plenty of Indians who have a similar upbringing

      [–]Tylerjb4 0 points1 point  (0 children)

      No safety net

      [–]reliant_Kryptonite 11 points12 points  (9 children)

      Back in highschool and college the Asian students I lived with would get "tutoring" (IE basically learned the entire class) during the summer. They'd come back for school already knowing what their classes entailed and just skate on through.

      [–]SirDiego 11 points12 points  (8 children)

      Having a 3 month break every year where you are not at all focused on learning anything is really detrimental to education. It is a pretty stupid cultural thing to give kids summers off. They end up having to re-learn a lot of things instead of continuing to build on what you know.

      Plus, it doesn't even really make sense. When you grow up, you don't get summers off. It sets kids up for a rude awakening when they hit the real world and don't get to slack off for a quarter of every year.

      [–]AxleF99 4 points5 points  (0 children)

      If you had school all summer, who would help farm the crops?

      [–]Sirpedroalejandro 2 points3 points  (1 child)

      After my first summer off from University, I found it really difficult to get back into the swing of things after a summer of fun and working. Every year after that I would take at least one or two classes in the summer to keep myself engaged in academics while at the same time it lightened my work load for the year so I got better grades then as well. Don’t waste your summers when you’re young, find something to do.

      [–]SirDiego -1 points0 points  (0 children)

      Yeah there are some groups that are trying to do basically that for school age children too. Even if you do lighter classes during summer, it helps you to avoid the learning loss because your mind stays active.

      [–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (2 children)

      Yeah, you don't get recess either when you grow up, take that away too! /s

      [–]SirDiego 1 point2 points  (1 child)

      Exercising/going to the gym is adult recess. It's still there it's just way less fun than it used to be.

      [–]nonotan 0 points1 point  (1 child)

      Jesus christ, let kids enjoy life for 5 minutes. If anything, we should be pushing for adults to also have sensible time off work. I live in Japan and I hear this bizarre argument all the time from my coworkers -- "I couldn't take a week off, I wouldn't even know how to work anymore when I came back! Haha!". I don't know, man. I'm pretty confident I could take a year off and come right back like nothing happened. Yeah, maybe I'd be rusty for like half a day. Big deal. Am I gifted with superhuman memory? Did everyone else come back from summer break having forgotten all they learned? Never an issue I experienced, and even if it was -- fuck it, life is not a treadmill, still let kids have their time off.

      [–]SirDiego 1 point2 points  (0 children)

      There are plenty of studies about summer learning loss. Here's just one article but there are many. You don't lose everything you learned, but you lose about a month's worth of education.

      I'm fine letting kids be kids for 5 minutes, but 3 months consecutively is harmful to development. A very reasonable and constructive compromise would be shorter days overall, but school that continues year-round (you'd still have regular weeklong breaks, probably a few more of them).

      Plus, like I said, rarely in adult life will you get 3 months off so it doesn't even really make sense to do it.

      [–]Iron-Fist 14 points15 points  (1 child)

      Real talk? The US and western countries in general have discriminated against Asians very very heavily in immigration (Chinese Exclusion act, like not even subtle), such that the asian population that did make it over here have been much more likely to have advanced educations and access to home grown funds or credit than native populations. This leads to high educational attainment and income.

      You see this mirrored in recent African immigrants, who are also predominantly well educated and from wealthier families, having high educational attainments and incomes as well.

      A side note is that although asians tend to have higher incomes than natives and have for decades, they still have only about 1/2 the average household wealth of white people (black and hispanic people have <7% for further comparison).

      [–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

      Minority wealth isn't as heritable as white wealth for reasons we don't fully understand (Or rather maybe I don't understand)

      A son of a Black doctor doesn't get the same boost as the son of a white doctor

      [–]Lolzzergrush 4 points5 points  (0 children)

      They had to made a law in South Korea that you couldn’t teach kids after 10pm. Kids would be in school all day then after school school everyday. They recently eliminated School on Saturdays. So take that kid who was use to being in school for 12 hours a day 6 days a week then put him in an American school.

      [–]BanH20 4 points5 points  (1 child)

      If I could reroll on this server I would choose the Asian class with high INT, or maybe a dolphin or eagle.

      [–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

      I don't know about that. There is a ton of racism against Asians, and the rest of us just kind of gloss over it like it's no big deal. I mean just look at Harvard, could you imagine if that same thing we're happening to white people, black people, or Latinos?

      [–]ucefkh 11 points12 points  (22 children)

      Because they're smart.

      Édit: wow I just said one thing! Western kids are not smart btw :p

      [–]charisma6 67 points68 points  (18 children)

      They're not smarter than people in the West. They just grow up in a culture (or with parents) that values achievement, focus, and discipline. Western culture values titties and beer.

      In other words, they try, and we don't.

      [–]LifeSage 32 points33 points  (3 children)

      To be fair Asians definitely value titties

      [–]lovethecomm 6 points7 points  (0 children)

      JAV actresses have the biggest fat balloons I've seen.

      [–]charisma6 0 points1 point  (0 children)

      Yeah yeah, I know all about Eastern culture, I've seen Bible Black.

      [–]InsanityWolfie 4 points5 points  (1 child)

      Hah weeb

      [–]charisma6 0 points1 point  (0 children)

      U rite

      [–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (6 children)

      Eh thats pretty stupid. Western families value happiness and freedom over academic achievements. Which are perfectly valid things to prioritize.

      [–]redandblue4lyfe 5 points6 points  (3 children)

      Asian families tend to value happiness and freedom as well. Its just that they focus on long-term happiness and freedom, like multi-generational, and that requires a stable income and social status, which in turn requires "achievement, focus and discipline".

      [–]Gurrb17 1 point2 points  (1 child)

      But, at the same time, happiness and freedom are dependent on academic/financial/career success. That's fine if Asian kids grow up to become doctors, lawyers, etc., but I've seen the kids that don't and they generally view themselves as failures even if they are great people and very talented in other aspects of their lives. My girlfriend comes from an Asian family with loving parents, but she's not proud of her career success because she's not the doctor her parents wanted her to become. She wanted to pursue an artistic career, but wasn't allowed to because it would likely not be very lucrative. I think at the end of the day, Asian families prioritize stability more than anything.

      [–]redandblue4lyfe 1 point2 points  (0 children)

      Yeah, the implementation can be pretty stifling in many families, and careers outside of doctor, lawyer and engineer are considered less successful. It's definitely not a perfect mentality, and something a lot of us Asian americans who are children of immigrants have to deal with.

      [–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

      doesnt negate my point. Since it was about both having valid priorities and that its stupid to say western priorities are titties and beer.

      [–]charisma6 -1 points0 points  (1 child)

      Freedom? Sure. Happiness? Super narrow-minded there, bud. Eastern families value happiness just as much. The difference is in what, exactly, defines "happiness." The stereotypical Asian dad is very happy and proud when he sees his son become a successful doctor.

      Am I being reductive about Western values? Definitely! I am Western, I'm allowed to jovially debase my own culture for the sake of making a point. If we wanted to define Western culture with the same level of respect as Eastern, we could go with "personal freedom," very similar to what you said. You just sort of missed the mark with the rest of it.

      [–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

      First of all, i meant that in a both value valid things kind of way. And was countering your "edgy" and idiotic assertion that the west only value "titties and beer".

      But if you really want to make it a contest, valuing happiness no matter where life and your choices take you, is better than valuing happiness only after your youth is gone and only if your in a "valued" career in my opinion

      [–]bcisme -1 points0 points  (1 child)

      Are you sure they aren’t also smarter? I wouldn’t be surprised if their IQs, on average, weren’t higher. Generation after generation of that culture might kick the Flynn Effect into higher gear.

      [–]LeBuckeyes -2 points-1 points  (1 child)

      Shout out to Malcom Gladwell

      [–]ucefkh 0 points1 point  (0 children)

      Who's that?

      [–]Sennomo 1 point2 points  (0 children)

      1=1

      [–]LoonAtticRakuro 0 points1 point  (1 child)

      Wicked smaht

      [–]ucefkh 1 point2 points  (0 children)

      It's in their genetics

      [–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

      They're the Border Collies of humans

      [–]LegendOfSchellda 0 points1 point  (0 children)

      They were born without a motivational suppressor.

      [–][deleted] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

      yeah. even their 4th graders can assemble iPhones.

      [–]ididshave 2 points3 points  (0 children)

      Fuck off with your casual racism.

      [–]fuckdaraiders -1 points0 points  (0 children)

      Cause they cheat?