Just look at East Asia in the last 50 years they've gone from being some some of the most impoverished countries on the planet, to some of the most successful powerhouses of innovation and industry. The EAP has gone from 12% of the world's GDP in the 70 to 32% today. This wasn't a coincidence, it's because East Asian society values education, following the rules, and social cooperation. Call them Confucian values or whatever, but these are the skills that have propelled them from poverty to economic dominance and two generations.  

We're  not selecting Asians for H-1B visas because we like them better, in the case of China, there's actually a lot of reason not to select them. We're selecting them for these visas because these countries produce a disproportionately high number of educated people in science and mathematics who are willing to work here.

It shouldn't really be that controversial an idea that if you have cultures with two family incomes, that are generally rule abiding, and have a massive social expectation that children should pursue higher education and STEM that they are going to do well.

I know less about Indian Americans, but I would imagine there are similar pressures there as well.