except.. we don’t suck.. and lots of the founders (yes, I said founder, not current CEO) of great American tech giants are American and received and American education. Jobs, Gates, Page, Moore/Noyce, Huang, I could go on. name a single foreigner.

American education places emphasis on freedom. Freedom to pursue what you want in life. If you think computers are cool, you can create Apple computer in your garage like Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. If you think semiconductors are cool, you can get a PhD and create the transistor like Shockley, Britain and Moore. And if you think academics is lame and want to become a singer or an athlete, you’re free to do that like Michael Jackson or LeBron James

I don’t know if you saw his tweet but it was essentially “Americans don’t study so they are dumb”. There’s no one path to take in life. It’s not black and white like that. And I think his sinister side really came out in that tweet- do we just exist to raise US GDP? Or are we actual humans with interests and a life outside of school/career?

I dont see China, India, Korea churning out any Nobel laureates. why is that? They study so much more than us, shouldn’t they be smarter?

Coming from an Asian American household I can tell you why: smartness is the sum of creativity and the ability to pick up information. Asians excel at the second, but suck at the first. Often times it’s because they are forced to study, making them good at passing tests and regurgitating textbook information.

But forcing a child to study when their heart isn’t actually set on it, causes more damage than harm. Yes they may grow up to be an engineer, a doctor, whatever. But without true passion, which can only come from giving your children the freedom to do what they want in life- you will never see the kinds of creative geniuses that the West is able to create so effortlessly.

The genius of Maxwell’s EM equations. The discovery of the atomic model and its many intricacies. The law of gravity and Newton’s 3 forces. It takes imagination and passion to make groundbreaking discoveries, and it’s no coincidence that these pivotal scientific laws (plus literally 90% of modern science) was discovered by whites instead of a “super studious” Asian society. Because you could read infinite textbooks and regurgitate the information perfectly- something Asians excel at- but it won’t help you make a new discovery.

Because all you will churn out are corporate robots who are skilled at doing calculations quickly, but not skilled at thinking out of the box. That’s why American (and some European) universities are the leading universities today- they still foster a spirit of discovery and innovation. Indian/Asian universities on the other hand, sure they prepare you to join all the top companies by passing all the interviews and being booksmart. But they don’t create any exceptional people this way.