why is it a preconception that Chinese people are astoundingly wonderful at maths?
i've been really plagued by this preconception since i was small but i only recently came to notice it because of what a friend of mine posted as his msn nick.
i remembered back when i was still young, my brother would nag me if i got a B for maths. And my dad would continually scowl at me. So did my mom. I wasn't actually born with a knack for maths, i gotta admit. In fact, at first i thought i was quite dumb in maths. i constantly got B's or C's for my maths. my average points would hover around 50-70s.
I guess I never noticed when it changed but i guessed it wasn't pure talent... some things tend to blossom when you hit puberty but i never hit puberty until i was 18 i think... so.. it was pure hard work. one thing with preconceptions that people have is that it would drive you. it drove me to do better in maths because i was thinking the same thing.
"i am a disgrace to the chinese community if i got 50-70s for my maths."
let me just say that i was determined to get an A, not for my family, not for myself but for my race. i mean, i was influenced by my family, peer pressure and my ego but it was mainly for the chinese community.
so, when my friend posted that MSN msg, it got me wondering again.. whoever mentioned that if you're a chinese, you must be good in maths should be dumb. i've seen a lot of other races who could score maths like one million is a small single digit sum. chinese dominated the market mainly because it was what people want to hear.
they assume that if we have a knack for business, we are better in maths?
what kind of fucked up assumption is this?
i bet if we throw all the races in one controlled environment and they were brought up with the same conditions without external influence... it won't matter which race you're from.
once a study like this is conducted and maybe 70% shows that the chinese scored better in maths compared to other races, then i'd believe this racial discrimination.
i've been really plagued by this preconception since i was small but i only recently came to notice it because of what a friend of mine posted as his msn nick.
i remembered back when i was still young, my brother would nag me if i got a B for maths. And my dad would continually scowl at me. So did my mom. I wasn't actually born with a knack for maths, i gotta admit. In fact, at first i thought i was quite dumb in maths. i constantly got B's or C's for my maths. my average points would hover around 50-70s.
I guess I never noticed when it changed but i guessed it wasn't pure talent... some things tend to blossom when you hit puberty but i never hit puberty until i was 18 i think... so.. it was pure hard work. one thing with preconceptions that people have is that it would drive you. it drove me to do better in maths because i was thinking the same thing.
"i am a disgrace to the chinese community if i got 50-70s for my maths."
let me just say that i was determined to get an A, not for my family, not for myself but for my race. i mean, i was influenced by my family, peer pressure and my ego but it was mainly for the chinese community.
so, when my friend posted that MSN msg, it got me wondering again.. whoever mentioned that if you're a chinese, you must be good in maths should be dumb. i've seen a lot of other races who could score maths like one million is a small single digit sum. chinese dominated the market mainly because it was what people want to hear.
they assume that if we have a knack for business, we are better in maths?
what kind of fucked up assumption is this?
i bet if we throw all the races in one controlled environment and they were brought up with the same conditions without external influence... it won't matter which race you're from.
once a study like this is conducted and maybe 70% shows that the chinese scored better in maths compared to other races, then i'd believe this racial discrimination.
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September 26, 2006
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Comments
hard work definitely does help & anyone can (usually) with enough time & effort succeed
it does help tho imho if you have genes, smart cells & an aptitude on ur side ;)