[Carlos O.]

Why do people say that Asian people are smarter than other races of people?

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Name : Carlos O., Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Hispanic/Latino (may be any race), Religion : Catholic, Age : 20, City : Porterville, State : CA Country : United States, Occupation : student, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Lower middle class, 

[xee]

Asian people are not smart as people thought. The way they look smart is the way they study hard. I am one of the Asian people too, but I not smart.

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Name : xee, City : Strathmore, State : CA Country : United States, 

[JC31133]

Asians being smarter than other races is not necessary true. As an Asian, I can tell you that the reason this perception exists is that a relatively high proportion of Asians have succeeded in academic areas and professional careers. The reason for that is not necessarily the intelligence but the attitude of Asians. Because of their cultural roots, Asian families emphazie the importance of education regardless of the economic status of the family. They are more willing to sacrifice for the education of their children than others, and their children also respond to their parents' effort. Asians have a strong will to succeed and are willing to work hard. If two persons have the same intelligence, but one of them puts in more hours, that person should gain more and should be more likely to succeed.

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Name : JC31133, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Asian, Age : 29, City : Boston, State : MA Country : United States, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

[Original Poster]

Many people assume that Asians are smarter because they are often involved in science and math, study a lot and get good grades. I do not think any of these qualities makes a person smart. Americans seem to be acculturated to believe that people who do well in math and school are 'brainy' and 'nerdy,' which is unlike any other misconception I have ever encountered, having been born in Taiwan, raised in Papua New Guinea, relocated to southern California and now migrated to Chicago. Incidentally, I'm Asian-American, and I got a 'C' in calculus and am in the bottom half of my class in law school!

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Name : Original Poster, Gender : M, Race : Asian-American, Age : 26, City : Chicago, State : IL Country : United States, Occupation : Law Clerk, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

[Craig]

In college, many of my friends talked about how the Asian foreign exchange students would always be scoring the highest in their classes, fitting the stereotype. After talking to several of the Asian students, though, I found out many were in the top of their high school class and were chosen to attend college in the United States. So we were seeing the brightest and generalizing.

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Name : Craig, Gender : M, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 37, City : Minneapolis, State : MN Country : United States, 

[powell]

Well first let me make some qualifications. i'm not going to talk about Asians from asia. i'm going to talk about asian americans. there's a difference but i'm not going to get into that. it is true that asian americans as a whole have been sucessful in academics. but there is a lot of danger in making just that statement without looking farther. i DISAGREE with the person who said that it is due to culture and that is why asian americans succeed in academics. saying that there is an 'asian' or 'asian american' culture that places such a high emphasis on education (compared to other minority groups in america) is a superficial answer. all the different groups in the US place a very high emphasis on education. differences in the 'Asian American' experience appear when you look at history. at this point in time about 50% of asian americans are 1st generation (meaning that they are immigrants. most have arrived sometime after 1965). if you look at immigration laws they have certain preferences for the people they let in. one of those preferences is that the potential immigrants have some type of skill (high education, business owners...). therefore a high proportion of those asian immigrants arrive with resources to insure that their successive generations will be able to better their economic and educational situations. also, because the children see, talk to, and know other asian americans who have been through process and are living in good conditions, then the children understand it is possible for them to do the same. they can see a reward for their educational focus. it's not that we are smarter or have a unique culture which pushes education. more accurately, it's that we begin with conditions conducive to high educational achievement and we recogize that the educational route is the most open to us (we certainly don't see entertainment, politics, or sports as accessible as education). i didn't even get into overlooked fact that many asian americans are showing high levels of dropping out of high school and that high levels of educational attainment are not universal among the 60+ different asian american groups. but i'll save that for another time.

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Name : powell, Gender : M, Race : Asian, Age : 24, City : Madison, State : WI Country : United States, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, 

[LVB]

As a university-level History instructor, I've heard that myth repeatedly for years, and I must say I've never seen any single ethnic group have a monopoly on raw brains. I see Asian students (mainly immigrants or their children) making more sacrifices, working harder and taking the work at hand more seriously than most, partly because (like other first-generation Americans) they have an intense desire to make it in the new country. However, I've also seen old-stock whites, blacks, etc., doing the same. I think it depends only partly on culture and more on personal drive.

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Name : LVB, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Unitarian, Age : 34, City : Reno, State : NV Country : United States, Occupation : instructor, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, 

[Mike20402]

Extensive studies have well documented that Asians in every geographic area of the world are measured to have larger brains and higher IQ's than all other races (including whites). Although much of the success of Asians can also be attibuted to Confucian principles of hard work and respect for education, the extent to which people, including the several Asians posted here, will deny the obvious genetic component is both puzzling and suspect.

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Name : Mike20402, Gender : M, Age : 47, City : Portland, State : ME Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, 

[Augustine23605]

Generally speaking, Asians work hard and don't see it as an unfortunate state of affairs. I do not think they are innately any 'smarter' than anyone else, but they can be incredibly focused and logical. This will beat 'brains' any time. When I was in graduate school, my study group was assigned projects the very first night of class. We consisted of two white Americans, an Iranian, and a Taiwanese man. The Taiwanese man took the initiative in getting us started on the project, at his apartment, immediately after class, no dawdling, no waiting till later in the week, and forced the rest of us to plunge into the work head first. As I recall the result was quite profitable. When you devote all of your resources, and much of your free time, towards a given goal, chances are you will achieve it. I think this is what you see with Asians. It bears imitating by all of us.

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Name : Augustine23605, Gender : M, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 39, City : Columbia, State : SC Country : United States, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

[anonymous23716]

Actually I disagree, what these people are seeing aren't always the top student in their classes back in Asia, I have asian friends that are the top 5% in their class, but they were in fact in the average range back in Asia. I think part of the reason why asians do so well is not only because they're generally more devoted to their work (especially since asian parents tend to be stricter, especially when it comes to education) but also because the curriculum is generally ahead in Asia. For example, elementary school asian kids would be learning algebra whereas american or canadian kids the same age would be learning addition and subtraction.

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Name : anonymous23716, Race : Asian, City : Vancouver, State : NA Country : Canada, 

[Bryan19301]

Although I think most studies would show no significant difference between groups based on race, how much difference would it make if it did exist? Even if the center of the bell curve for Asians lay a few points higher than for whites (or vice versa) it doesn't tell you anything about individuals within the group - the likelihood of an individual from either group being brighter than a particular level, for instance, cannot be more than a small percentage, and cannot account for perceived differences between groups. The differences, if they exist between groups, have to be a matter of culture, attitude and work/study habits.

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Name : Bryan19301, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Unitarian, Age : 47, City : Vancouver, State : WA Country : United States, Occupation : Technician, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

[Mugyen]

I clearly think that asians are smarter because asian parents are much stricter than other types of parents in other words...(not being racist, showing support for country) ASIANS RULE!

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Name : Mugyen, City : Raleigh, State : NC Country : United States, 

[Angela A.]

I took an honors colloquium in college all about intelligence, and what I can add to this discussion is that there is lots of evidence in peer-reviewed academic journals about racial differences in intelligence (we read some, but I don't still have them). Asians typically score highest in IQ tests, which is normally how we measure smarts....however the amount isn't terribly significant (I think it was like +10 points). Whether you think IQ tests measure smartness or not though might be a different argument!

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Name : Angela A., Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 21, City : Austin, State : TX Country : United States, Occupation : Research Scientist, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, 

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