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These education statistics can paint a misleading picture.
So, many Asians countries can produce a population that regurgitate information, and work out numbers like a calculator. Obviously these abilities will lead to high scores on linear test papers, and will help them excel in certain professions. But where Asian education systems fail is in producing people who can think outside of the box. This is why, despite supposedly having world-beating education systems, modern Asian countries don't seem to invent anything. Their inventors, scientists and entrepreneurs all seem to be less dynamic and generally get their inspiration from western counterparts. A perfect example is the scenario where Apple releases a revolutionary product, and within a year Asian companies such as Samsung have stolen it. This is why China, with all of its world beating schools, needs to hack America and other western nations in order to steal information related to business practices, technology, and military secrets.
So, many Asians countries can produce a population that regurgitate information, and work out numbers like a calculator. Obviously these abilities will lead to high scores on linear test papers, and will help them excel in certain professions. But where Asian education systems fail is in producing people who can think outside of the box. This is why, despite supposedly having world-beating education systems, modern Asian countries don't seem to invent anything. Their inventors, scientists and entrepreneurs all seem to be less dynamic and generally get their inspiration from western counterparts. A perfect example is the scenario where Apple releases a revolutionary product, and within a year Asian companies such as Samsung have stolen it. This is why China, with all of its world beating schools, needs to hack America and other western nations in order to steal information related to business practices, technology, and military secrets.
^^^ THIS!
First of all, yes, I know that Singapore is not China, but it's a very similar culture. On NPR's Marketplace I once heard a commentator address this in a very succinct fashion, what he said was this:
If you give a Chinese student a problem, the student will be very proficient of looking up examples of how the problem has been solved in the past, what the possible pros and cons of each potential solution would be, etc... What the student would not be able to do is take those past solutions, evaluate and critique them, and synthesize a solution of his or her own. Those are the two highest order thinking skills of Blooms Taxonomy, and students who master those are what the American education system is best at producing.
Not to mention the fact that in America, education is compulsory-we educate (and count) everyone, regardless of the ability. The Asian countries cherry pick their students. China can churn out high performing numbers from the industrialized cities all day while there are literally hundreds of millions of illiterates living in mud huts in the western provinces.
These education statistics can paint a misleading picture.
So, many Asians countries can produce a population that regurgitate information, and work out numbers like a calculator. Obviously these abilities will lead to high scores on linear test papers, and will help them excel in certain professions. But where Asian education systems fail is in producing people who can think outside of the box. This is why, despite supposedly having world-beating education systems, modern Asian countries don't seem to invent anything. Their inventors, scientists and entrepreneurs all seem to be less dynamic and generally get their inspiration from western counterparts. A perfect example is the scenario where Apple releases a revolutionary product, and within a year Asian companies such as Samsung have stolen it. This is why China, with all of its world beating schools, needs to hack America and other western nations in order to steal information related to business practices, technology, and military secrets.
Aaaaaaand there's the other familiar racist chestnut that people love to bring out when talking about education and race.
Asian people beat white people at something, and right away, it's, "Well, Asian people didn't actually do better, because we're arbitrarily going with stereotypes that say that we're still better. Hurr hurr."
See that, people? Both of the usual backwards conservative racist views.
View #1: "America is being dragged down by those black and hispanic people, because they aren't as smart as us white people."
View #2: "Well, white people are the smartest because we get better test scores than black people, but wait, Asian people get better test scores than we do? Well, that's because they're just robots."
See, according to the racist conservative narrative, white people are smarter than black people because white people get better test scores, and white people are smarter than Asian people because Asian people get better test scores.
Well, on the other hand, Singapore has a very examination-driven education system - very competitive. And they have very early tracking between a university style track and the more vocational track.
I don't know if that would fly in the States.
Also, a critique of the Singapore education system and perhaps the society, is that it doesn't encourage people to take risks. High emphasis on paper qualifications. They make good and excellent managers, but you don't see many local entrepeneurs (except for mom and pop shops). There's a joke in acronym-mad Singapore that there are MNCs (multinational corporations), GLCs (government linked corporations, like SingTel and Singapore Airlines) and PLCs (poor local companies).
Switzerland has a very similar approach. Another very prosperous country with a strong economy.
And, if we are honest, a lot of kids should be on a vocational rather than an academic track.
Aaaaaaand there's the other familiar racist chestnut that people love to bring out when talking about education and race.
Asian people beat white people at something, and right away, it's, "Well, Asian people didn't actually do better, because we're arbitrarily going with stereotypes that say that we're still better. Hurr hurr."
See that, people? Both of the usual backwards conservative racist views.
View #1: "America is being dragged down by those black and hispanic people, because they aren't as smart as us white people."
View #2: "Well, white people are the smartest because we get better test scores than black people, but wait, Asian people get better test scores than we do? Well, that's because they're just robots."
See, according to the racist conservative narrative, white people are smarter than black people because white people get better test scores, and white people are smarter than Asian people because Asian people get better test scores.
I didn't bring race into it. If you dare imply that I'm a racist again, without good reason, I will report you.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jtab4994
Make ourselves into a tiny, wealthy, ethnically homogenous city state with the death penalty for dealing drugs. That'll do it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jaggy001
Singapore is far from ethnically homogenous. It has a big Chinese, Indian, Malay and European population in addition to native Singaporeans.
We have spent a lot of time talking about being ethnically diverse, but how about the death penalty for dealing drugs? The US has the financial burden of supporting over one and a half million people in prison for drugs. That money would be better spent that money on education.
I didn't bring race into it. If you dare imply that I'm a racist again, without good reason, I will report you.
You wrote an entire post about how Asians are uncreative robots who can't invent anything, and you say you "didn't bring race into it."
"Asian countries can produce a population that regurgitate information...."
"Asian education systems fail in producing people who think outside of the box...."
"Modern Asian countries don't seem to invent anything...."
"Their inventors, scientists and entrepreneurs all seem to be less dynamic and get their inspiration from western counterparts...."
"China needs to hack America...."
Seriously? You really think you can spend a whole post trashing Asia, mentioning race in almost every sentence, and then say, "I didn't bring race into it."
The stuff about black people was not directed at you; that was something addressed earlier in the thread -- this whole "other places succeed more because America has racial and ethnic diversity" is a completely different racist narrative, and I'm not accusing you of perpetuating that one.
Edit: I should note that this stuff has serious real-world implications.
Asian students face discrimination in admissions at many top universities -- they are underrepresented relative to their grades and test scores. This happens because people manufacture reasons for excluding them. After school, in the workforce, studies of the so-called "bamboo ceiling" (I hate that name) have shown that Asian people are passed over for promotions for many of the same reasons. Dominant white culture has manufactured a narrative that says that Asian people aren't as good even when they are as good, and plenty of innocent people are cheated because of this.
That's why this stuff matters. That's why casually tossing around racial stereotypes is harmful.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jtab4994
Make ourselves into a tiny, wealthy, ethnically homogenous city state with the death penalty for dealing drugs. That'll do it.
We have spent a lot of time talking about being ethnically diverse, but how about the death penalty for dealing drugs? The US has the financial burden of supporting over one and a half million people in prison for drugs. That money would be better spent that money on education.
Much of South East Asia has the death penalty for dealing drugs but have nothing like Singapore's economic or educational success.
While the results obviously owe a lot to resources, there are also cultural aspects such as respect for teachers and education as a valued asset. Also, economic success tends to give students and parents greater aspiration which feeds into the educational system.
You wrote an entire post about how Asians are uncreative robots who can't invent anything, and you say you "didn't bring race into it."
"Asian countries can produce a population that regurgitate information...."
"Asian education systems fail in producing people who think outside of the box...."
"Modern Asian countries don't seem to invent anything...."
"Their inventors, scientists and entrepreneurs all seem to be less dynamic and get their inspiration from western counterparts...."
"China needs to hack America...."
Seriously? You really think you can spend a whole post trashing Asia, mentioning race in almost every sentence, and then say, "I didn't bring race into it."
The stuff about black people was not directed at you; that was something addressed earlier in the thread -- this whole "other places succeed more because America has racial and ethnic diversity" is a completely different racist narrative, and I'm not accusing you of perpetuating that one.
"Asian" isn't a race, and you've taken my entire post out of context. You didn't heed my warning, you've been reported, I hope others join me in doing so.
Then don't specifically claim that a lack of racial diversity is a reason for better performance.
It's really not that hard to see through that kind of claim.
Also, don't pretend that race isn't an issue when it is very specifically mentioned as an issue in the original post.
What is your deal, anyway? My original post specifically listed a bunch of things that render any comparison between Singapore and the U.S. moot. We will never be a small, wealthy, homogenous city-state.
You chose to read the single word "homogenous" as some sort of racial trigger.
After reading all your ranting replies, I'm not surprised it went over your head.
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