We have all heard and seen the stereotype about Asians being better academically than the rest of us. Typically, kids over in China, Taiwan, Japan, or Korea are 2-3 years ahead in math and science than similarly aged kids over here in the U.S. This has always puzzled me, since I have spent time with kids in Taiwan and Japan, and they did not strike me as particularly smarter than kids here in the U.S.
Ellen and I had a good long talk about these stereotypes, and she shed some serious light on why kids perform better in Asia, especially in math and science: beatings
Corporal punishment was once pretty common here in the U.S. When my folks where in school, the principal really paddled kids butts if they screwed up. When I was a young lad, the principal had a paddle, hanging on his wall, in plain sight of all the adolescent troublemakers eyes. I never knew the feel of Mr. Melican's paddle, and my classmates who went down to his office often, told me it didn't hurt. I suppose they got worse beatings at home than what the principal could dish out. Well, I'm here to tell ya that NOTHING here in the states compares to what students get in Taiwan.
When Ellen was in school, kids were literally beaten across the face, wrists, knuckles, legs, etc until the bled. Ellen told me in all seriousness how she would get struck across the face for failing a test.
"If we had a math test with 10 questions, I would get hit on my hand, leg, or butt for each question I missed, by the teacher."
Wow. Here in the states, if a kid messes up on a math test, he gets a tutor, or a special committee is formed to help him gain confidence in math, he's placed into an afterschool program, or he is coddled over to the shop class or "industrial arts" program. We have sissified legions of Americans whereas over in Asia, millions upon millions of kids learn what "compulsory" in compulsory education really means. How are we supposed to compete with that?
