Smart asian paradox

4th year Finance class is a total bore. Like always lah, I would look right through the professor with a face displaying utter agreement as if I understood whatever that was taught. Second class and I'm already slacking. But yesterday, instead of looking into space, I made an observation.

ASIANS.

What is it that makes asians smart? Is it a mere stereotype or is it a legitimate claim?

I myself am asian. I don't find myself any smarter than any other people. When asked, I'm not embarrassed to tell my friend about my grades. Even with a grade of below C+, my Canadian friends still insist on believing that I am the smart one. WHY.

In that brief 1 hour 20 minute class, without any statistical proof, but through observation and experience, I came to a conclusion that most (not all) asians that are schooled locally are almost always just book-smart.

Back in school, we are taught to write notes properly than to listen carefully. That explains why in class, especially in a western setting, we see asians typically come to class with a set of glasses (as a result of long hours of reading and studying at night I reckon) and a pencil case. A case filled not just with pencils, but with pens of different colours, highlighters, markers, a stapler, bullets for the stapler, ruler, an eraser (sometimes they carry more than one just in case one eraser disappears), pencil lead, mechanical pencil, stickies, glue, and whatnot. I have to admit that my pencil case contains all of the above. Because we write a lot. Our notes are always clear and also got colour-colour sometimes. Our lines are straight sebab pakai ruler. Bila tak cantik, kita padam atau kita 'liquid'. Kita tak cross.

We asians take note-taking seriously. It's a serious business. Dulu siap kena hantar buku nota untuk cikgu cek. Pelik pula bika fikir balik. Fulamak, dapat markah untuk nota 10/10. But it doesn't necessarily mean that we understand the notes. Agree?

On the other hand, we see the mat salleh who come to class, carrying just a pen and a sheet of paper. Ada time they don't even carry a pen. They borrow orang sebelah, or they just sit and listen. They can listen so carefully that they don't need to jot down anything! - well that also depends on the class you attend lah. Anyway, these paperless people also ask a lot of questions. Many times, they ask stupid questions tau. So straightforward but still tak understand. Kabut je rasa kadang-kadang. But once they get their questions answered, they understand on the spot - and they store that information in their heads instantly. You see now the power of asking questions. The power of listening. That's a skill we asians don't usually have - because we have this kebiasaan in us that when we don't understand something, we read lah! If still tak understand, we hafal. So that we can just pass the final exam. Our high school education system kan memang exam-oriented, so many people just hafal but don't necessarily understand. Our mat salleh friends pula, the way they are brought up and schooled is totally different. They are encouraged to ask and to listen, sejak baby lagi.

Dalam LRT tahun lepas dekat Malaysia kan, ada anak melayu ni berumur dalam lingkungan 4-6 tahun duk tanya "Ibu, ibu, tu apa?" Ibunya lantas menjawab "Haish duk diam-diam!". Opposite seat, ada foreigner dengan anaknya yang berumur lebih kurang sama. "Daddy, where are we going? Why are we on the train? Daddy why is the tree moving fast? Daddy!"Ayahnya dengan tersenyum riang, tak putus-putus menjawab setiap soalan tu. Lepastu dia pulak tanya anak dia, "What do you think?" Ha nampak tak? Or is this just me generalizing based on one situation? Entah. Macam selalu je nampak situasi tu. Dekat sini pun anak diorang suka tanya banyak soalan. Kadang-kadang saya yang rasa macam nak suruh dia diam. Mungkin saya pun dah ada that mind-setting?

Back to the asian school setting. We were also taught to question less - indirectly lah. Kalau tanya banyak soalan, mesti orang rasa eh apa dia ni banyak lak tanya. I'm pretty sure, throughout primary and secondary school, there will be at least one time that your question was belittled by the teacher. Culture kita memang begitu ke? Suka memperkecilkan orang lain bila seorang tu tak tahu? Fikir sejenak.