Why are Asians good at math? Is it genetic? Malcolm Gladwell offers some explanations......read on
POSTED BY PAMELA YOON DRAKOS
In the new book by Malcolm Gladwell (staff writer for the New Yorker and formerly a business and science reporter at the Washington Post) titled OUTLIERS, The Story of Success, one of the chapters explores why Asians (Chinese, Koreans, Japanese, Singaporeans) score higher in math....he asks if it is genetic?
Click on the link below to access an excerpt from Chapter 3: Rice Paddies and Math Tests
http://www.gladwell.com/outliers/outliers_excerpt3.html
I strongly believe that Gladwell is on to something here. Growing up in multicultural Malaysia where elementary school kids have a choice of going to a Malay school, Chinese school or Tamil school; it is a well-known fact that Chinese-school kids score highest in math tests....if it is indeed genetic, then the Chinese kids attending elementary school in Malay would score high too. It does not seem like the ethnic Chinese in Malay schools score as high as their Chinese school counterparts. In the chinese schools, kids learn all academic subjects in Mandarin Chinese with 1 hour each of Malay and English per day, from Grades 1-6. In the malay schools, kids learn all academic subjects in Malay with 1 hour of English per day. In the Tamil schools, kids learn all academic subjects in Tamil, with 1 hour each of Malay and English per day, from Grades 1-6. For the Tamil and Mandarin kids, they need to add an extra year (called Remove, essentially Grade 7) which they would transition to Malay, as ALL high school academics are taught in Malay only.
Sounds like a lot of pressure on a child, but it builds a good foundation for language study. I am a product of this Malaysian system (Malaysia's official language is Malay, although it is a British colony. My parents went to school in English). I read & write fluent English and Malay, I speak Cantonese and Mandarin and have studied Arabic and Spanish.
We are living in an increasingly global world. Information is sent across the world in seconds. Business is conducted globally and economies-of-scale is more important than ever before. We need to compete in order to maintain our standards of living. We must prepare our children for this inevitability, for example, "how will our children promote Canadian businesses abroad"? Mandarin is the most spoken language of the world and Mandarin is the second most spoken language of business. The answer is obvious. Our children should be given the opportunity to learn Mandarin. Don't get me wrong. English is still paramount, but having a good grasp of Mandarin will be a great asset.
In the new book by Malcolm Gladwell (staff writer for the New Yorker and formerly a business and science reporter at the Washington Post) titled OUTLIERS, The Story of Success, one of the chapters explores why Asians (Chinese, Koreans, Japanese, Singaporeans) score higher in math....he asks if it is genetic?
Click on the link below to access an excerpt from Chapter 3: Rice Paddies and Math Tests
http://www.gladwell.com/outliers/outliers_excerpt3.html
I strongly believe that Gladwell is on to something here. Growing up in multicultural Malaysia where elementary school kids have a choice of going to a Malay school, Chinese school or Tamil school; it is a well-known fact that Chinese-school kids score highest in math tests....if it is indeed genetic, then the Chinese kids attending elementary school in Malay would score high too. It does not seem like the ethnic Chinese in Malay schools score as high as their Chinese school counterparts. In the chinese schools, kids learn all academic subjects in Mandarin Chinese with 1 hour each of Malay and English per day, from Grades 1-6. In the malay schools, kids learn all academic subjects in Malay with 1 hour of English per day. In the Tamil schools, kids learn all academic subjects in Tamil, with 1 hour each of Malay and English per day, from Grades 1-6. For the Tamil and Mandarin kids, they need to add an extra year (called Remove, essentially Grade 7) which they would transition to Malay, as ALL high school academics are taught in Malay only.
Sounds like a lot of pressure on a child, but it builds a good foundation for language study. I am a product of this Malaysian system (Malaysia's official language is Malay, although it is a British colony. My parents went to school in English). I read & write fluent English and Malay, I speak Cantonese and Mandarin and have studied Arabic and Spanish.
We are living in an increasingly global world. Information is sent across the world in seconds. Business is conducted globally and economies-of-scale is more important than ever before. We need to compete in order to maintain our standards of living. We must prepare our children for this inevitability, for example, "how will our children promote Canadian businesses abroad"? Mandarin is the most spoken language of the world and Mandarin is the second most spoken language of business. The answer is obvious. Our children should be given the opportunity to learn Mandarin. Don't get me wrong. English is still paramount, but having a good grasp of Mandarin will be a great asset.
Labels: mandarin, mandarin in elementary schools, North Vancouver mandarin
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