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what is it with the stereotype associated with asians? (1 Viewer)

Edwin_C

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seriously, i don't understand this. everybody seems to have this stereotype that asian kids, in general, are smarter then the rest. i grew up with this stereotype attached to me and i must say that it's pretty annoying. i remember during any labs in high school, everybody would want to be partners with me because they thought i was smart. they seem to have this assumption that intelligence is part of our genes or something. they base their stereotype for asians in america on asians in asia. but even in asia, it's not in their genes! it's culture that promotes intelligence not nature.

and then in college, when i'd work on projects with people they'd always make the comment "c'mon man, you're korean!" even though it's meant as a joke, look at the stereotype. then when i'd get my exam scores back everybody would make some association with my grade and my ethnicity.

it's a good stereotype, but it's a bad one at the same time. with this kind of stereotype people put you on a pedestal with expectations.

any other asians here feel the same way?
 

MikeH1

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Wow I wish I had that problem, being of German origin and all... :)
 

DustinLC

Supporting Actor
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As an Asian kid in a small town on the East Coast, everyone was afraid of me because they thought I knew Kung Fu, but not just your ordinary Karate/Kung Fu deal, but those they see on late night TV.... walking on walls, kick down trees and houses, bleed like running water without dying, ect.

To be honest, it was nice to have the bullies afraid of me.

Then highschool came and the fun was over. The good part was that I had a chance to get into a lot of fights, which was fun when you're still young, so actually really did know Kung Fu by the time I graduated highschool :).

As far as Asian being smart, us first generation Asian get a pretty hard push into working hard and making it in the US. I was smart and got all A's but it's not because I'm naturally smart but because I watched my parents risk their lives to bring me over to this free country and watched them get yelled by their bosses and scrubbing floors in restaurant.

When you been through hell, it changes your perspective in life and you mature very quickly. A a free education was a big plus and not something offered for free in many Asian countries.

So during a period when many immigrants came over like myself, they studied like crazy and you did have many Asians doing very well in school, so it wasn't a stereotype. Today, you have lesser immigrants from Asian and more 2nd and 3rd generation Asian which are pretty much assimilated so it's a different ball game all together.
 

Mike Broadman

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I went to a high school that required entrance examinations and was considered a school for dedicated and bright students (Stuyvesant, for the New Yorkers out there).

More than half were Asian.

Stereotypes are often, to some degree, based on reality. The key is just to treat the individual as just that, an individual.
 

Jagan Seshadri

Supporting Actor
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Nov 5, 2001
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528
The stereotype is there for good reason. Most of the Asian families in North America came over here either with a good education or a solid work ethic. These families tend to value education more than most (although there are exceptions).

I've noticed a lot of Jewish people value education in a similar way. Fact is, anyone can do anything these days if they want to, but certain families stress this to their children more than others.

Being part Caucasian and part East Indian, I have a slightly different view on the stereotype. I can play both sides of the argument, and know first-hand the benefits and drawbacks of each culture. :)

-JNS
 

NickSo

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You're missing an S at the end of 'stereotype'... there are so many stereotypes with asians its not even funny.. actually it is, coz im not really ofended by MOST of them.

Asians...
- are Bad drivers
- have small... yaknow... (NOT TRUE!!! Ah who am I kidding ;) J/K)
- Are good at school (esp. Sciences and Maths) (somewhat true)
- all know kung-fu or some sort of martial art (not me, i'd get my ass kicked by anybody if i got in a fight.. 'cept my brother hehehe)

However, most stereotypes dont bother me much, unless they're used as insults (duh)... ESPECIALLY the bad drivers remark... My dad was driving through wendy's one time, these two guys walk across the exit of the drivethru lane, and starts yelling 'chinese! bad driver! Chinese! bad driver!', pissed me off soo much... :angry:

Anyways, as far as the 'asians are smart' thing, its not that they're BORN intelligent, i believe its that their work ethic in the culture is very different from other cultures. For me, I did very well last year in my High School finals (of the four provincials, 3 of them i got higher than 94%, and got A's in the four provincially examinable courses... okay sorry for bragging :D )
 

Joe Szott

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Are bad drivers...
Well, I'm going to have to disagree with you on that one Nick. Certainly not all asian drivers are bad, but it seems like 50%+ of the times I see a *really* bad driver, they are asian. Plus, when I went to contest a speeding ticket in the Silicon Valley, there were two places to sit in court: the vietnamese section and 'other'. I sat down in 'other' with some caucs, hispanic folk, and such. Some folks spoke russian, some spanish, and of course english. The vietamese section had their own dedicated translator, I can only assume to handle the sustained language workload. The ratio was about 1:1 vietnamese to 'other'. It seemed they had all been given tickets for 'impeding the flow' whatever that means. We figured impeding the flow must be cop code for 'you're not breaking any specific law on purpose, but you're really messing up the traffic so I gotta write you up for something.'

Anyway, Silicon Valley was pretty bad. Here in Denver the locals drive so badly that it would almost impossible to single out any race/class/gender/religion/species that drives worse than any other. I've been steadily becoming more clueless myself through osmosis.

Can someone answer this one for me: what's up with asian drivers who like to put like 5-10 stuffed animals in their car's back window? It's almost always an asian person and they just love stuffed animals. What's up with that?
 

John Watson

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"More clueless ... through osmosis' ROTFL!

As for stereotypes : Me, I hate it when SACD types with multichannel DTS make fun of me for only having two speakers. Cause I only got two ears! :D
 

NicholasL

Second Unit
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Apr 3, 2003
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298
Haha, it's what alot of asian girls like to do because they love the anime cartoons and such which are full of cute, cuddly little animals. true, alot of asians are bad drivers, but usually only the older folk, especially in the montery park or alhambra areas (for you LA people). being bad drivers as a whole though? Oh hell no man, grab your fastest ride and line up with any one of my friends (or me, take your pick) and you'll be blinded by tail lights, 6 seconds tops. And that's without NOS either.

As for the almost-all vietnamese or hispanic ratio in court, same here applies to downtown Los Angeles. I go to court for speeding or whatnot, and the breakdown is roughly as follows:

60% african american
20& hispanic
15% asian
4% caucasion
1% other

I don't think this is reflective of how minorities are bad drivers. Rather, I feel it reflects the corrupt and racist LAPD. Don't even get me started on how many times I've been harassed (and beaten twice) by the LAPD because my friends and I (we're asian) were simply hanging out in a large group outside bars at night.

everybody is correct about why the "smartness" stereotype persists, as well as the kung fu stereotype (thank bruce lee, jackie chan, or hollywood for that). thank god for films like "better luck tomorrow" and more to come, which will graudually break down and erode these racial stereotypes.

PS-John...true you have only 2 ears...but remember, it's hard to enjoy surround sound when there are only 2 speakers surrounding you.
 

Mike Lenthol

Second Unit
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Jul 28, 2000
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322
i don't understand why the word 'stereotype' had such a negative connotation attached to it in recent years :angry:

Main Entry: 2stereotype
Function: noun
Etymology: French stéréotype, from stéré- stere- + type
Date: 1817
...a standardized mental picture that is held in common...


These 'mental pictures' are all true more often that not, it's the 'cause and effect' that is confused.
 

DustinLC

Supporting Actor
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Certainly not all asian drivers are bad, but it seems like 50%+ of the times I see a *really* bad driver, they are asian.
You're from the Bay Area? Certainly there are a lot of Asians here. First off, the stereotype is Asian women, not Asian in general. Unlike the "smart Asian" stereotype, this really is a stereotype. Here's what need to be considered:

How long has these Vietamese you spoke of been driving? You mentioned that they needed a translator so most likely not long. Anyone new to driving will not be good drivers. If they are immigrants of a less obvious race, say French, you probably couldn't group them together like you did here.

So you could conclude that someone with less experience in driving are likely not as good of a driver as someone who started driving when they were sixteen like maybe you and me.

I mean, I could conclude that teenagers are bad driver (more so than adults I mean) and it would be a fair assessment don't you think.

Same thing applies to women. People said women are bad drivers but if a study was done, you'll probably find that most women don't drive as much as men or they started later or one definition of bad driving is "driving under 65mph" :D.


As for the stuff animal thingy. That just a preference. No biggy just like Iraqis like to have a mustache.
 

Jay H

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I grew up as a Chinese kid in a predominantly white school, basically for the most part being like only one of about 4 other Asians in my high school, one of them being my older sister but since I was born here, I took it in stride, I never had serious accent and grew up with all of the same kids I went to school with. People knew me as intelligent because of my work ethic and not my race. I was actually voted class clown in high school even though I was a relative quiet person. It is a little different if you were born in Asia and came here somewhere in childhood, but personally, I've never really known any stereotypes.

Jay
 

Joe Szott

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Dustin,

Yes, but the vietnamese population of San Jose is still not 1:1 for every 'other' person. Meaning 50% of the population isn't vietnamese, so why is 50% of the people in driver's court vietnamese? So it is a little odd that at any given day in court:

1 - They need a full-time dedicated vietnamese translator, and not say a spanish, chinese, or russian one.

2 - They actually partition the court room into two sections: vietnamese, and everyone else.

3 - 80% of the vietnamese folks there seemed to be there for 'impeeding the flow'

So after my visits to court I kind of deduced from these facts that:

1 - There are lots and lots of vietnamese drivers in court every day (in SJ).

2- Not a lot of them speak english.

3 - They have a cultural penchant for 'impeding the flow'

Draw from these facts whatever conclusions you feel are appropriate...
 

DustinLC

Supporting Actor
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543
Yes, but the vietnamese population of San Jose is still not 1:1 for every 'other' person. Meaning 50% of the population isn't vietnamese, so why is 50% of the people in driver's court vietnamese?
If you go and pick out non-fluent/non- English speaking immigrants from San Jose, you probably either get a Vietamese person or a Hispanic person, both groups would have lesser driving experiences than the general population of San Jose. Hispanic immigrants are less likely to drive than Vietamese immigrants (I won't go into why I think that's the case).

So that's my conclusion.

My wife said Asian Indians are bad driver but that's another thread ;).
 

Ted Lee

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i suck at math. no, i mean i *really* suck at math.

especially in the montery park or alhambra areas (for you LA people)
gawd yes. all my uncles and aunts live in alhambra/monterey park. it's like a test of willpower and patience driving there. even my uncles and aunts joke about how bad asian drivers are there. but the food is to die for! :)

i think there were about 5 asians in my graduating class in high-school. i guess i was pretty lucky. for the most part everyone thought i was smart (i got mostly A's), they all knew i couldn't fight worth a crap, and they didn't mention my penis (whew...) -- so i guess i got away with most of the stereotypes.

one kid in high school did call me a "stupid chinc" - i ended up pounding his head into a table...but that's another thread.

being labeled smart isn't such a bad thing. i guess it never bothered me much. if anything it made me feel kinda good about myself.
 

NicholasL

Second Unit
Joined
Apr 3, 2003
Messages
298
Still. The point remains. A judgement is being passed onto you purely based on the color of your skin. I don't believe african american's appreciate it when you say "hey, you're black. you must be a baller."
 

Ricardo C

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Down here in South America, the stereotype more commonly associated with Asian men is that they're "way above average" in the "size" department, not that they're small. Maybe you guys should vacation here, you'd make a killing with the local women :laugh:
 

Shayne Lebrun

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Still. The point remains. A judgement is being passed onto you purely based on the color of your skin.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with this. The ability to recognize patterns is a useful one. Inital impressions need to be based on *something.* And you need to start somewhere, when you encounter something, in classifying and reacting to it.

The problem, of course, is when you can't get past the inital impressions, assumptions, or stereotypes...

That having been said; why are Asians regarded as smart? Well, for one, Asian cultures tend to promote education more than Western ones. Take China, for example; historically, to get the good Gov't jobs, you took rigorous examinations. Hell, to write the language involves being an artist and a scholar. Two, many Asians in America are immigrants. Many immigrants to America buy into the 'go as far as you want' dream. Hence, they tackle America with a strong work ethic (converts are always more zealous than those born to it) and they drill this into their kids.

More stereotypes. Why are black teenagers stereotyped as being criminals? Because a lot of black teenagers wind up as felons. Not because they're genetically or racially pre-disposed to it, but there are a variety of reasons. Socio-economic, educational, hell, a fair chunk of 'self-fufilling prophecy.'
 

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