Math and Asians

I did not want to write today, but I will to brush up my writing.  I have absolutely no idea what to talk about, but may be I should talk about Gladwell since I have been talking about him for a bit.


On an interview, Gladwell came up with a cultural explanation on why Asian students score higher on math tests compared to American students and the rest of the world.  Gladwell believes the answer lies with rice cultivation, which takes three times more effort to cultivate compared to wheat.  The tradition of necessary hard work required to raise rice paid big dividends down the line since improving math scores, contrary to popular belief, takes hard work rather than raw talent.


To simplify, Gladwell argues the culture of hard work enables Asian students to score higher on math tests compared to their Western counterparts. 


Do I agree with Gladwell?  Not entirely.  Do I disagree with him?  No.  I do not know the answer, so I cannot criticize nor approve of his theory.  But as far as my opinion goes, I believe Gladwell may have a point.  It may not be the only factor, but it may be a factor.


Obviously, some big questions must be answered for anyone to agree with Gladwell.  I will list a few (but not all)

1.  What about differences in educational systems?  What about economic factors?
2.  Do Asian cultures really value hard work more than Western cultures?
3.  Do all rice cultivating cultures score high in math tests?  And why only math?  Shouldn't Asians excel at nearly everything then?
4.  What matters more in math?  Practice or talent?


My thoughts on all four questions:


1.  Yes, differences in educational systems, along with economics, will play a huge factor (obviously).  To my understanding, economic levels did not play a significant role in this case because only data from developed nations were collected.  But if you look at the data in US alone, self-identified Asian students almost always score higher than any other racial groups in SAT tests.  I don't mean to sound like a racist, but if you only included East Asians (from developed nations), I believe the average math score for Asians would increase even more.


But why do Asians score so much higher on SATs?  Possibly because many of them attend SAT schools?  May be, but that would help Gladwell's argument - Asian kids score better because they work harder and practice more.  May be the so called "fobs," or the recent immigrants, skew the average score though most fobs I know did not score high on SAT math due to language barriers (you still need English to read the questions). 


2.  From my experience yes.  American coaches often tell their players to just have fun.  Do Korean tell their players to "have fun?"  no.  They tell their players to win.


Even popular comics, such as "Dragon Ball," stresses hard work and enduring hardships.  Does Superman and Spider man stress hard work?  Hardly.  They obviously go through struggles but gain their powers by birth or freak accident, while the main character from the Dragon Ball slowly improves his abilities through years and years of practice.  Personally, I have never seen superman practicing punching or weight lifting.  In Ranma 1/2, the main characters constantly practice martial arts. 


The above examples illustrate hard work engraved in Japanese culture, but does not provide convincing evidence.  But consider the fact developed Asian countries have some of the highest work hours per week (though Americans work a lot as well).  They have longer school hours as well.


3.  Do all rice cultivating cultures have high math scores?  I don't know.  But as many South Eastern economies develop, they should provide more interesting data. 


4.  What matters more in math?  Talent or hard work?  I shall talk about this at a later time, but I believe hard work matters more.



Now, no one claims that all Asians excel at math, so please don't comment "well, I'm Asian and I suck at math."  In fact, none of the people that read my blog (all Asian) seem to enjoy math.


I hope I didn't sound too much like a racist.


anyways, here's a picture:

such a good lecture

Example of "nouny" language:

The prediction of the existence of antiparticles was made by Dirac in 1927 and its confirmation was an important reason for the construction of the Beavatron at Berkeley in 1954.

Mr. Follett's correction:

Dirac predicted in 1927 that antiparticles exist.  Once this statement was confirmed, the Bevatron was built in 1954.

-Taken from Oops, whose grammar book is this anyway?  p. 212.


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If you haven't noticed already, I love Malcolm Gladwell.  Not because I agree with everything he says, but because I love his hair.  And it almost seems as if he's the biggest pothead in the world yet he sounds so intellectual.

Haha, but really, I love Gladwell due to his story telling ability.  He has the ability to spin seemingly pedestrian stories into something magical.  Who knew that we can learn so much from spaghetti sauce?




Skip to 1:28 to hear Malcolm Gladwell

to be writing without to be, and "-tions"

Have you ever tried writing without some form of the verb, "to be?"  It is quite difficult, and as you can see, it took me two sentences until I used the most popular verb in the English language.  If you did not know, the verb "to be" has eight different conjugations: am, is, are, was, were, be, being, and been.  From this point on, I shall attempt to write this post without using any forms of "to be" unless I explicitly intend to, or in the progressive form (as in 'he was running' - running is the real verb, not was). I will also attempt to rid of "-tions" and unnecessary nouns from my writing.  Here we go:

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I absolutely hate trenching through piles of nouns and weak verbs that link them.  I do not understand why people love to make a statement when they can state their view.  I believe that their preference for nouns undermine their ability to write because they should really prefer verbs.  From time to time, government employees may find that communication through nouns and passive voice will yield better results, but in most cases, writers should really communicate.  So stop it with the obliteration of verbs before you obliterate the English language and annoy your audience beyond disbelief.  The deterioration deteriorates. 

I never had problems writing without "to be" in college, but now I do, which shows my weakening writing skills.  A fledgling high school student may believe writing with multiple "-tions" and "-ments" reflects professionalism when in reality, it only reflects their lack of understanding of the English language.

So remember - do not try to search for expressions, but please express yourself.

Malcolm Gladwell on writing

"it's like umm... playing a piano.  In a sense that if you want to be a writer, you have to write and you have to write everyday... and if you don't write everyday, then your technique suffers.  And uh... and also you have to be willing to do twenty drafts.

Whenever I talk to young writers starting out and they are curious about the process, I always ask them, 'well, how many drafts do you normally do?'  They always radically underestimate it.  They do two drafts and they get discouraged they say, 'well, I've written something that's terrible.'

Well, everything I write after two drafts is terrible too.  I mean, everyone's stuff is terrible unless you're some kind of... Picasso.  It took me a long time to learn that but it's the most valuable lesson I've learned.

Even when you're experienced, it doesn't come easy, and it shouldn't come in easy.  If it comes in easy then you're not doing it right."

Writing practice

I feel the urgent need to brush up on my writing skills.  Upon graduating college many years ago, I had few chances to concoct together coherent and succinct essays, and my writing skills have gone downhill.  Yes, posting indelible pictures on blogspot is fun, but my urgent need lies in resurrecting my writing skills.  I suppose this is my desert for letting life pass me by.

I don't know why I use big words when I tell myself to write better.  I think it's elementary to believe that good writing primarily comes from larger vocabulary, especially nouns and adjectives.  Of course, nouns and adjectives are important to a degree, but I believe factors such as verb choice, utilization of phrases over clauses, coherent logic, and succinct expression play bigger role in developing a sense of elegant style. 

First things first, I must rid of all forms of "to be's" in my writing.  Well, everything except for the progressive form that is.  But since I feel like going out for a smoothie, I shall write more about this matter later...

Dear US Government

please hire me.

Depletion

I'm quickly exhausting all photographic possibilities in this room.  Okay, that's pretty much impossible, but I'm running out of ideas.

Enjoy:

Sports, Athletics

(for my blogging purposes, I will define sports as an athletic activity)

Some people believe that sports are pointless, and it's quite idiotic for grown up adults to chase after a ball per se.  I disagree.  Sports do have a point - it's a tribute to human anatomy.  Athletes are at the pinnacle of physical performance and they constantly push themselves to test the limitation of human beings.

Let's face it - anatomy is important and proper respect should be given.  We are not brains in a vat floating around space. 

With that said, I need to lose some weight.

as a photographer...

as a photographer, one of the worst things you can ever do is to photograph a poor person in black and white and call it an art.  It's okay to photograph them, but unless you have a good reason to, you're objectifying human beings for selfish, ostensible reasons to portray your (lack of) aesthetic abilities.  I'm not afraid to admit it - I have done it in the past, but I do not anymore.  For the same reasons, I try not to photograph handicapped person unless I have a very good reason to.

with that said, here is a picture I'd like to share:



and no, I do not feel guilty for taking this picture.  For me, taking a picture is an intuitive process.  There's usually something I want to say, but I never know exactly what it is at the moment.  I instinctively frame and press the shutter, blindly trusting my intuition to guide me.



here are couple other favorites of the day:


(I didn't know which person to focus... so I just chose one quickly, but I wonder if I made a mistake)





oh and this lady: her features were so noticeable!



*edit. nope, I chose the right person to focus.

sometimes...

sometimes, I wish I were a girl. why? so that I wouldn't have to surf on the web all day trying to figure out if I have to go to the STUPID ASS MILITARY if I were to move back to Korea.

I dug through my files to search for my certificate of citizenship (yes I'm a US citizen). It turns out that I actually received my citizenship before I was 18, BUT, according to the changed Korean law, that may or may not matter.  Actually, I'm gonna stop writing because I have no idea what I'm talking about.  After an entire day of searching and digging through resources, I still don't know jack.

and for those of you who are wondering, yes, there was a case of a person with American citizenship being sent off to the Korean army.  He was born in America.

Portfolio

I was putting together my portfolio the other day and I realized that out of my 10,000+ images, I can't even pick out 80 of them that I truly like.  By "truly like," I mean pictures that I wouldn't be embarrassed to show to some of my favorite photographers ever.

I'll post ones I have decided for sure.  You guys probably have seen them about a bazillion times, but I'll post them anyway:

























































What is that, about 30? 40?  geesh...

...the ultimate

 

FAIL

 










...honestly, the pillow can do better.











Here's a picture of their baby:

Hurry.  Make me feel better.  I'm sad.

I feel like I haven't accomplished a thing in my life.

Damn it, "feel like" is not a correct phrase because the statement is actually very true.  What did I accomplish that was so significant?  Nothing.  Absolutely nothing.



Last thing I want is some stupid self-rationalization that will make me feel better.  "Well, I did translate that work for the prime minister of Korea, and the Minister of Environment, and the Minister of Land Sea and Maritime Affairs."  Or something like, "I spent 6 months in Mongolia helping out underprivileged children." 

nonononono.  Those are the moments in my life that shone just a bit.  If I were to die today, I don't want my life accomplishment to be that I translated a page of foreword in a book, regardless of who wrote the damn thing.

I need to begin my long term project.  Now.  I have no time to be depressed of my failed life so far. - that will only prolong the "failed" portion of my life.  I need to put my plans into action.  And I need to stop planning, and start acting.

This is how I feel like from time to time:



... a caged animal haha. Love the positioning of the flower, which was intended.

As beautiful as SoCal may be, I think it's time to start a new chapter in my life.

Number of applications sent out: 5.  Number of replies: 0.  It's been less than a week, but I'm getting anxious.

I can't remember the last time I wanted something this bad.

God please help me get out of here.

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NOT having a good month.  Time goes by too quickly.