Hello CB, Elamt was talking about Chinese kids specifically, and not about Asians in general.
In your post, it is perhaps faulty to group Chinese Americans and other Asian Americans together, just as it would be not entirely scientific to group Germans and Greeks together. Each group has peculiarities and exhibit nuances, some are more fun and others are more mathematically productive, and aggregating them together makes the truth less distinguishable from the facts, even though I have to say thank goodness for all groups, else where would we get those delicious olives.
(a) I believe, and stand to be corrected, that Chinese Americans, historically speaking, until very recently, on generational terms, were massively discriminated against, and the second generations achievement must of course be viewed in that context;
(b) I also suppose that given Chinese Americans make up only a quarter of Asian Americans, and Asian Americans account for a mere 4% of American society, that then the 1%+/- of Chinese Americans has done enough, or plenty for themselves and the society they are guest in, against the odds, and certainly much better than a whole lot of other groups, at least in terms of education, professional expertise, income, assets, family cohesion, and independence from institutions. You know, the stuff they care about, traditional values and ancient pluses, given what they had to go through;
Bottom line, for a 1% drop in the bucket, not too shabby. To have a 1% group dominate the adult world in the US perhaps is not realistic, achievable, or desirable.
(c) Heck, there are even some useless Chinese American political clones and societal hacks near where you are, as opposed to the more productive sort in and around Silicon Valley, Route 128, San Francisco, Hawaii, and possibly NYC, where they are in aggregations constituting somewhat of a critical mass, allowing for better chain reaction;
(d) Looking more widely at Chinese immigrants to strange lands, say South Africa, Latin America, Southeast Asia, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Panama, and oh, Trinidad and Tobago, etc, their method of operation is not really any different, and in the very extreme case of Indonesia, a 3% introduction into the local formulation against racial, political, legal and religion barriers, surviving mass murders, over time, still allowed a 97% aggregation of resources, influence, and all the good things that matter to them;
(e) The Chinese immigrants to other lands, on average, do seem to have either mucho difficulty and/or mucho reluctance to assimilate into their newly traveled-to culture, and behave more as a guest. I am not sure why this is, and can only guess, and guess poorly. Perhaps this is a cultural thing, as in when entering as a guest, behave as a guest; or maybe they just want to be left alone to do their thing. Who knows. Doesn’t matter, because as is apparent, the formulation, while having quirks, works for the formulators.
(f) On education, it is possibly a mistake to make a direct link between education, as in investing in human capital, and what one chooses to do for a living, as in what allows one to collect income, gather capital, and maintain status as a sovereign individual leading a family unit along the path of least resistance.
If everyone makes the direct link between education and making a living, we then degenerate into a society of training and trade schools, as opposed to centers of higher learning, meaning education.
I would venture to guess that a Julliard graduate holding Harvard paper make a better mom, on average, than, say a graduate of Caltech or Columbia would, although it is not immediately clear that those two august institutions specialize in training moms-to-be.
As to <<The few very intelligent Asians I encouter seem very isolated and lonely in the real world>>
... should meet some of the frequent travellers between USA and Asia.
<<They get started in careers that appreciate high grades and test scores and then don't seem to go anywhere>>
... same again, meet the folks on the airplanes.
As to <<I wonder if their parents are doing them favors by emphasizing academic superiority over emotional intelligence and group dynamics?>>
Law: Nerds never do well, unless lucky.
Race and culture does not change this law, and thank goodness.
Chugs, J
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