Comments on: Asians in Science, Asians Online

By: Apollo

Apollo — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 13:04:03 +0000

I think your hypothesis makes sense, Eric, with Razib’s idea being the result. I suspect that the notion of success in mathematical and technical fields propagates within families as well (i.e. East/South Asian parents encourage their children to go into fields where they can make money, and where others belonging to their ethnicity/culture have paved the path already).

By: Eric

Eric — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 05:30:02 +0000

Now Ben, no troll-baiting. They’re quite incendiary.

By: Eric

Eric — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 05:28:31 +0000

ThePoliticalCat: Rolled!

By: Ben

Ben — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 05:23:42 +0000

OMG ASIAN PEOPLE ARE STEALING OUR JOBS AND RUINING OUR CULTURE — THEY MUST BE SILENCED AND SHIPPED BACK TO THE COUNTRY THEY CAME FROM.

-a crank who believes in String Theory peptide dynamics

By: thepoliticalcat

thepoliticalcat — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 02:40:53 +0000

Hello, Eric,

I’m blogrolling you (finally catching up with celebrants of Blogroll Amnesty Day), and would you mind blogrolling me in turn?

Come by and check out La Casa de Los Gatos and CultureVultures, where I blog as ThePoliticalCat, if you like. Thanks.

Razib, English is taught in SouthAsian school systems, often as a primary, not secondary, language. AFAIK, no East Asian schools teach English except as a second language. With the exception, of course, of those schools that cater to English-speaking foreigners, like the children of the various diplomats and dogsbodies found in every city, these days.

By: razib

razib — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 02:04:28 +0000

south asians have better english skills than east asians, on average.

By: cmb

cmb — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 01:01:07 +0000

One thing I’d throw out there: a large proportion (basically all or nearly all from subsaharan countries) of educated Africans are fluent in either English or French. There are so many different tribal languages out there that most instruction tends to be in the language of the historical colonizer, simply because it can be used by students across an entire country. The exception to this is perhaps Swahili. Even then, because it’s a vehicular language rather than the vernacular (which role will again fall to local tribal languages), and because it’s not as useful in interactions with tourists, NGO’s and most intellectuals, educated individuals still tend to be fluent in English.

Because of this, where Africans are participating in academia, there doesn’t seem to be the same science bias. Of course, sample size on this is, as you mention, tiny.