^ Agreed. Knowing math and science is one thing, but creativity is needed to apply knowledge to solve new problems.
This thread just shows the importance of a well rounded education.
That's American's, not all FarangsOriginally Posted by MisterStretch
Where were the Asians from?
"We're all very different people. We're not Watusi, we're not Spartans, we're Americans. With a capital "A", huh? And you know what that means? Do you? That means that our forefathers were kicked out of every decent country in the world. We are the wretched refuse. We're the underdog. We're mutts."
PFC J. Winger
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Bloody right. Every time I go to Tops, I hand the cashier my SPOT card. Every time there are Thais in front of me in the lineup, they reel off their card numbers. They can even do it with ATM cards, credit cards, anything that has a number.
^ yeah, but they need a calculator to add up 4 bottles of singha, a pack of ciggies, and a lighter.
Someone start a pole.
who has better critical thinking skills, farangs or asians. Make it anonymous
"Having sex is like playing bridge. If you don't have a good partner, you'd better have a good hand."
- Woody Allen
You only need either 2 items or a discount of 10% o require a calculator. Calculators have nice buttons and lights that look suay and it's sanook to press those buttons.
Yeah, I love it when my bill is 90, I give her 100 and then out comes the calculator.
Um...would that be a critical thinking skill?
Yeah,
we've been fed bull for so long about how we are all equal but the differences are astounding. For example, physically Africans hold pole position for rhythm but you never see them shine in the olympics swimming events. Even on Fear Factor whenever there is a water event requiring swimming and someone of negro extraction in the line up they always bomb. This is not racist but just a major generalisation based on observation. Each group has its strengths and weaknesses and my own countrymen's seem to be 'a pint and fight - a good British Saturday night!'
Who claimed that Asians have critical thinking skills? The discussion was that because their culture doesn't require them that they weren't developed. Noone actually said that they use critical thinking just that it's not something that they cannot do. They can learn to just like westerners have.
How much water is there in Africa?
Seriously for those who think Asians are less intelligent 'cause they don't use critical thinking. By the same reasoning(or lack of it in this case), because there are more English speakers in China than Chinese speakers in America, that must mean that Americans are less intelligent than Chinese.
It's a need vs ability argument, The Chinese place a huge importance on learning English so they do, Americans do not feel the need to learn Chinese so they don't. The folks that claim western superiority on this thread would, by the same logic, have to assume that Americans are too stupid to learn Chinese. Obviously that's not the case.
Last edited by Smiley; 23rd January 2008 at 12:52.
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We must take our actions to their logical conclusion...if the conclusion of any action means the end of the species...then that action must be viewed as antithetical to nature...and anyone performing that action must be considered insane...
Indeed. Just as well the Thai education system makes good provision for education in the arts, takes it seriously and encorages creativity even though it may create an element of conflict.
....oh wait, sorry, that's not the case at all! Damn!
(Er, know what you mean, but best not use the Americans for your example.
)
5 years ago, when I first got here I heard that "Thai's" had a lower I.Q than westerners. At that time I was managing a manufacturing company and based on my workers I didn't believe it, so I googled it and got the information. If I remember it correctly there was a 1 point difference in our favor but, that was statistically insignificant. I had 120 Thai workers and frankly I was impressed, by their creativity, resourcefulness, and problem solving abilities. So I get a little testy when I hear this over and over again. I worked there for a year. So, I do have some first hand experience. When the boss was gone I was the only westerner there (sometimes for months). If you google this be careful, there are a lot of studies and many have been discredited, but that aside, I'll go with what I know from experience.
Amazon.com: Can Asians Think? Understanding the Divide Between East and West: Books: Kishore Mahbubani
I'd recommend this book to anyone interested in the differences between Western and Eastern thinking. We think differently and one is more effective and efficient than the other over a broad range of intelligence skills. They are learning and catching up which is the reason we are here and employed as teachers.
We could all sit outside on banana lounges discussing the best way to rebuild a 4WD transmission and agree, through shared stories of conquests supporting our assertions, that there is no basis to the proposition that those least assured of their persuasions are the first to condemn others for theirs.
The reverse of this can be clearly compared. In Beijing at the top University in China (Qing Hua) A senior Chinese English teacher had the idea of having 7 of the then native English speaking teachers take the Chinese university entrance exam(the English part). They all failed. She then went on to report this to Chinese news and was quoted as saying that Foriegners should not be teaching in Chinese schools because they can't even pass the English exam.
To those of us who have seen the exam, well, any Chinese English exam, we know that the exams are compiled by Chinese English teachers and are riddled with mistakes and many questions that are asked in ways that can't be answered with the available answers. In other words, they must be answered incorrectly in order to be counted as correct.
Upon realizing this I strive to tell my students that in China there are 2 forms of English. One for passing tests, and then proper English like what you'd use when actually speaking to a native speaker.
The outcome of this, is that many Chinese were left with the opinion that the foreigners teaching in China were somehow less able than the Chinese English teachers. So we can see that without all the facts, just about anyone can be mislead into forming an opinion.
Given that culture is the cloth in which we wrap our humanity; how can one understand a people without understanding their culture?
Having read quite a bit about creativity measurement and the results of this in Asia generally, I can say that they compare very unfavourably with Westerners in all areas. This is generally accepted and attributed to differences in culture, society and values.
The IQ difference from what I understood was that the Chinese and Japanese compared favourably with Westerners but in SE Asian countries (Malaysia and Singapore excepted) the results were very poor.
The big story I remember was the Thai children scoring very poorly in IQ tests.
http://www.ajarnforum.net/vb/staffro...tml#post273339
There has been lots of commentary about cultural bias and testing methods in both these areas of measurement, but anecdotal evidence would suggest that Thai school children do have low IQ and creative ability, which would obviously concur with the values of the culture and what is expected of children in schools here.
Yup. Tis the fault of nurture, not nature. And to make such an observation is not, to my mind, racist. Or at least no more so that saying that English people like to talk about the weather and drink tea!
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