At five years old, I had already memorized the multiplication table, and understood the concept of long division. My mom would always tell me, “You have to do perfect in school.” By attempting to reach that standard, I managed to fit into the universal stereotype of “smart Asians”. I grew up having to do extra academic work because my mother wanted me to be ahead of my peers. My days were filled with workbooks for grade levels above my actual one, reading and calculating nonstop. Because of my vast knowledge at an early age, I was constantly told that I was smart. My peers would call me smart as well. Everyone knew my reputation for being at the top of the class at school; that one girl who would get always perfect scores on tests and assignments. …show more content…
I personally thought they should have done it privately, to save those who did not do good from any embarrassment. They began to call our names in alphabetical order, and the students got up to be presented with their corrected tests and possibly a pencil. We were all talking about each other’s scores as people started walking back to their seats. I waited and waited...but they did not call my name. I was confused; it must have been a mistake. I got my test back after a few moments, and I just sat there. I missed one problem. Worse, I put three times two was five when I knew it was six. At first I dismissed it; people make mistakes. Yet, the gut wrenching feeling was still there as I kept thinking about it. It was the first time in my life that I had not gotten a perfect score on something. I turned my paper over, trying to ignore the fact that I did not pass and had to redo that level again. I tried hiding the fact that I was upset, but obviously it did not work because my friend asked about me. “What score did you get?” I handed him my paper silently and waited for his reaction. “Awwww, she didn’t get 100%,” he told his friend. “It looks like she not smart
These capabilities do not associate with our race, but they do associate with family upbringing possibly relating to the culture that family originated from. Controversial writer Amy Chua opens her rhetorical analysis essay. “Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior” by claiming; “A lot of people wonder how Chinese parents raise such stereotypically successful kids. They wonder what these parents do to produce so many math whizzes and music prodigies…” (Chua). The Chinese among a few other cultures have been known for demanding academic excellence from their children. These children typically are considered the top of their classes’ at all academic levels, even when they enter adulthood in a higher education setting. They frequently bring their academic capability to the law, medical, science, technology, and engineering fields. In addition some of those skills with others on their academic journey in the form of tutoring and study groups. This isn’t to say anyone one else from any other lineage can’t achieve the same feat or perform at the same level. But the Chinese place a cultural focus point and academics to place an emphasis on the future for their children. That cultural focus point truly benefits the rest of society in the United States. The same fashion exemplified here with people of Chinese decent, all cultures present in our melting
After reading the article, “The Myth of ‘I’m Bad at Math’” I began to think about my past learning experiences and realized that my opinions on this subject have changed drastically over the years. For the most part, I felt like this article made a lot of good points, especially considering my own experience with believing in incremental vs. fixed intelligence. Basically from the beginning of my schooling I was taught to think that some kids were just smarter than others, and that that couldn’t necessarily be changed. I think this had a lot to do with the fact that I was considered a “smart” kid: I caught onto most learning concepts easily, so people told me that I was “smarter” than other kids. If I had been a child who learned a different way, I think that I would have been taught to believe in the incremental model of intelligence very early on as to not discourage me from growing as a learner (which was exactly what teaching kids that
“The stereotype that “Asians are smart” becomes “Asians are smart only because they are Asian” (Yook). The essay “Positive Stereotypes Are Hurtful Too” written by Hailey Yook shows how the author is affected by this act towards her race. Like mentioned before, some people believe racism does not exist. But this essay proves that it does because even what people may consider “compliments”, can be insults due to labeling and not recognizing the actual work. That is how Yook feels, she feels like just because she is Asian people already know what to expect, but do not look at all she has to
In the early years of my life, adapting to the foreign customs of America was my top priority. Although born in America, I constantly moved back and forth from Korea to the US, experiencing nerve-racking, yet thrilling emotions caused by the unfamiliarity of new traditions. Along with these strange traditions, came struggles with accepting my ethnicity. Because of the obvious physical differences due to my race, the first question asked by the students in elementary school was, “Are you from China?” These inquiries were constantly asked by several of American students until middle school which transformed to “You must be good at math” referencing the stereotypical intellect that Asian are perceived to have. Through continuous insult on my Asian heritage, I began to believe and later hate the person I was due to criticism made by teenagers which I started to see true despite all the lies that was actively told. This racial discrimination was a reoccurring pattern that
If an Asian American is successful and smart, then it must be true about the whole Asian race. It creates false assumptions that every Asian is the same, which can discriminate and stereotype all Asian Americans who don’t belong in the category. This creates an unfair and unjust disadvantage and treatment towards Asian Americans who are targeted as one, in other words, it’s a problem that their needs and aids are ignored by society. According to the Pew Research Center data, recent trends show that Asian Americans are the “the highest-income, best-educated and fastest-growing racial group in the United States” ("The Rise of.”), who overtook Hispanics in the 2010 Census.... ...
High school is meant to be the time of your life, but for most seniors just like me it can be some of the most emotional and crazy time. The things in my past make me who I am today, and the things I do now are the first footsteps into the future. I’ve learned a lot about myself in these past four years, and I still have so much learning to do. This is my high school story; the good, bad, and the ugly.
Throughout my four years in high school I have been fortunate enough to fulfill many of my aspirations and my thirst for knowledge. One goal that I would like to achieve is to become an international attorney. I have aligned my involvement in specific academic and extra-curricular activities to aid me preparing for the long road between my present situation and the day I pass the bar exam. Through my high school activities I have learned three virtues that I have deemed necessary to achieve my goal, passion, self-discipline, and perseverance.
I felt as though I was watching a train barrelling towards me, an inevitable bullet that had come tumbling out of the opposing pitcher’s arm. But instead I stood immobilized, watching my team's only chance of winning whiz by me. Strike three. I heard my team from behind me shouting “SWING!” with my mind screaming the same. But my bat remained unmoving, the pop of the catcher's glove like the nail into the coffin that was our defeat. All I had to do to keep our hopes of winning hope alive was swing, and yet I couldn't. I stayed on the field afterwards, tossing the ball up in the air and swinging away, landing it on the thick maple barrel of the bat.
“Hidden Intellectualism” written by Gerald Graff, is a compelling essay that presents the contradicting sides of “book smarts” and “street smarts” and how these terms tied in to Graff’s life growing up. Graff felt like the school was at fault that the children with more “street smarts” were marked with the reputation of being inadequate in the classroom. Instead of promoting the knowledge of dating, cars, or social cues, the educational system deemed them unnecessary. Gerald Graff thought that “street smarts” could help people with academics. In his essay, Graff confessed that despite his success as an “intellect” now, he was the exact opposite until college. Where he grew up in Chicago, Illinois, intelligence was looked down upon around peers
According to Ben Michaelis, a person 's intelligence is not measured by how well they perform academically, but by how well they adapt to their situations and environment (Michaelis). The idea that students who attain outstanding grades in school are more intellectual than students who receive poor grades is unfair to all students. In 1983, Dr. Howard Gardner identified different types of intelligence, including interpersonal intelligence, intrapersonal intelligence, and musical intelligence (Fiero), so to assume that a person is unintelligent based on poor academic performance is unreasonable. In the article, “What Does it Mean To Be Smart?”, the author gives an example of a woman named Angie to demonstrate that academic intelligence is not the main indication of someone’s overall intelligence (Michaelis). Although she did not excel in an academic setting, she had the ability to adapt to her circumstances and capitalize on her talents and interests to create a successful career for herself (Michaelis). In order to start embracing the different forms of intelligence, society, as a whole, needs to eliminate its fixed mindset about what intelligence
I was so nervous. I failed it the first time so would I fail it again? This time I had to learn how to better Prepare myself. You would not nt to study in the same way you did before.
The test was early on a Saturday morning. I remember eating an early breakfast and then packing my bag for the test. Everything about the day was going to be unfamiliar, from the location to the fact that the test was timed. I didn’t even own a school backpack yet, having never needed one before, so I packed my number 2 pencils, erasers, calculator and water bottle in an another bag instead. I walked into an unfamiliar high school and having no experience finding my way through the maze of hallways, followed signs until I found my way to the classroom in which the testing would take place. Before this moment I had never had to sit at a desk before. The straight lines of desks were so orderly and there was a proper classroom feeling that I had never experienced before in my home. I remember sitting there with my stomach in knots; standardized testing is anxiety inducing for almost any student, and I had the usual test-taking nerves combined with the unfamiliarity of a new
I added instead of multiplying. I got a grade of 74 in math, so I missed my shot at becoming one of the Top Ten. I finished 14th in my class. At first, failure was none of my business: I did not really care how high or low my grades were. But when I suddenly experienced what failure was like, I did not like it one bit.
Why is it that most people imagine someone intelligent as being good at math or being good in school in general? When looking at a lengthy equation someone else has solved one must say, “Gosh, he is smart." If someone gets all the answers to the history quiz correct one might automatically think the same. Although many people view a student that makes great grades at school as being intelligent, people should know that there is more than one type of intelligence out there that allows human beings to be ingenious not only in mathematics, but also to have extreme talent with music and the arts; those who find it easy to understand themselves, other individuals, and their surroundings are intelligent; and other people that are just simply good at pondering are just as smart.
My father is a mathematics teacher and everyone presumed that I also have a bright mind like my father. But the truth was quite bitter. Even though I was brought up with all the facilities a child could get, still I was an average student. This was my parents’ deepest despondency. I was a student with good knowledge and memory, but my indolence always dragged me to average standard.