Indian & Chinese heritage kids attaining much higher than UK & U. S kids. Can we learn something?

[Keenrower]

Indian & Chinese heritage kids are achieving much better results & seem to have parents who pour all their resources into making this happen. Are their kids just brighter or are parents more aspirational?
Nigerian & Eastern European kids are also very high achieving.
With the new Labour government I think they are very happy to have all kids meeting expectations but these parents will not accept that & I think we have a lot to learn from them.

@MegaClutterSlut you’ve described the norm for many at the elite schools in Singapore etc. Bed time typically later and school often done by 2:30pm.

Parents in the West have the luxury to not push for academic success because they already have generational wealth and status and bank accounts and the ability to go into the arts or literature or sports.

Immigrants don't.

Double Science is for high achieving pupils too! You can get two good science grades and go on to study A level Science and medicine etc.

partying and going to gigs? - how this particularly enriches someone's life?

Are the top ten UK universities more or less competitive than they were 20 years ago?

Way more. Especially for some high demand subjects.

People are whole beings. The arts and socialising is a part of what makes us human.

12? There is some real misunderstanding about the importance of socialising. It is a key skill in many jobs and you don't just acquire that ability if you have only ever studied morning, moon and night. My DH is an Architect but is at Director level and has to attend loads of events that require socialising to bring in clients etc. My Job now is pretty geeky but most men in the job lack the skills to relay technical information in layman's terms and socially they are not adept. They are very clever but it isn't enough.

The Arts are pretty important in British culture historically and the creative industry brings a lot of revenue in so of course nurturing that creative culture is important.

How does the Arts enrich someone's life- eh?

My DH's relative does very well out of it and gets to do something he loves!

I agree with this. A sign of intelligence is being able to assimilate and communicate any knowledge to all levels. When I recruit I seek out people that can ELI5 any difficult concept without the use of AI. I prefer that over a string of A*s

Nottingham isn't bad by all means. But we did our research at home and Imperial is better and ranks a lot better globally. We wanted DS to go to the best university possible.

DS ended up having a great time at Imperial and hasn't regretted it. Also we as a family saved a lot of money as DS only moved out for Y1&Y4

There is good reason British diplomacy is seen as among the best in the world and clearly something behind how the British socialise their children and young people.

No we’re not. My DD works extremely hard at her studies, sees friends, has a part time job and still has time to chill/read/watch TV

it just isn’t all study, study, study in this house…..

I've married into an Indian family and educational achievement and securing a good job is seen as extremely important. Kids are pushed harder. I'm not sure it's a path I want to go down personally. I don't think having amazing exam results and an impressive career are the be all and end all in life.

Exactly 😊

I went to school with HK and Chinese nationals who came from an astounding amount of wealth, and Japanese, South Korean and Chinese families are the ones spending the most money on things like education right now so your argument doesn’t really hold up.

To be fair, I quite enjoyed gigs etc. There must be balance in life. The arts do matter as well, it feeds the soul, I want my Dd to always be curious about the world, I want her to look at a piece of art and not be able to tear her eyes away, I want her to go to the theatre and leave either laughing or wiping away a tear. I want her to be surrounded with friends.

I’m not a believer in any kind of god but I think the arts and friendship move us in a special very human way. It’s something to be encouraged imo.

I do deeply care about her academic performance and she is bright and able so I’m sure she has enough to do well. But life should be richer than just that.

I think because to be taken seriously you have to have some educational pedigree. The culture is different, east asia is extremely competitive, I have a Chinese friend who explained it to me and it is very hard for young people to get ahead.

My school wasn't very culturally diverse, out of the entire year group, maybe around 150 pupils, every kid was white Scottish, bar 6. Of those 6, 2 were of Indian and 2 of Pakistani background. 2 of the Pakistani boys and one of the Indian boys used to get beaten if they got less than an A in exams and it was drummed into them that their only career choices were doctor or lawyer. They were very open about this with peers and i guess child protection wasn't what it is now. I don't know if the teachers were aware of what was happening.

I'm not sure if things have changed since then, this was almost 20 years ago.

I agree with all of this.

In my mind and my parents, an enriched life is not just about the career you have. Education is not just a gateway to wealth creation.

Chinese and Asian parents tend to push their kids harder. They value education above what we do.

@Lentilweaver interesting, so top ten UK universities ‘then’ & ‘now’? UK nationals directly competing with internationals ?

That's on part due to the top unis have a financial crisis, they do need the extra income from international students.

The basics aren't that hard to learn so there doesn't have to be so much pressure on kids.

Really, really.