Someone in the UK told me that African (not African-American, but AFRICAN) students in the UK do better on average than native UK students.
I haven’t checked, but I would assume this is true, the person who told me this is British ( and Anglo-Saxon ).
I think that it would be important to know WHO is taking the tests.
In our state EVERYONE in public schools take the sats. Now that is ridiculous but it does help maintain the panic needed to get more funds for schools.
In many countries, you have to be a high end student to even take the tests.
I have not heard that. IIRC I did read of one test where one of the Middle Eastern groups (Pakistanis, perhaps) outperformed the native Brits.
When you get results like that, it’s generally because the group with the surprising scores is not representative of its population. Rather, it is a self-selected group of higher achievers. The average Pakistani probably has little chance of moving to the UK, so those who are there come from the higher classes.
[Someone in the UK told me that African (not African-American, but AFRICAN) students in the UK do better on average than native UK students.
I haven’t checked, but I would assume this is true, the person who told me this is British ( and Anglo-Saxon ).]
Purely cultural, Students of African origin in the UK don’t have the “everyone owes me something” mentality they do in the USA. So it is no suprise they do much better.
Does someone have data for this? I’d be very interested in a link. Thanks!
Does someone have data for this? I’d be very interested in a link. Thanks!
It is the same in the US. I would know, since my tertiary education in the US. The average grades for the African students were not only significantly higher than those for African-Americans, but also higher than those for American Whites.
Let's just say when you come from a place where getting a place in a secondary school, a university, and thereafter a job, is not granted, and where for every position you have a myriad competitors; then you end up having to be quite competitive. I personally graduated summa cum laude, and my only real competition was from immigrants from the former Eastern Bloc countries (the Asians were good, but lagged in areas requiring less rote learning and more creativity and application of adaptive intelligence and intuitiveness. I would say the average Asian immigrant was more like a muscle car - great speed due to huge engine and raw conversion of octane to power; while, say, the Eastern Europeans were more like Italian sportscars, with greater finesse).
Another secret - if you know an African student in the US (I left to make my fortune, which worked), as them what an 'akata' is. Hint: It is a very derogatory term (normally people are told it means an African who left Africa, since the usage of the word kind of spilled over and questions started getting asked, but the real meaning is not as good). A quick way to insult an African student is referring to him as an African American.
As for this study: Personally I think there is IMMENSE 'survivor bias' when it comes to the Chinese scores. I am certain the Chinese students stemmed from an above average sample, while the American kids were a more average sample. Growing up in Kenya we had what was called 'streaming,' where all the intelligent kids are put in one class, then the next tier the next class, a third tier, and finally a fourth tier. Basically rising from the adage 'iron sharpens iron,' and the result was that the intelligent kids in the first stream would not only be smarter in aggregate, but also receive the very best education. Add to this holiday tuition, and the end result is a crop of very smart kids (the problem is that the lowest stream doesn't do so well). Now, if I took kids from the first stream (like me), and entered them in this international competition, you can be sure they would score very high in reading, writing, arithmetic, science, you name it. I think that is what happened with the Chinese students - they also do streaming there (as does India), and matching the top-tier students against an average sample of American kids will obviously lead to the results shown here.
I am sure if you took an average Chinese student (or Indian, or Kenyan) and matched them against an average American student, the results would either be more even or even inversed. Looking at myself - I thank God I am bright, but then I had the very best opportunities, had absolute financial backing, went to the best schools in Kenya and afterwards globally, and had every advantage. There are many like me in Kenya, but the vast majority are not like that. A few days ago a local paper reported about the huge divergence in scores between 'rich' schools and 'poor' schools (e.g. in 1985, when I was in standard one, the school I went to started teaching us computers and simple computer programming ...that iS, by far, NOT the norm in Kenya). I am certain the schools these Chinese kids in Shanghai came from are similar top-tier/elite schools, that are 100% analogous to the very best schools in the US.
Obviously the kids will do well.
Now, you match those kids against an average sample, and the results should not be unexpected.
Compare those same Chinese students with the very best the US has to offer, and I can bet you the results would be more pleasing for a US observer.
Anyways, my points are that one should never confuse an African student or immigrant to that of an African-American (I am sorry if that sounds arrogant ...it is not meant to be - it is just that the backgrounds are very different. When I was in the US, I did not go there to have fun, but to basically garner as much advantage and skill as I could, and go back home to make as much money as I could), and secondly that the core samples (China vs US) were TOTALLY skewed.
A comparative analogy: Say there is a gymnastics competition, and the average American is chosen (say a dude who is mid-30s, a tire of blubber around his waist, works IT in some MidWest company, loves his Taco Hell ...I mean Taco Bell). Then you see the 'representative' Chinese gymnast ...19 years old, slim yet very muscular with a great upper body strength to wait ratio, and he comes into the arena doing flips and aerial twists! Obviously the results will be highly skewed, but then again the Chinese contestant was not representative of the 'average,' which would be a short stout person who has mainly fed on a rice diet with some pork thrown in during festivals of one sort or another.
That is what happened here. To make it fair you either need to get a representative Chinese sample, or else compare with the best America can offer.