I bet this Chinese and this Iranian come from cultures that respect education more.
We have large minorities that eschew education in general as "acting white."
We have a larger schizoid "American Idol" culture promoting Adam Lambert and the NBA finals in June which also demeans those males who are proficient in the hard sciences and technology as geeks and also promotes females whining about a bias that isn't there, Baseless Bias and the New Second Sex.
That's pretty stupid.
I had an overnight stay at our local hospital last year and of the four MDs who treated me, THREE were Hindu women (complete with “dots”) with foot-long unpronounceable names.