[工作] 外国人怎样解释中国人数学好的现象 [复制链接]

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电梯直达

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发表于 2009-8-6 14:37:05 |只看该作者 |正序浏览 微信分享

我昨天去奥大统计系论坛问他们为什么统计系里的中国人特别多．今天一位老师给我了一下的回复:

I always thought that international andsecond-language students (even if they've been living in NZ a while)were attracted to non-essay subjects like statistics, where theirwritten language skills don't have to be so high.

But there might also be cultural considerations that have alsoended up reflected in teacher attitudes and the whole education systemof a country. Malcolm Gladwell's book "Outliers" has a whole chapter onthe idea that the descendents of Chinese paddy farmers tend to excelacademically but particularly in Maths-like subjects. He argues thatpaddy farming required huge efforts and scrupulous attention to detail,and furthermore, hard work translated directly into results - you wereable to feed your family better. Even further, there was no "fallow"period, unlike European farming - no holidays (sound like any Asianversus European cultures you know?) He contrasts this with Europeanpeasant farming, where hard work did NOT yield direct rewards: you gotyour wage and any surplus went straight to the lord of the manor. Alsothe earth needs to be left fallow from time to time, and the Europeanfarmers spent winter in bed to conserve energy. (This is what Gladwellsays, I'm not saying I know anything about this myself!)

Finally he quotes research that suggests that *tenacity* is one ofthe most important attributes for success at mathematics: the longeryou stay at a problem before giving up, the more successful you willbe. So the Chinese paddy-farming culture, which rewarded hard work,attention to detail, and tenacity, is perfect for breeding mathematicalskills. And if you don't believe that cultural legacy can stretch thatfar, read Gladwell's whole book, which seemed pretty convincing to me!

He also draws a distinction between Chinese paddy farming in thesouth, and more European-like farming in the north. But he stoppedshort (if I remember) in producing evidence that southern Chinese excelmore at mathematics than northern Chinese.

Interested to hear your comments on this!

我觉得那本书的解释很有意思．

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[工作] 外国人怎样解释中国人数学好的现象 [复制链接]

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