Laziest Students in Asia?

Doctor
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Laziest Students in Asia?

Post by Doctor »

I've taught in all three Chinas, Japan, Thailand, Cambodia and I've had several Korean students over the years.
In my experience, hands down the Mainland Chinese are the laziest and most unmotivated students that I have ever encountered in Asia; in fact they seem lazier and less motivated than many of the public school students I had in the USA. In fact, their only saving grace is that they are well behaved for the most part, respectful and in general quite pleasant. But my God are mainland Chinese students lazy!

Anyone else find this to be true?
Heliotrope
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Re: Laziest Students in Asia?

Post by Heliotrope »

Not sure which ones I'd call the laziest, but the Korean ones are the hardest-working in my experience.
Kind of sad that a lot of them always went straight from our school to cram school in the afternoons, and then they would be doing their homework in the evenings, with a lot of parental pressure to get high grades. Not much of a childhood.
muguet
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Re: Laziest Students in Asia?

Post by muguet »

I've taught super lazy Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Thai students... which is to say that I think that the overall culture of the student body at a school can have a very large impact on students regardless of the national systems they've come from, their cultural upbringing, or parental pressure.
sid
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Re: Laziest Students in Asia?

Post by sid »

Racist?
teacher tan
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Re: Laziest Students in Asia?

Post by teacher tan »

There are two kinds: engaged students and disenchanted ones. The question is, what you gonna do about the latter?
PsyGuy
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Response

Post by PsyGuy »

I think my Japanese students were the least unmotivated.
dover2013
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Re: Laziest Students in Asia?

Post by dover2013 »

Define “lazy”.
Heliotrope
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Re: Laziest Students in Asia?

Post by Heliotrope »

sid wrote:
> Racist?

It's culture, not race.
Korean culture is very (VERY) focussed on getting good academic results, but I'm quite certain it has nothing to do with their race.
And as mentioned by @muguet, school culture can also make a big difference, or certain schools just attract a certain type of student.

And to be honest, I was actually quite a lazy student in high school.
mamava
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Re: Laziest Students in Asia?

Post by mamava »

I worked in China for 5 years and Chinese students were very hardworking--they pushed themselves hard and their parents pushed harder. There wasn't a lot of room to be a slacker.
Not sure why the question was asked, or why it matters categorizing students by race or ethnicity.
PsyGuy
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Discussion

Post by PsyGuy »

I find that the laziness in Asian students can cluster in ISs where the students are 'stuck' in a position late in their adolescents where the choices and paths they have taken just arent going to improve their future prospects no matter what they do. Usually its they are going to go to a local mediocre Uni (likely studying business, or English), they usually had some personal tragedy that caused a hiccup in their academic careers and they are just average students with parents of some affluence, who arent going to recover. They essentially arent going to be able to do anything thats going to improve their future outcomes in life.
base5555
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Re: Laziest Students in Asia?

Post by base5555 »

Most are very entitled, especially those at international schools. So if you were going to get a ridiculous amount of money and a job working for dad regardless of grades, why work hard.
Doctor
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Re: Laziest Students in Asia?

Post by Doctor »

mamava wrote:
> I worked in China for 5 years and Chinese students were very hardworking--they pushed
> themselves hard and their parents pushed harder. There wasn't a lot of room to
> be a slacker.
> Not sure why the question was asked, or why it matters categorizing students by race
> or ethnicity.

The question was asked because the perception of Chinese students is that of what you have just described - hardworking with parents that push and yes, that's what I saw in Taiwan and Hong Kong. I'm just not seeing it here on the Mainland. I'm seeing students that do as little as possible and parents that see the teacher as the problem.

This is a bilingual school for rich kids so that may have something to do with it but when I asked my mainland Chinese wife she said no - Chinese students are not Gods gift to mankind as they are represented in the States.

I don't appreciate veiled accusations of racism. I've seen plenty of posts that characterize ME students as lazy and self-entitled with no real pushback so it is possible that going from one culture to another, we see different attitudes toward learning. What I'm seeing, and I am speaking from experience, is that mainland Chinese students are fairly lazy compared to Hong Kong, Taiwanese and Japanese students and I don't think that it is a racist comment. It's an observation that my mainland Chinese wife thinks is probably true.
PsyGuy
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Reply

Post by PsyGuy »

@Doctor

You dont owe anyone an apology or an explanation, if the data is valid, if mainland Chinese are the laziest, than it doesnt matter if its culture, or race, its true.
SparkleMotion
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Re: Laziest Students in Asia?

Post by SparkleMotion »

Heliotrope wrote:
> sid wrote:
> > Racist?
>
> It's culture, not race.
> Korean culture is very (VERY) focussed on getting good academic results, but I'm
> quite certain it has nothing to do with their race.
> And as mentioned by @muguet, school culture can also make a big difference, or
> certain schools just attract a certain type of student.
>
> And to be honest, I was actually quite a lazy student in high school.

I understand that Korean education culture is intense and that the existence of cram schools and such tells that story. To ask which students are the “laziest” asks people to name a race of children and apply a negative, generalized view of that entire race’s work ethic.

That is literally racist. I understand that you don’t want to be accused of being racist, but you’ve essentially asked for racist generalizations to be made. Objectively, take a look at your question. That may have not have been your intent, but that’s the outcome.

I’m guessing OP meant to ask about differences in education culture in Asian countries (school-life balance for kids, homework completion rates, class participation trends) rather than which students are laziest.
wrldtrvlr123
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Re: Laziest Students in Asia?

Post by wrldtrvlr123 »

PsyGuy wrote:
> @Doctor
>
> You dont owe anyone an apology or an explanation, if the data is valid, if mainland
> Chinese are the laziest, than it doesnt matter if its culture, or race, its true.
==================
What data has been presented in this thread?
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