Genius is measured by IQ, or intelligence quotient. However, intelligence is more than how well you answer a few questions on a standardized test. Ever since the whole concept of IQ popped, a few counterparts have as well. These don't measure memory and cognitive thinking like IQ. Instead they measure more abstract forms of intelligence. The most prominent ones are emotional quotient and social quotient.
Emotional quotient measures the ability to identify and manage the emotions of one's self, others' and groups'. It doesn't measure your personality traits. Rather it assesses your ability to deal with environmental pressures and stresses. People with better EQ are typically more adaptable and efficient when dealing with stress or changes.
Social quotient measures certain aspects like communication, self-direction, and socialization. Essentially, it tests to see how well you interact with other people in getting ideas across, compromising etc. In my opinion, those that are talkative do not get a higher SQ than more self-reflective people on the basis of extroversion. In reality, the quieter person may be better at dealing with people better than the more talkative one. There more factors than a superficial first impression when measuring SQ. One with higher EQ may have higher SQ as well.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Winter Teen Conference Reflection
Winter Teen Conference 09
The days leading up to TC had been some of the most stressful of my life. Each day, I stayed up past midnight finishing homework. The week was also loaded with quizzes, tests and the AMC 10. On top of this, I would have school on Tuesday. Therefore, I planned to do some homework on the bus ride up.
This plan really didn’t work out. Eventually, I just blew off homework and talked with the other guys nearby about random topics from freshmen year difficulties to track. This year, the conversations were more interesting and extended. We arrived at TC in a surprisingly short amount of time.
Getting Loon cabin was one of the highlights of TC. Yes, it had four private rooms. Yes, each room had a private bathroom. Yes, there was a foosball table in the basement. However, what I loved most about Loon was the intimacy and privacy of the late night discussions with the other members of my small group. Being able to sleep next to each other (no homo) and discuss pretty much anything was a very unique experience this TC. After settling, we went back to Deer Run for the first “session.”
After kicking serious @$$ at foosball, we went back up to listen to Enoch’s classic announcement of rules and enjoy some worship.
Worship at TC was alright, but the drummer wasn't as epic as last year's drummer. Having another year of drumming experience since last TC probably developed my ability to judge how the skill level of the drummer. Sadly, the equipment she had did not allow her to leave a strong impression either. Despite the drummers simplistic playing, she blended well with the team and helped to enhance the feel of the music.
Of course, I did not come to TC as a musical critic; I came to enter the presence of God. Worship is one of the easiest ways to do so. Led by an adult, the songs were a bit slower paced and included less of those loud Christian anthems like “One Way” and “Now That You’re Near”. For that reason, worship felt more deep and intimate. A majority of the songs were new to me, but easy to catch on. My favorite lyrics would probably be in God With Us by MercyMe, where Bart Miller sings,
"Such a tiny offering
Compared to Calvary;
Nevertheless,
We lay it at Your feet."
My only complaint of the team is the prepared repertoire of songs; the team often had to repeat the songs in the following worship sessions. Nevertheless, they still pulled off very good "performances".
The sessions were very deep, but, to me, they lacked the intensity of LYF retreat and previous years. This was primarily because I had been growing a lot with God recently. Some of the messages about giants, faith and accumulating sin had already made sense to me before the conference. The themes of the retreat were more encouragement and review than inspiration and revelation.
In retrospect, the first two messages seemed a bit shallow. They covered very elementary concepts: Relationship based on faith not sight and the snowball effect of sin.
Sunday morning’s message was about facing obstructions towards a full intimate relationship with God. Bill retold the classic story of David and Goliath. However, he looked deeper into the significance of having five stones rather than just one. He interpreted this number as a direct correlation with the number of giants involved, rather than an arbitrary choice of David. The additional four giants were pride, hypocrisy, gossip and a custom one, such as perfectionism, anger or sloth. His night message was about the importance the possible means of seeking God.
These two messages really stuck out to me. From about a month into school to New Years, I had been going through a lot of mood swings. Some days, such as the LYF retreat weekend, were times of euphoria and hope. Some days, I viewed my life as insignificant, purposeless and disposable. This was mainly because of the difficulty of learning material compared to that of freshmen year. Also, as a first year member of robotics and jazz band, I felt just like I had during freshmen year. Additionally, I didn’t have many close friends in my classes. Most were just acquaintances.
These mood swings happened largely because of my giants of perfectionism and guilt. All throughout, my life, I had set fairly high standards for achievement in and out of school. When I joined these new activities and enrolled in more difficult activities, I felt more pressured to work harder. I had also experienced lots of guilt from my work habits at Kumon (yes I’m that Asian). When it came to the harder problems, I often skipped them or just memorized the problem-solving process rather than critically thinking about it. I felt that I had taken the easy way out in graduating from Kumon.
This mix of perfectionism and guilt spread to almost all aspects of my life. I criticized everything I did, from playing drums and piano to doing homework to socializing. I viewed my advanced placement in classes as a complete fluke and a grossly inaccurate perception of my academic skill. Many of the social interactions I had with others felt awkward and strange.
The first month of winter track was a very depressing one. I had been doing cross country from the start of school in preparation for track. However, during the first week, I was even slower than some of my friends that sat on the couch during the pre-season. The coach also exerted a lot of pressure on me, telling some his varsity athletes that I would be a top-notch hurdler during winter. The first meet was a very discouraging one for me. In my eyes, I didn’t do well in my events and couldn’t three-step the hurdles. When my teammates told me I had ran an amazing leg for the 4x160, I felt myself whole-heartedly rejecting the compliment.
As time passed, God started to reveal himself to me. My mood swings occurred less and I started to accept who I was more. I regained my confidence in academics, track and other extra-curricular activities. I began to approach schoolwork with a better attitude: Instead of always feeling anxious and worried, I became more patient with myself when learning new things. God had restored my confidence. I also started opening up in my classes and developing friendships with upperclassmen.
Hearing the Sunday messages were very encouraging because I knew that God had been in control all along weakening these giants and making me more like him. Bill used very vivid and down-to-earth examples to illustrate his main points. As I said before, the messages themselves were more encouragement to continue to work hard at school and maintain my relationship with God.
Damon’s workshop on Tolerance and Intolerance was less helpful than I expected. It felt more like a play on the nuances of statements than a biblical approach of interaction with secular ideas. The most important thing I took out of was to tolerate people, not just their ideas.
Foosball was very fun as well. Andrew Chen and I won at least thirty games and lost only once. But as we beat more and more people, the inevitability of victory made the game feel monotonous and downright boring. I had become adept at passing, slant shooting and retaliation shooting. Playing offense became mentally exhausting after the first day.
Although the message was a very close second, the best part of TC was the starting of friendships with people from other churches and the development of friendships with those from CBCGL. The setup of Loon with the four private rooms and the passiveness of our counselor, Tim Lo, allowed for very deep and long discussions about a myriad of subjects, ranging from girls to communist propaganda to Christianity. Through these two to three hour long discussions, our small group really bonded and probably felt a lot more relaxed when it came to sharing during the formal small group time. Tim Lo also told us an engrossing and sobering story about why girls are evil on the last night.
The intentional meal mixers during the last three meals were also very nice because I got to know the freshmen from the other churches. In the past two years, I absolutely despised the meal-mixers. Whenever we didn’t have them, I would just sit with my friends. Because I was in a sense obliged to make relationships with older kids at school, I became a bit more extroverted and talkative at TC.
My accountability group with Andrew Chen, Tak Wong and Leeman Tran also strengthened. Andrew and I grew a lot closer from the late night discussions and foosball games. I wondered why we were unable to connect to each other for such a long time. On the last night, our accountability group had a good conversation about the events of TC. During church sharing, I noted how much all of the freshmen had grown spiritually. When we split into grades and genders to pray, I felt that there was a genuine and authentic connection with God. There wasn’t so much fluff about thanking God for bringing us to TC etc. We prayed deeply about maintaining our relationship with God and within our accountability group. We also touched upon Vincent and Leeman’s family lives.
Although this TC did not give me as much of a spiritual high as previous years, I felt that I had been able to be in God’s presence for those three days. I was able to fellowship with Christians from other churches and develop relationships within my own group of friends. This unification with people from other churches and the significance of the message made me melancholy that I wouldn’t be able to attend TC junior year. However, it filled me with an excitement for God and a passion to know him more.
The days leading up to TC had been some of the most stressful of my life. Each day, I stayed up past midnight finishing homework. The week was also loaded with quizzes, tests and the AMC 10. On top of this, I would have school on Tuesday. Therefore, I planned to do some homework on the bus ride up.
This plan really didn’t work out. Eventually, I just blew off homework and talked with the other guys nearby about random topics from freshmen year difficulties to track. This year, the conversations were more interesting and extended. We arrived at TC in a surprisingly short amount of time.
Getting Loon cabin was one of the highlights of TC. Yes, it had four private rooms. Yes, each room had a private bathroom. Yes, there was a foosball table in the basement. However, what I loved most about Loon was the intimacy and privacy of the late night discussions with the other members of my small group. Being able to sleep next to each other (no homo) and discuss pretty much anything was a very unique experience this TC. After settling, we went back to Deer Run for the first “session.”
After kicking serious @$$ at foosball, we went back up to listen to Enoch’s classic announcement of rules and enjoy some worship.
Worship at TC was alright, but the drummer wasn't as epic as last year's drummer. Having another year of drumming experience since last TC probably developed my ability to judge how the skill level of the drummer. Sadly, the equipment she had did not allow her to leave a strong impression either. Despite the drummers simplistic playing, she blended well with the team and helped to enhance the feel of the music.
Of course, I did not come to TC as a musical critic; I came to enter the presence of God. Worship is one of the easiest ways to do so. Led by an adult, the songs were a bit slower paced and included less of those loud Christian anthems like “One Way” and “Now That You’re Near”. For that reason, worship felt more deep and intimate. A majority of the songs were new to me, but easy to catch on. My favorite lyrics would probably be in God With Us by MercyMe, where Bart Miller sings,
"Such a tiny offering
Compared to Calvary;
Nevertheless,
We lay it at Your feet."
My only complaint of the team is the prepared repertoire of songs; the team often had to repeat the songs in the following worship sessions. Nevertheless, they still pulled off very good "performances".
The sessions were very deep, but, to me, they lacked the intensity of LYF retreat and previous years. This was primarily because I had been growing a lot with God recently. Some of the messages about giants, faith and accumulating sin had already made sense to me before the conference. The themes of the retreat were more encouragement and review than inspiration and revelation.
In retrospect, the first two messages seemed a bit shallow. They covered very elementary concepts: Relationship based on faith not sight and the snowball effect of sin.
Sunday morning’s message was about facing obstructions towards a full intimate relationship with God. Bill retold the classic story of David and Goliath. However, he looked deeper into the significance of having five stones rather than just one. He interpreted this number as a direct correlation with the number of giants involved, rather than an arbitrary choice of David. The additional four giants were pride, hypocrisy, gossip and a custom one, such as perfectionism, anger or sloth. His night message was about the importance the possible means of seeking God.
These two messages really stuck out to me. From about a month into school to New Years, I had been going through a lot of mood swings. Some days, such as the LYF retreat weekend, were times of euphoria and hope. Some days, I viewed my life as insignificant, purposeless and disposable. This was mainly because of the difficulty of learning material compared to that of freshmen year. Also, as a first year member of robotics and jazz band, I felt just like I had during freshmen year. Additionally, I didn’t have many close friends in my classes. Most were just acquaintances.
These mood swings happened largely because of my giants of perfectionism and guilt. All throughout, my life, I had set fairly high standards for achievement in and out of school. When I joined these new activities and enrolled in more difficult activities, I felt more pressured to work harder. I had also experienced lots of guilt from my work habits at Kumon (yes I’m that Asian). When it came to the harder problems, I often skipped them or just memorized the problem-solving process rather than critically thinking about it. I felt that I had taken the easy way out in graduating from Kumon.
This mix of perfectionism and guilt spread to almost all aspects of my life. I criticized everything I did, from playing drums and piano to doing homework to socializing. I viewed my advanced placement in classes as a complete fluke and a grossly inaccurate perception of my academic skill. Many of the social interactions I had with others felt awkward and strange.
The first month of winter track was a very depressing one. I had been doing cross country from the start of school in preparation for track. However, during the first week, I was even slower than some of my friends that sat on the couch during the pre-season. The coach also exerted a lot of pressure on me, telling some his varsity athletes that I would be a top-notch hurdler during winter. The first meet was a very discouraging one for me. In my eyes, I didn’t do well in my events and couldn’t three-step the hurdles. When my teammates told me I had ran an amazing leg for the 4x160, I felt myself whole-heartedly rejecting the compliment.
As time passed, God started to reveal himself to me. My mood swings occurred less and I started to accept who I was more. I regained my confidence in academics, track and other extra-curricular activities. I began to approach schoolwork with a better attitude: Instead of always feeling anxious and worried, I became more patient with myself when learning new things. God had restored my confidence. I also started opening up in my classes and developing friendships with upperclassmen.
Hearing the Sunday messages were very encouraging because I knew that God had been in control all along weakening these giants and making me more like him. Bill used very vivid and down-to-earth examples to illustrate his main points. As I said before, the messages themselves were more encouragement to continue to work hard at school and maintain my relationship with God.
Damon’s workshop on Tolerance and Intolerance was less helpful than I expected. It felt more like a play on the nuances of statements than a biblical approach of interaction with secular ideas. The most important thing I took out of was to tolerate people, not just their ideas.
Foosball was very fun as well. Andrew Chen and I won at least thirty games and lost only once. But as we beat more and more people, the inevitability of victory made the game feel monotonous and downright boring. I had become adept at passing, slant shooting and retaliation shooting. Playing offense became mentally exhausting after the first day.
Although the message was a very close second, the best part of TC was the starting of friendships with people from other churches and the development of friendships with those from CBCGL. The setup of Loon with the four private rooms and the passiveness of our counselor, Tim Lo, allowed for very deep and long discussions about a myriad of subjects, ranging from girls to communist propaganda to Christianity. Through these two to three hour long discussions, our small group really bonded and probably felt a lot more relaxed when it came to sharing during the formal small group time. Tim Lo also told us an engrossing and sobering story about why girls are evil on the last night.
The intentional meal mixers during the last three meals were also very nice because I got to know the freshmen from the other churches. In the past two years, I absolutely despised the meal-mixers. Whenever we didn’t have them, I would just sit with my friends. Because I was in a sense obliged to make relationships with older kids at school, I became a bit more extroverted and talkative at TC.
My accountability group with Andrew Chen, Tak Wong and Leeman Tran also strengthened. Andrew and I grew a lot closer from the late night discussions and foosball games. I wondered why we were unable to connect to each other for such a long time. On the last night, our accountability group had a good conversation about the events of TC. During church sharing, I noted how much all of the freshmen had grown spiritually. When we split into grades and genders to pray, I felt that there was a genuine and authentic connection with God. There wasn’t so much fluff about thanking God for bringing us to TC etc. We prayed deeply about maintaining our relationship with God and within our accountability group. We also touched upon Vincent and Leeman’s family lives.
Although this TC did not give me as much of a spiritual high as previous years, I felt that I had been able to be in God’s presence for those three days. I was able to fellowship with Christians from other churches and develop relationships within my own group of friends. This unification with people from other churches and the significance of the message made me melancholy that I wouldn’t be able to attend TC junior year. However, it filled me with an excitement for God and a passion to know him more.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Intelligence vs. Ethnicity
For as long as I can remember, I've had a pet peeve of being called "smart" or "genius". Yes, I skipped three grades in math and one overall, yes I'm currently in two AP courses, yes as an 11 year old I scored a high enough SAT score to get me into a community college, yes as a 13 year old I scored over 2000 on the SAT, yes a month later I got a 109.5 on the AMC where a 110 was the cut-off for top 1% in the country, yes I was the top scorer in Nashua North on the AMC 10 because of this, yes I finished both Kumon Math and Reading programs, a feat achieved by less than 100 people internationally. However, the phrase "You're a genius" is very narrow and short sighted observation unless you know my IQ. It is an assumption based on an cursory and eccentric appearance of success. Let me go back to the roots of Asian-American history and the history of my own parents to explain why this is so.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Despite what most people think, there were two waves of Chinese Immigration to America. The first was in 1849, due to the California gold rush, and the second was in the 1949, due to the Communist revolution in China. However, to fully understand what I'm going to say, you must understand the events leading up to the emigration of 1849.
China's history has always been separated in dynasties. In 1644, Manchurians toppled the Ming dynasty and started the Qing Dynasty. This group thought that they were superior to the Han, or the rulers of the Ming Dynasty. To humiliate them, they forced the men to wear long braided queues (your stereotypical old Chinese guy look). However, the most effective method of mass control was the imperial examination system.
Under this examination system, peasants could take tests to advance in social status. As such person climbed the ladder of success, competition grew more and more fierce. The best of the best were allowed to serve in the very top level of government. However, this was not totally fair because the Manchurian families could afford to pay for tutors for their children. Eventually conditions for peasants grew so bad under Manchurian rule that when the news of the Gold Rush got out, virtually all men of age rushed to the docks, getting on a ship prepared to sail to San Francisco. They hoped to get money to provide for their family back home and hire tutors for their children. Because of this, the need for high academic performance was instilled in Chinese children at a very young age.
Like most of the other gold miners, the Chinese found that they could get more money providing services for the miners than actually mining. During that time laundry was a very time consuming process. It would take literally 6 months to get clean laundry returned because clothes must be sent back to the other side of the country to be washed. Therefore, many of the Chinese formed Laudromats. Some of the men formed restaurants as well.
The phrase "chop suey" comes from Chinese food service to Caucasians. Minutes before the closing of a Chinese restaurant, a group of drunken Caucasians came in and demanded to be served immediately. In haste, the chef prepared a simple dish of leftover meats and vegetables. In Chinese, "chop suey" literally means chopped leftovers. This is also why my parents call San Francisco Kitchen “chop suey”; it is geared towards the tastes of Caucasians.
Despite what you may think, the Chinese created half of the transcontinental highway. Their employers were impressed by how efficiently they did the job. They worked at twice the speed of their Caucasian co-workers and because they rarely drank, they never experienced "blue Mondays". The Chinese were also very frugal. They rarely spent money even simple luxuries like soda (just an example, soda probably didn't exist at the time) and lived together in apartments. There were so many of them in a single room that they took turns sleeping.
Despite this veneer of relative success, the Chinese suffered extreme discrimination. During the economic recessions of 1870s, anti-Chinese feelings started growing. Because of their frugal lifestyle, they were able to stay financially independent. Eventually, the hatred escalated to point where the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1877 was passed. It wasn't until the 1940s that Chinese were allowed to legally immigrate. Of course, they figured out how to do so illegally up until that point.
Without going into the histories of the Sino-Japanese wars, the rise of Mao and TiananmenSquare (blank stares), I will just say that the next wave of Chinese immigration were the intellectuals of China, the scientists, mathematicians etc.
After Pearl Harbor and during the economic recessions of 1980s, Chinese were once again the victims of unjustified discrimination. Chinese scientists working in nuclear laboratories were suspected of being Japanese spies. In their bigotry, the heads of the weapon research groups fired some of the best and brightest scientists of the day. When General Motors was began mass layoffs of auto-workers in Detroit due to competition from Japan-based Toyota and Honda, the Chinese were blamed. A group of laid-off drunken workers killed a Chinese man they saw nearby, blaming him for their occupational reprieve. Though not as dramatic as the Japanese labor camps, Chinese faced much discrimination in both the 19th and 20th century.
It is because of this discrimination that many Chinese parents want their children to become either a doctor, engineer or lawyer. The first two are fields in which little communication with Caucasian co-workers is necessary to be competent. The third is based on the naive "if you're a lawyer, you will be able to rid anti-Chinese laws and prejudices" attitude.
_____________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Despite what most people think, there were two waves of Chinese Immigration to America. The first was in 1849, due to the California gold rush, and the second was in the 1949, due to the Communist revolution in China. However, to fully understand what I'm going to say, you must understand the events leading up to the emigration of 1849.
China's history has always been separated in dynasties. In 1644, Manchurians toppled the Ming dynasty and started the Qing Dynasty. This group thought that they were superior to the Han, or the rulers of the Ming Dynasty. To humiliate them, they forced the men to wear long braided queues (your stereotypical old Chinese guy look). However, the most effective method of mass control was the imperial examination system.
Under this examination system, peasants could take tests to advance in social status. As such person climbed the ladder of success, competition grew more and more fierce. The best of the best were allowed to serve in the very top level of government. However, this was not totally fair because the Manchurian families could afford to pay for tutors for their children. Eventually conditions for peasants grew so bad under Manchurian rule that when the news of the Gold Rush got out, virtually all men of age rushed to the docks, getting on a ship prepared to sail to San Francisco. They hoped to get money to provide for their family back home and hire tutors for their children. Because of this, the need for high academic performance was instilled in Chinese children at a very young age.
Like most of the other gold miners, the Chinese found that they could get more money providing services for the miners than actually mining. During that time laundry was a very time consuming process. It would take literally 6 months to get clean laundry returned because clothes must be sent back to the other side of the country to be washed. Therefore, many of the Chinese formed Laudromats. Some of the men formed restaurants as well.
The phrase "chop suey" comes from Chinese food service to Caucasians. Minutes before the closing of a Chinese restaurant, a group of drunken Caucasians came in and demanded to be served immediately. In haste, the chef prepared a simple dish of leftover meats and vegetables. In Chinese, "chop suey" literally means chopped leftovers. This is also why my parents call San Francisco Kitchen “chop suey”; it is geared towards the tastes of Caucasians.
Despite what you may think, the Chinese created half of the transcontinental highway. Their employers were impressed by how efficiently they did the job. They worked at twice the speed of their Caucasian co-workers and because they rarely drank, they never experienced "blue Mondays". The Chinese were also very frugal. They rarely spent money even simple luxuries like soda (just an example, soda probably didn't exist at the time) and lived together in apartments. There were so many of them in a single room that they took turns sleeping.
Despite this veneer of relative success, the Chinese suffered extreme discrimination. During the economic recessions of 1870s, anti-Chinese feelings started growing. Because of their frugal lifestyle, they were able to stay financially independent. Eventually, the hatred escalated to point where the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1877 was passed. It wasn't until the 1940s that Chinese were allowed to legally immigrate. Of course, they figured out how to do so illegally up until that point.
Without going into the histories of the Sino-Japanese wars, the rise of Mao and TiananmenSquare (blank stares), I will just say that the next wave of Chinese immigration were the intellectuals of China, the scientists, mathematicians etc.
After Pearl Harbor and during the economic recessions of 1980s, Chinese were once again the victims of unjustified discrimination. Chinese scientists working in nuclear laboratories were suspected of being Japanese spies. In their bigotry, the heads of the weapon research groups fired some of the best and brightest scientists of the day. When General Motors was began mass layoffs of auto-workers in Detroit due to competition from Japan-based Toyota and Honda, the Chinese were blamed. A group of laid-off drunken workers killed a Chinese man they saw nearby, blaming him for their occupational reprieve. Though not as dramatic as the Japanese labor camps, Chinese faced much discrimination in both the 19th and 20th century.
It is because of this discrimination that many Chinese parents want their children to become either a doctor, engineer or lawyer. The first two are fields in which little communication with Caucasian co-workers is necessary to be competent. The third is based on the naive "if you're a lawyer, you will be able to rid anti-Chinese laws and prejudices" attitude.
_____________________________
My parents are considered part of the second wave, but they were born and raised in Vietnam. However, their families did not assimilate and they remained Chinese (VBCs... Vietnamese Born Chinese). My father was born in a family of eight. My grandfather saw my dad's desire to learn and enrolled him in a private French boarding school so that his wife would have one less mouth to feed. No doubt, this caused a lot of anger among his siblings. He has constantly given me advice, "If they don't like you, it’s because they're jealous of you." He is someone to truly understand that.
In Vietnam, a test must be taken to determine which colleges an individual is qualified for. It’s similar to the SAT, except that it was the only information that a college used to pick its students. Despite his boarding school education, my dad barely scored higher than the average 50%. Because of this, he was restricted from studying abroad.
Before the Communists took control over South Vietnam, my grandfather had bribed for three seats on a flight from Vietnam to America. They were planned for my father and his second and third oldest younger brothers. It just so happened that the flight happened in the middle of my father’s week of final exams. He decided to stay for a few more days in order finish his exam. His 3rd brother took his spot on the plane.
This was a life-changing decision. My grandfather found an illegal smuggling group that promised to bring his first son out safely for a small fee. However, this turned out to be a double-edged scam; money was thrown out the window and my father was put into a prison for three years. Eventually, he got to America under the request for family re-unification.
In America, my father's request to continue studies in a Masters program was rejected because he studied at an obscure Vietnam-based college. Therefore, he had to study as an undergrad in his early thirties. My mother had never learned English while in Vietnam and therefore had to take college courses and ESL concurrently. On top of this, their finances were crumbling, forcing them to work long hours at restaurants as waiters and waitresses.
Additionally, it took a while for my parents to have kids. In her mid-thirties, my mom gave birth and I somehow did not have Down's Syndrome. A Christian since her teens, my mother gave me the name, luh tin lok, meaning "The Lord's Promise". If you had noticed that the name of this blog was my name backwards, you should probably now notice that my middle name is the English transliteration of my Chinese name minus the family name.
Probably because she didn't want me to suffer from a language barrier and because she didn’t want me to have to re-learn information while I was in my late twenties like my father, my mom taught me a lot. Before I was five, I could write letters and numbers. When I was five, my parents enrolled me in Kumon, a type of "self-tutoring" that was based on the principle of repetition.
In first grade, I could add and subtract. By second grade, I could divide and multiply. When I was young, I used to spend a lot of time at one of my friends house, especially during school vacations and Jewish holidays (I went to a private Montessori school as a first and second grader). I would get there around 8 and do these Kumon worksheets before she woke up. When I was learning division, I was crying because I didn't understand how to do them. Even my friend’s mom disagreed with my mom on making me do these worksheets. My mom insisted that I continue doing them, knowing that the "pain" I suffered should be experienced when I was young, rather than when I was in high school, college or beyond.
So time went along. When I moved to New Hampshire in the middle of fifth grade, I skipped a grade because I already had the reading and mathematical skills necessary to advance. Additionally, the school district I was to attend would be too easy for me. As a sixth grader, I did algebra. As an eighth grader I was bused to the high-school to take Algebra II. Currently a sophomore I am in AP Calc and AP Comp sci.
So before you say, "You're a genius", look deeper
In America, my father's request to continue studies in a Masters program was rejected because he studied at an obscure Vietnam-based college. Therefore, he had to study as an undergrad in his early thirties. My mother had never learned English while in Vietnam and therefore had to take college courses and ESL concurrently. On top of this, their finances were crumbling, forcing them to work long hours at restaurants as waiters and waitresses.
Additionally, it took a while for my parents to have kids. In her mid-thirties, my mom gave birth and I somehow did not have Down's Syndrome. A Christian since her teens, my mother gave me the name, luh tin lok, meaning "The Lord's Promise". If you had noticed that the name of this blog was my name backwards, you should probably now notice that my middle name is the English transliteration of my Chinese name minus the family name.
Probably because she didn't want me to suffer from a language barrier and because she didn’t want me to have to re-learn information while I was in my late twenties like my father, my mom taught me a lot. Before I was five, I could write letters and numbers. When I was five, my parents enrolled me in Kumon, a type of "self-tutoring" that was based on the principle of repetition.
In first grade, I could add and subtract. By second grade, I could divide and multiply. When I was young, I used to spend a lot of time at one of my friends house, especially during school vacations and Jewish holidays (I went to a private Montessori school as a first and second grader). I would get there around 8 and do these Kumon worksheets before she woke up. When I was learning division, I was crying because I didn't understand how to do them. Even my friend’s mom disagreed with my mom on making me do these worksheets. My mom insisted that I continue doing them, knowing that the "pain" I suffered should be experienced when I was young, rather than when I was in high school, college or beyond.
So time went along. When I moved to New Hampshire in the middle of fifth grade, I skipped a grade because I already had the reading and mathematical skills necessary to advance. Additionally, the school district I was to attend would be too easy for me. As a sixth grader, I did algebra. As an eighth grader I was bused to the high-school to take Algebra II. Currently a sophomore I am in AP Calc and AP Comp sci.
So before you say, "You're a genius", look deeper
- Take a look at the roots of a highly-academically competitive society.
- Take a look at the difficulties the Chinese have had to assimilate with American culture simply because of their skin color and efficiency.
- Take a look at how much undeserved racism the Chinese experienced during the recessions and the Japanese war.
- Take a look at how this discrimination caused a withdrawal in math and science fields and glorified law.
- Take a look at the extremes that the Chinese took to stay financially stable.
- Take a look at how my Dad sacrificed 3 years of his life to get a college degree (even if he lost it again). Take a look at how he worked hard to ensure that he could get it back.
- Take a look at how my mom went through a language barrier while studying in college.
- Take a look at how my parents tried to keep me from suffering these hardships when I was older.
Before you say, "You're a genius", just say "You’re an above average Asian".
Funny thing is, I had a legitimate IQ test taken in 3rd grade. I got a (EDITED OUT - 7/7/13).
P.S. I didn't research all about Chinese history for a blogpost. Iris Chang has written two books about Chinese history. One is about Chinese in America and the other is about the atrocities of the Sino-Japanese War. You’re Asian and you gave me blank stares when I mentioned Sino-Japanese War, Mao or Tiananmen Square, you are clearly white-washed and should read them before you embarrass yourself like so:
P.S. I didn't research all about Chinese history for a blogpost. Iris Chang has written two books about Chinese history. One is about Chinese in America and the other is about the atrocities of the Sino-Japanese War. You’re Asian and you gave me blank stares when I mentioned Sino-Japanese War, Mao or Tiananmen Square, you are clearly white-washed and should read them before you embarrass yourself like so:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdxVywetepM&NR=1
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