Reply to Math competitions for Mathematically Gifted kid (7 year old)

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]But the stereotype is true as evidenced by the national results on mathcounts and USAMO all the way down to the school levels. Nobody is necessarily saying it’s a negative stereotype. Asians are dominating in math contests. To deny that Asian kids are dominating math contests would be ridiculous. To say it’s just because Asians are smarter would be wrong. Saying that a large percentage of Asian parents push their kids in math is true. Visit your nearest kumon  and see for yourself.

I think math competition and circles can be great. But I do think a lot of people are turned off by the steep competition. I think a lot of people think pushing a kid so hard to study for a math contest isn’t something they want to do. I think it’s wrong to think it’s wrong though. I don’t think there is anything wrong with insane math practice. Just like there isn’t anything wrong with insane soccer practice. As long as the kid is willing in either case. Once you’ve forced a kid to practice above level math you are crossing a line. But no one ever admits this. [/quote]

A lot of people are turned off by athletic or other competitions, too.  It's not exclusive to math.

Mathcounts and USAMO are middle and high school level contests.  By that age, many of the kids are pushing themselves in the contests, rather than being pushed strongly by parents.  Rather than suggesting that Asian success is from tiger parenting, you could just as easily argue that Asian kids set higher goals and are more focused on achieving them than white kids.  Really, though, the elementary school tiger parenting teaches kids to work hard and be able to handle challenges.  Those abilities are useful later if the child wants to be elite in any activity.  [/quote]

Elementary school tiger parenting teaches kids to work hard and handle challenges ... and subsequently the kids of such upbringing set higher goals and stay more focused on achieving them.  Without the tiger parenting efforts in elementary school, the latter focus that many Asians students develop in middle and high school wouldn't occur.  And, in our demographic area, I think many non-Asians are also just as focused at the elementary school level.  Maybe they don't emulate Amy Chua, but this ENTIRE area is filled with varying levels of tiger parenting from similar socio-economic profiles, regardless of ethnic background.[/quote]

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