41–50 of 58 posts
As a result, throughout my childhood—and most of my adulthood—we mostly contended with a slim parade of different, sometimes contradictory, caricatures: lotus blossoms and dragon ladies, math nerds and martial artists, refugees and gang-bangers. Ad nauseum. The amount of presumption that I have to deal with from strangers on a regular basis is still disturbing. Such interactions only comprise a small fraction of the…
Anybody want to weigh in on why Asians give their kids Western first names in the US? Why don't they use Chinese first names? Why don't they change their last names also? Serious question.
Indians shorten their names sometime to make it easier for others to pronounce. I have Indian friends who have really long names that I couldn't pronounce fully and they all said just use the short names.
Anybody want to weigh in on why Asians give their kids Western first names in the US? Why don't they use Chinese first names? Why don't they change their last names also? Serious question.
How do the Chinese name their children? By throwing their kitchenware down the stairs. Yeah, I'm really glad I wasn't one of the many Asians who had to suffer through that shitty joke throughout their adolescence (and beyond!)
Last name remains unchanged because few people use your last name as a general moniker. Also, your first name has no ancestral or family implications so is fair game, whereas your last name is special in some way.
I do know some Asians who have changed their last names though. Some by accident (immigration screwup, tranposing first/last names, etc).
Anybody want to weigh in on why Asians give their kids Western first names in the US? Why don't they use Chinese first names? Why don't they change their last names also? Serious question.
However, I have always been curious as to why Asian women have the names of white grandmas from the 1950s. The only Esthers I know are my great aunt and every other Korean-American I've ever met.
Anybody want to weigh in on why Asians give their kids Western first names in the US? Why don't they use Chinese first names? Why don't they change their last names also? Serious question.
Several reasons: - a lot of Asian families are Christian, so they get Christian names - racism and discrimination. "li guo" just isn't as cool as "pierre" - there's no real great way to spell a lot of Asian names, so might as well just adopt a Western name - many Asian children have an Asian name and a Westerner name. Both are valid aliases for the person.
This observation hit me like a two-by-four: "The Immigration Act of 1965... created preference categories for science, math and engineering-trained immigrants to come over. [Asian countries] were producing a surplus of college-educated adults but lacked a sufficiently developed domestic economy to adequately absorb them. The 1965 Immigration Act, in trying to bolster America's own domestic needs, inadvertently helped…
Contrast that with for 60 years before that, we had this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Exclusion_Act Later extended to cover all Asian immigrants. There was certainly demand to emigrate to the US, but it was forbidden. This act alone I think goes a long, long way to explaining why Asian Americans are a fairly recent phenomenon and "weird" to American culture.
Just to let you know, you're not alone there as a country.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm pretty sure I know what you're getting at, but do you mind expounding on your thoughts previous to discovering this information?
Previously, my somewhat-nebulous thoughts on this were: there's definitely a math/sci stereotype about Asians; don't read too much into stereotypes; but Asians really are disproportionately represented among the math/sci fields; what on earth would explain it if not a genetic and/or cultural bias? >cognitive dissonance As I said, nebulous ; I hadn't really pursued the line of thought very far, just tangentially as it…
I know about the immigration act's effect on the Asian American population because I was an Asian/Asian American Studies major. That your comment received so many upvotes explains some of why these beliefs are so pervasive.
Moreover, our curricula are incredibly tone deaf if this major shift in the American population isn't required knowledge for passing American history.
The author points out something he may not have even intended: that parenting might not matter at all, despite the raging discussions about which parenting style is better. In fact, lots of research on twins and adopted children suggests that parenting matters very little in shaping a child's personality and skills, while biology and peer groups matter a lot. Identical twins turn out quite similar regardless of wheth…
http://www.cdc.gov/ace/findings.htm
http://www.frasermustardchair.ca/resources/what-does-the-evi...
The author points out something he may not have even intended: that parenting might not matter at all, despite the raging discussions about which parenting style is better. In fact, lots of research on twins and adopted children suggests that parenting matters very little in shaping a child's personality and skills, while biology and peer groups matter a lot. Identical twins turn out quite similar regardless of wheth…
I have a hard time accepting it because there is significant evidence to the contrary: http://www.cdc.gov/ace/findings.htm http://www.frasermustardchair.ca/resources/what-does-the-evi...
First, child abuse is beyond what most would call "parenting"; that term is mostly applied to things like strictness with respect to school homework, video games, pressure to choose certain careers, etc. My argument was that those of us that care about giving their children the best should not sweat too much over where precisely to draw the lines, because the effect of these decisions on the child's personality and life outcome is minimal.
Second, it is very possible that the same genes that increase the chance of a person being a child abuser also increase the chance of their child being, say, an alcoholic or criminal.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have a hard time accepting it because there is significant evidence to the contrary: http://www.cdc.gov/ace/findings.htm http://www.frasermustardchair.ca/resources/what-does-the-evi...
From what I could tell, the links you posted are no evidence to the contrary. First, child abuse is beyond what most would call "parenting"; that term is mostly applied to things like strictness with respect to school homework, video games, pressure to choose certain careers, etc. My argument was that those of us that care about giving their children the best should not sweat too much over where precisely to draw the…
"Lulu handed me her 'surprise', which turned out to be a card,"
writes Chua in her explosive new memoir... "More accurately, it was
a piece of paper folded crookedly in half, with a big happy face on
the front. Inside, 'Happy Birthday, Mummy! Love, Lulu' was scrawled
in crayon above another happy face. I gave the card back to Lulu. 'I
don't want this,' I said. 'I want a better one – one that you've put
some thought and effort into. I have a special box, where I keep all
my cards from you and Sophia, and this one can't go in there.' I
grabbed the card again and flipped it over. I pulled out a pen and
scrawled 'Happy Birthday Lulu Whoopee!' I added a big sour face. …
'I reject this.'"