Reply #72: I just read Gladwell's new book "Outliers" [View All]

[dem mba]

and he suggested that math is indeed biased in favor of Asian cultures. This is because numbers are written in a simpler, logical and coherent way in Chinese/Japanese/etc so its easier for toddlers to learn numbers and arithmetic. They get a head start on westerners, in effect. Meanwhile we get stuck with things that make no sense, like 1=one, 11=eleven, 21=twenty-one; 2=two, 12=twelve, 22=twenty-two, etc. Why isn't 11=tenty-one, 12=tenty-two, or one-teen, two-teen, or something? This is just one example of many on extra steps Westerners have to learn to master mathematics.

Asians don't jump out of the womb skilled at calculus; their language and culture provides them with advantages. (The book goes on to discuss how rice-farming helps with this too. Don't ask, just read it).

Check out Hofstede for more info on the impact of culture.

http://www.geert-hofstede.com/

So my whole point is cultural differences can be systemic, even if it seems impossible at first glance.

I would LOVE to get my hands on this fire dept's test so I could judge for myself, but I understand it is not being released.