One of the weird things about America is that we all know Asian kids are better at math than other kids on average. Its pretty obvious to anyone that's been in a class with Asians or taught Asians. I've done both.
But nobody can actually say this. Instead we have to pretend like this isn't the case. Just look at math Olympiad teams. I coached one years ago. My entire team was Asian except for two alternates. One who was Russian, and the other Indian.
Yes, environment can change outcomes ... but maybe it can't change outcomes to a point where everyone is going to perform the same. Are we going to try to get everyone's 100M sprint into the same range too? People are different.
We should give every individual the same shot at opportunities but I don't think we are ever going to make Asian kids perform at the level of other kids in math or vice versa. Its not environment. Every one of us that has taught an engineering or math course knows this. Even if we don't talk about it.
But nobody can actually say this. Instead we have to pretend like this isn't the case. Just look at math Olympiad teams. I coached one years ago. My entire team was Asian except for two alternates. One who was Russian, and the other Indian.
Yes, environment can change outcomes ... but maybe it can't change outcomes to a point where everyone is going to perform the same. Are we going to try to get everyone's 100M sprint into the same range too? People are different.
We should give every individual the same shot at opportunities but I don't think we are ever going to make Asian kids perform at the level of other kids in math or vice versa. Its not environment. Every one of us that has taught an engineering or math course knows this. Even if we don't talk about it.