Just think: Maclean’s stupidly apologized for saying what everybody knows — including the evil, racist New York magazine. Wimps.
People do not lose jobs because they don’t get the job done. People generally lose jobs because of poor cultural fit. If people think you fit on the team, they’ll cut you slack even when you don’t get the job done. In fact, the Harvard Business Review reports that people don’t even care if you don’t get the job done if they like you. (…)
Here’s a great article in New York magazine by Wesley Yang, about success in the Asian community. In case you did not have any AP math classes, Asians are kicking everyone’s butt in academics. Even the rich white kids cannot keep up with the Asians. This is reported in depth in the article, but suffice it to say that Asians make up a very small percentage of the US population but they are not considered a minority in the Ivy League because they make up such a large percentage of the students there.
But the article is really about how Asians don’t do as well in the workplace.
Because the skills that you need to do well in school are not the skills that you need to do well at work. Work is not a meritocracy—it’s a popularity contest. And the book The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, by Amy Chua, explains that Asian kids miss sleepovers and basketball games to practice violin and cello, which is why the art of brown nosing alludes overachiever Asians.
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This is why I can’t work in an office ever again. Especially now that most offices are run by women. I don’t care what you ate for lunch or that the World Cup/Stanley Cup/Olympics is on, that it’s your birthday or that you’re getting married or having a baby. If there’s a “fun” office outing to some “fun” place, I’m bringing a book. (Yeah, I did that. Brought a giant Reagan bio to Playdium.)
You can tell Penelope Trunk has Asperger’s because she hates all this stuff but still wants to learn how to fit in.
You can tell I’m a sociopath because I don’t care.
PS: re her thoughts on going to the prom. I don’t even think my Catholic girls school had “prom.” Wouldn’t have gone anyhow. Didn’t go to my graduation. One more day with the morons I hated? Right.
All those things are a frivolous waste of time. That’s why I go along with the “Tiger Mother” thing to some extent. I just wish their kids weren’t always tripping and bumping into stuff and being such conformist drones who do everything their parents say. There has to be a middle ground. Does the world really need one more soulless, technically perfect pianist who couldn’t compose their own music if you held a gun to their head? Boring.
UPDATE — when I blogged and commented on this topic about five years ago, I was roundly denounced as “racist” and asked for “proof.”
Today, Bloomberg BusinessWeek is making similar observations:
…new homes for Asian clients make up two-thirds of his more than 30 current projects.
“I’ve never been busier” in a 30-year career, Leyland said.
Leyland’s clients usually stick to traditional styles such as Villa or Georgian for exteriors. Inside, designs are changing. Every new house has two kitchens: a large Western- style one and a small “wok” kitchen with a stove, sink, strong exhaust fan and door to seal off cooking aromas, said Leyland.
Because houses in West Vancouver are built on the mountainside with their backs to the Coast Range, they generally face south, providing views of English Bay and Burrard Inlet. This situation conforms to the principles of feng shui, the proper placement of features within and surrounding a house to increase wealth and deflect bad luck, said Wong.
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You can email me your apologies any time. You’ve got to simply accept the fact that I am smarter and braver than you are. I know it’s painful, but you’ll be better off in the long run.
