RICE PADDIES AND MATH TESTS“NO ONE WHO CAN RISE BEFORE DAWN THREE HUNDRED SIXTY DAYS A YEAR FAILS TO MAKE HIS FAMILY RICH”Andi Deng, Alex Samuel, Joe Starace, Tom LaValle

Rice cultivated in China for thousands of years Spread throughout East Asia

Rice paddies are built Elaborate mountainside terraces, marshes, river

plains

Complex irrigation system built around the field Has to drain properly while keeping plants submerged

Had to be fertilized repeatedly, traditionally “night soil”

Timing was key

Different types of rice grew differently

Planted a dozen types at a time; reduced chance of losing harvest

Rice Farming

WORK ETHIC

Village in China of 1,500 people could support themselves on 450 acres of land, typical size of family farmland in American Midwest

Western agriculture centered around mechanics

Rice agriculture is skill oriented

Average of 3,000hrs/year of work

Rice farmers typically work harder than any other farmers throughout history

!Kung bushmen of the Kalahari Desert, Botswana

MATH TEST

Read the numbers outloud : 4,8,5,3,9,7,6

Look away and memorize the numbers for 20 seconds.

Say them outloud again.

“If you speak English, you have about 50% chance of remembering them perfectly” (228)

“If you are Chinese, though, you are certain to get it right every time” (228)

Big difference between how Western and Asian languages are constructed

Number system in English is highly irregular—ten, eleven, twelve

Number system in China, Korea or Japan are logical—ten, ten-one, ten-two

MATTHEW AFFECT KICKS IN

The disenchantment of math with Western children start at third or fourth grade

Its linguistic structure is clumsy

Basic rules seem arbitrary

Asian kids with same age don’t feel nearly confused Able to calculate faster

Hold more numbers in head

Asian children are more likely to enjoy math, which leads them to try a little harder and more willing to do their homework

Built-in advantage + hard work ethic from culture= Matthew Affect

Questionnaire—asks 120 questions Such as what level their parents education is

Turns out that the questionnaire ranking and the math ranking are exactly the same