Because We Are Chinese

In the university in our small town in the U.S. midwest, there is a Chinese professor. His field of study is adaptation of different cultures to America. He has a standard speech, in which he tells several stories -- my children and I have heard this speech multiple times.

His father never went to school even a single day. Yet, if the son brought home a grade less than an A, the dad would say,

"I never got a grade less than an A"

In that culture (which was Taiwan), you never challenge your parents. You simply cannot ask,

"How could you have gotten only A's if you never went to school?"

The Chinese professor had strict rules for his own children. [The Chinese are the most successful ethnic group in America. If admission to Harvard Medical School is based strictly on numbers and no other considerations, on most years, the incoming class would be 100% Chinese females. There is also the funny youtube parody of a Chinese kid getting a B+.] If they ask,

"Why can't we do this? All my friends are allowed to do this."

his answer would be,

"Because we are Chinese." My kids and I got a big chuckle out of this. Once, they asked me,

"Philip and Catherine are allowed to do this. Why can't we do this?"

I was of course, ready. My answer was,

"Because we are Chinese?"

They started laughing too hard to press their case. [Catherine is the one mentioned here.]

Note:

The YouTube link mentioned above has been watched more than 5 million times. I did not provide a clickable link to it because some of the links "suggested" from it are in quite poor taste.

 

Sunitha:

I am assuming that you have posted a link to an image. Obviously there is some sort of a problem with it.

 

Sunitha:

Thanks for fixing the link. I am sorry that your daughter had this unpleasant experience in the clay modeling class.