Rice Padies and Math

Positive Attitude And Hard Work Always Pays Off
I believe the quote that can sum up this chapter and so poignantly and rings through my mind is “No one can rise before dawn three hundred sixty days a year fails to make his family rich”. The beliefs that hard work, opportunity, luck, and a positive attitude all have a major part in making one an Outlier; I am convinced is true. The chapter, Rice Paddies and Math Tests, Gladwell suggests that hard work and dedication leads to prosperous outcomes. Most of the driven workers in the world come from China. All over China and in cities like Guangzhou revolve around their rice paddies. The rice paddies in China are the most elaborate form of agriculture. Growing rice paddies requires the most intricate planting process that entire Chinese families partake. Constant, tedious work is required to keep the plant alive. These families dedicate up to 3,000 hours a year to their rice fields. In our American society the first thing that may come to mind when hearing their work hours would be, "They're crazy." Or, "Why would they work so hard for such a small outcome?". But in China, their attitude is totally different. “Rice is Life” as, stated in this chapter South Chinese villages agree that, "Without rice, you don't survive. If you want to be anyone.... you would have to have rice. It made the world go around." This is what separates Western agriculture ' was from China that the techniques of rice cultivation spread throughout East Asia.” Western farmers are inclined to building and using large machinery, which reduces labor by man. These machines make is easier to plant more crops in the same amount of time, which results in larger crop fields. In China, there is no easy way out; they have no extra land to expand their crops to and not enough money for agricultural machines. Therefore, they became smarter in time management and overall self-discipline so they could improve their fields. .
Math in Western cultures compared to Chinese cultures is different. This all has to do with our native language and cultural legacies. When it comes to memorizing numbers, Chinese speakers advance at a much quicker rate than do Western speakers. This is because in the Chinese language, numbers are spoken quicker than they are in the English language. We say "four" and "seven", while the Chinese say "si" and "qi". The reason Chinese speakers advance so quickly is in the speed in which they say their numbers. Speed determines the amount we can store in our short-term memories, which is about a two second memory loop. How we say our numbers is not the only difference. The way we construct our languages also plays a role in understanding the math we attempt to complete. While we use "thirteen, fourteen, etc." The Chinese simply say "threeteen, fourteen, etc.." The Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans all use this logical counting system, while the English language remains highly irregular.
The regularity of the Asian counting system allows Asian children to understand basic mathematical functions more easily. Unlike Asian children, who have instant equations in their heads when simply hearing the problem, "three-tens-seven plus two tens two" English speaking kids need to convert the words into numbers, "thirty-seven plus twenty-two must be written into a sensible equation". Having these different language forms are what create the gaps we experience in learning math.
The psychologist, Karen Fuson, believes that through The Asian's sensible learning system "...makes the whole attitude toward math different." She starts to see the "disenchantment with mathematics" begin with Western children in the third and fourth grades. For Asian children, math is simple to understand, making it fun, therefore causing more children to "...try a little harder and take more math classes and are more willing to do their homework..." Asians have a "built-in advantage" in mathematics, but the psychologies, Richard Lynn suggests, "they begin math earlier and the fact that they do well at math may also be rooted in a group's culture". This is a huge advantage Asians have over Westerners, for "Cultural legacies matter".
There may be a connection in the culture Asian's share in growing rice and mathematics. Like Francesca Bray says, "Throughout history, not surprisingly, the people who grow rice have always worked harder than almost any other kind of farmer" may refer not only to farming, but any task put before them. The life of a peasant farmer in Southern China consists of constant tedious work. Unlike other cultures that farm in the spring and relax in the winter, these peasant farmers busy themselves with other tasks in the winter and patiently farm their rice in the spring (totaling an estimated amount of 3,000 hrs. of work per year). This drive to complete every task correctly while using time management and smarts can relate to their success in the classroom as well. The historian, Kenneth Pomerantz says, "The thing about wet-rice farming is, not only do you need phenomenal amounts of labor, but it's very exacting." David Arkush, also a historian, compared proverbs between peasants from Russia and China. What he found was that the Russian proverbs were pessimistic, while the Chinese proverbs consisted of positive outlooks such as, "No one who can rise before dawn three hundred sixty days a year fails to make his family rich."
A math professor, Alan Schoenfeld, ran an experiment where he videotaped countless amounts of students attempting to solve a math problem. His most intriguing student was named Renee. Renee was determined to finish the problem in front of her. She used all the time she needed in order to figure it out. Schoenfeld considered Renee one of his favorite cases studied, because she was persistent and determined. When Renee was related to other students who were taped as well, Schoenfelf found that the average time a student spent on a problem before they gave up, ranged from 30 seconds to two minutes. Renee, on the other hand, was an unusual case, for she spent a full 22 minutes working the problem until she reached her conclusion. Schoenfeld then reached his conclusion that math is, "...not so much ability as attitude. You master mathematics if you are willing to try."
The TIMSS is given every four years by an international group of teachers to elementary and junior high students around the world. This test consists of comprehensive math and science. Kids are required to fill out a survey about their selves previous to taking the exam. This survey asks questions such as, "what their views about math are, their parents' level of education, and what their friends are like." An Educational researcher at the University of Pennsylvania discovered that when reviewing the questionnaire rankings and the math rankings on the TIMSS they are exactly the same. What he is saying is that by seeing how hard students are willing to work, we are also seeing how well they will perform on their math. So by looking at the surveys and then looking at the math scores, Boe discovered that Singapore, South Korea, China, Hong Kong, and Japan all had high-test scores and similar survey responses. Boe found that what all five of these places had in common was that they, "are all cultures shaped by the tradition of wet-rice agricultures and meaningful work" which is why they all do so well when tested. Yes, their language itself gives them an advantage in math, but their hard work and positive outlooks are what make them successful. All five of these cultural groups strongly believe that, hard work and shrewd planning will in time bring compensation.
I am convinced that a positive attitude and hoard work as shown by all the examples of the outliers is the key to their success. I hope that I can practice this principle in all my affairs and I believe that in practicing this I could be just as successful as an Outlier.

Gladwell, Malcolm. Outliers “The Story Of Success”. New York, NY: Back Bay Books, 2011: p225-249. Book.