The young Asians' achievements have led to a series of fascinating studies. Perhaps the most disturbing results come from the research carried out by a University of Michigan psychologist, Harold W. Stevenson, who has compared more than 7,000 students in kindergarten, first grade, third grade and fifth grade in Chicago and Minneapolis with counterparts in Beijing, Taipei and Sendai. On a battery of math tests, the Americans did worst at all grade levels.

    Stevenson found no differences in IQ. But if the differences in performance are showing up in kindergarten, it suggests something is happening in the family, even before the children get to school.

    It is here that various researchers' different studies converge: Asian parents are motivating their children better. “The bottom line is, Asian kids work hard,” Stevenson says.

    The real question, then, is how Asian parents imbue their offspring with this kind of motivation. Stevenson's study suggests a critical answer. When asked why they think their children do well, most Asian parents said “hard work.” By contrast, American parents said “talent.”

  “From what I can see,” criticizes Stevenson, “we've lost our faith in the idea that we can all get ahead in life through hard work. Instead, Americans now believe that some kids have what it takes and some don't. So we start dividing up classes into ‘fast learners' and ‘slow learners’, whereas the Chinese and Japanese feel all children can succeed in the same curriculum.”

     This belief in hard work is the first of three main factors contributing to Asian students' outstanding performance. It springs from Asians' common heritage of Confucianism, the philosophy of the 5th-century-BC Chinese sage whose teachings have had a profound influence on Chinese society. One of Confucius's primary teachings is that through effort, people can perfect themselves.

    Confucianism provides another important ingredient in the Asians' success as well. In Confucian philosophy, the family plays a central role -- an orientation that leads people to work for the honor of the family, not just for themselves. One can never repay one's parents, and there's a sense of obligation or even guilt that is as strong a force among Asians as Protestant philosophy is in the West .

  There's yet another major factor in this bond between Asian parents and their children. During the 15 years I lived in China, Japan, and Vietnam, I noticed that Asian parents establish a closer physical tie to their infants than most parents in the United States. When I let my baby daughter crawl on the floor, for example, my Chinese friends were horrified and rushed to pick her up. We think this constant attention is old-fashioned or even unhealthy, but for Asians, it's highly effective.

    Can we learn anything from the Asians? “I'm not naive enough to think everything in Asia can be transplanted,” says Stevenson. But he offered three recommendations.

  “To start with,” he says, “we need to set higher standards for our kids. We wouldn't expect them to become professional athletes without practicing hard.”

     Second, American parents need to become more committed to their children's education, he declares. “Being understanding when a child doesn't do well isn't enough.” Stevenson found that Asian parents spend more time helping their children with homework or writing to their teachers than American parents do.

     And, third, our schools could be reorganized in simple but effective ways, says Stevenson. Nearly 90 percent of Chinese youngsters say they actually enjoy school, and 60 percent can't wait for school vacations to end. This is a vastly more positive attitude than youngsters in the US express . One reason may be that students in China and Japan typically have a break after each class, helping them to relax and to increase their attention spans.

  “I don't think Asians are any smarter,” says Don Lee, an Asian-American student at Berkeley. “There are brilliant Americans in my chemistry class. But the Asian students work harder. I see a lot of wasted potential among the Americans.”

   当郑金枝的父亲用积蓄的钱为她买了一张票，让她乘上一条将带她离开越南的渔船时，她才9岁。对这个家庭来说，将金枝送上小船，置身于陌生人中间，是一种令人心碎、代价昂贵的牺牲。他们只愿她最终能到达美国，在那儿受到良好的教育，享受更美好的生活。

   对小女孩来说，这是一次充满危险的艰苦旅程。 在小船到达安全之地以前很久，食物和水的贮备已经用完。当金枝最终到达美国后，她又不得不同一连3个收养家庭相处。但是当她1998年从圣地亚哥的帕特里克·亨利中学毕业时，她取得了全优的成绩以及这个国家最享盛名的几所大学提供的奖学金。

    “我必须取得好成绩，”这个现为康奈尔大学二年级学生的19岁姑娘说，“这样我才对得起在越南的父母。”

   金枝是一群聪明伶俐、积极进取的美籍亚裔中的一员，他们正突然潮水般地涌入我们最好的大学。虽然美籍亚裔只占全国人口的2.4%，但他们在哈佛的本科生中却占了17.1%， 在麻省理工学院占了18%，在加州大学伯克利分校占了27.3%。

   为什么美籍亚裔的成绩这样优秀呢? 他们是否像一些陈旧的看法所暗示的那样是些埋头用功的学生? 他们是否有更高的智商? 或者在我们一向珍视，但也许已经丢失的价值观----如敬业、家庭和教育等方面，我们是否可以向他们学到一些有用的东西呢?

     并非所有的亚裔人都学得一样好；比如，没受过什么教育的柬埔寨难民的孩子就常常需要特殊的帮助。许多美籍亚裔人不喜欢被称为“模范的少数民族”，他们感到这是美国白人的逆向歧视----虽与1965年以前排斥大多数亚洲移民进入美国的法律截然不同，但仍是一种偏见。

   亚裔年轻人的成绩已经引发了一系列引人注目的研究。也许最令人不安的结果来自于密歇根大学心理学家哈罗德·W·斯蒂文森进行的研究。他将芝加哥和明尼阿波利斯7000多名幼儿园、一年级、三年级和五年级的学生同他们在北京、台北和仙台的同级伙伴作了比较。在一组数学测试中，美国学生在所有的年级层次上都考得最差。

    斯蒂文森没有发现智商上的差别。 但是如果成绩上的差异在幼儿园就开始显现，那就表明事情出在家庭中，甚至是在孩子们上学之前。

  正是在这一点上，各研究者的不同研究趋于了一致：亚洲的父母在激发孩子的学习动力方面做得更好。“决定的因素是亚洲孩子学习努力。”斯蒂文森说。

    接下来，真正要弄清的问题是，亚洲父母是如何将这种学习动力灌输给他们的后代的。 斯蒂文森的研究提出了一个重要的答案。当被问及他们认为他们的孩子为什么学得好时，大多数亚洲父母说是“用功”。而美国父母则说是“天赋”。

    “依我看，”斯蒂文森说，“对于我们都能通过艰苦努力在生活中取得成功的观念我们已经不再相信。相反，美国人现在认为有的孩子具备成功所必需的素质，而有的孩子则不具备。于是我们开始把班级分为‘快班’和‘慢班’，而中国人和日本人则认为所有的孩子都能在同一课程中成功。”

   这种对于勤奋的信念是促成亚洲学生成绩突出的三大要素中的第一个。它来源于亚洲人共同的儒教传统，即公元前5世纪那位中国圣人的哲学思想，他的教义对中国社会产生了深远的影响。孔夫子的主要教义之一是，人们通过努力能够完善自我。

    儒教也为亚洲人的成功提供了另一个要素。在孔夫子的哲学中，家庭起着最重要的作用----这种定向引导人们为家庭的荣誉而学习工作，而不仅仅是为了他们自己。一个人永远无法报答他的父母，而且在亚洲人中间还有一种责任感、乃至负罪感，这是一种如同新教哲学在西方一样的强大力量。

   还有另外一个重要因素存在于亚洲父母及其子女的这种关系中。 在我住在中国、日本和越南的15年间，我注意到同大多数美国父母相比，亚洲父母同他们的婴儿建立了一种更为亲密的身体联系。比如，当我让幼小的女儿在地板上爬时，我的中国朋友们会大惊失色，冲过去把她抱起来。我们认为这种无时不在的关心已经过时、甚至是不健康的，但是对于亚洲人来说，它却十分有效.

  我们能从亚洲人那儿学到点什么吗？“我还没有天真到认为亚洲的每样东西都能被移植过来。”斯蒂文森说。但是，他却提出了3条建议。

    “首先，”他说，“我们需要为我们的孩子们确立更高的目标。我们不会指望他们不经过刻苦训练就能成为职业运动员。”

    第二，他宣称，美国父母需要更加关心子女的教育。“在孩子表现不好时表示理解是不够的。” 斯蒂文森发现，亚洲父母比美国父母花费更多的时间帮助孩子做作业或者写信给孩子的老师。

   第三，我们的学校可以用简单而有效的方式加以重组，斯蒂文森说。近90%的中国年轻人说他们确实喜欢学校， 60%的年轻人迫不及待地盼着学校假期结束。同美国年轻人所表示的态度相比，这种态度要积极得多。原因之一也许是中国和日本的学生一般在每节课后都有一段休息时间， 这有助于他们放松并增加注意力集中的持续时间。

    “我并不认为亚洲人更聪明。”伯克利的一位美籍亚裔学生李·唐说，“在我的化学班里，有一些很聪明的美国人。但是亚洲学生更刻苦。我在美国人身上看到很多被浪费的潜能。”