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Because East Asia is all about competition The competition starts from kindergarten, parents are competing with each other for things like: 1. How many Englis

Because East Asia is all about competition The competition starts from kindergarten, parents are competing with each other for things like: 1. How many English words your kid know already? 2. How many classic poetries they can recite? 3. Mathematics above requirement etc. It is a rat race and it is suffocating. And in East Asian system, one failed academic assessment is pretty much a failure and deemed useless, you will be discriminated in so many aspects of your life. And it is curve based system, so no matter how hard you try, 50% will never go to college anyway. And ofc, this system will accompany you all they way through your career as well. People are always looking for something they can compare against, pick the winner and loser, and judge you upon it. As a result, having kids and raising them up to societal standard costs big money, people choose to have none or one and invest everything they can to that one kid.

reustle 4y ago
I've lived in Japan for nearly a decade on and off now, and have never heard of parents comparing their children's TOEIC scores, nor talking about classic poetry. School level competition exists, but I don't think these are the points they focus on. Those seem more like China specific things.
- karmasimida 4y ago
  Might not apply to Japan that much. But this is 100% to other Asia's advanced economies, those with Chinese ethnicity majority or heavily influenced by Confucianism historically. China/HK/Taiwan/Singapore/Korea No one can escape this. Japan is actually an oddball here, I think Japan had never imported the 科举 system from China, that might be the key
  - fomine3 4y ago
    科挙 was somewhat imported but it seems that now there are just less competition compared to China/Korea (except richer parents in metropolis). Perhaps that's part of a reason why their birth rate is lower.
Volrath89 4y ago
maybe this is the reason why they become "advanced economies" in the first place?
- karmasimida 4y ago
  It could be. Doesn’t mean it won’t come with a price tag. I would say becoming advanced economy, then quickly aging and losing vitality is the critical flaw with East Asia model. They exploit their populace so much they don’t want to reproduce anymore

reustle 4y ago

I've lived in Japan for nearly a decade on and off now, and have never heard of parents comparing their children's TOEIC scores, nor talking about classic poetry. School level competition exists, but I don't think these are the points they focus on. Those seem more like China specific things.

karmasimida 4y ago
Might not apply to Japan that much. But this is 100% to other Asia's advanced economies, those with Chinese ethnicity majority or heavily influenced by Confucianism historically. China/HK/Taiwan/Singapore/Korea No one can escape this. Japan is actually an oddball here, I think Japan had never imported the 科举 system from China, that might be the key
- fomine3 4y ago
  科挙 was somewhat imported but it seems that now there are just less competition compared to China/Korea (except richer parents in metropolis). Perhaps that's part of a reason why their birth rate is lower.

Volrath89 4y ago

maybe this is the reason why they become "advanced economies" in the first place?

karmasimida 4y ago
It could be. Doesn’t mean it won’t come with a price tag. I would say becoming advanced economy, then quickly aging and losing vitality is the critical flaw with East Asia model. They exploit their populace so much they don’t want to reproduce anymore