As an Asian-American who recently exited childhood I'd say the biggest gap is that in Asian culture there's fundamentally (a) one way of doing things that (b) o

As an Asian-American who recently exited childhood I'd say the biggest gap is that in Asian culture there's fundamentally (a) one way of doing things that (b) one should not stray from, even from childhoood. Asians don't like surprises. To them the idea of a risk is something where you don't have a set plan, not necessarily something that's actually risky. That's why Asians like engineering, medical, accounting, and legal jobs-- fields where it's possible to carve out a formulaic living. It's also why Asians like math and piano and violin so much: you can be amazing by working hard on a predefined problem. This theory explains the common perception that Asians are mindless drones who admittedly dominate lots of fields. They look like mindless drones because they explicitly try to follow the status quo; they dominate lots of fields because picking a problem early and just sticking with it does make you pretty good at it. Actually, this must've worked pretty well back when it life really did have more or less one realistic path to take. What's changed is that life's gotten more complicated.