Statistically Genius
Today I came along a post by a guy on Facebook saying that he has noticed that "Syrian students in his university in Sweden are extremely smart. They are doing extremely well, and are some of the top students in the university." He then proceeded to ask for the reason: What makes Syrian students such high-achievers? People started giving answers that relate to the Syrian educational system, to the Syrian life-style, etc.
I, myself, had had the same thoughts when I started studying in the American University of Beirut, where I noticed Syrian students to be among the high-achievers in the university. I was proud to be a Syrian for a while, until I noticed that it is not a matter of "Syrian genes", it is simply a matter of statistics.
Say you have two groups of people; Group A and Group B. Both groups have geniuses, smart guys, average guys and below average guys. Now, say that you have a university that has an acceptance exam, and say, that you allow only group A to study for this exam for 12 whole years, while you make group B study for some other sort of exam (and in a totally different language too!).
When the exam day comes, All the geniuses of group A will pass, most of their smart guys will do too. Around half of their average students will also pass in addition to a few of their below-average students. However, when it comes to group B, most of them will fail the test, and only the most brilliant will be able to pass a test that he/she didn't study for.
So, while this university will have a variety of students from group A, it will only have high-achievers from group B. So when you come to this university, you will see all kinds of students from group A, but only high-achievers from group B, which will make you think that group B are all geniuses, even though they are a normally varied group just like group A.
This is why you will only see the high-achiever Syrians in this Swedish university, because of mere statistics and probability, because the Syrian that was able to pass an exam in a foreign language, and in a substantially different educational system, is probably a very special kind of student. But of course, as a Syrian, your subconscious mind will prefer the feel of pride brought in by the idea that all Syrians are high achievers than the mere logic of probability and statistics, but that's a different topic...
I, myself, had had the same thoughts when I started studying in the American University of Beirut, where I noticed Syrian students to be among the high-achievers in the university. I was proud to be a Syrian for a while, until I noticed that it is not a matter of "Syrian genes", it is simply a matter of statistics.
Say you have two groups of people; Group A and Group B. Both groups have geniuses, smart guys, average guys and below average guys. Now, say that you have a university that has an acceptance exam, and say, that you allow only group A to study for this exam for 12 whole years, while you make group B study for some other sort of exam (and in a totally different language too!).
When the exam day comes, All the geniuses of group A will pass, most of their smart guys will do too. Around half of their average students will also pass in addition to a few of their below-average students. However, when it comes to group B, most of them will fail the test, and only the most brilliant will be able to pass a test that he/she didn't study for.
So, while this university will have a variety of students from group A, it will only have high-achievers from group B. So when you come to this university, you will see all kinds of students from group A, but only high-achievers from group B, which will make you think that group B are all geniuses, even though they are a normally varied group just like group A.
This is why you will only see the high-achiever Syrians in this Swedish university, because of mere statistics and probability, because the Syrian that was able to pass an exam in a foreign language, and in a substantially different educational system, is probably a very special kind of student. But of course, as a Syrian, your subconscious mind will prefer the feel of pride brought in by the idea that all Syrians are high achievers than the mere logic of probability and statistics, but that's a different topic...
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