Callistonian.net

Some kid’s ignorant classmate said, “Ah~ How can you not be good at math? You’re Asian! Wow. I’m going to tell my parents I did better than the Asian kid!”

One of my pet peeves: stereotypes. I am not fond of them; I hate them. People who incessantly employ them irritate me.

I teach; I volunteer. I help students with their math. Sometimes, I help—gasp!—people of Asian ancestry. When students tell me that their being Asian coupled with their being less than stellar at math causes their classmates to tease them, I get annoyed. Picking on someone’s ethnic background has been out of style for, at least, 50 years, amirite?

It’s bad enough that the kids are struggling. Shame on anyone who makes them feel less human or less Asian because of it. “You can’t really be Asian. Come on, I did better than you on this… You were probably adopted and just don’t know it yet.”

Also, shame on those who, without joking, attribute their mathematical abilities to their being Asian.

X: How’d you know that? Wow.
Y: Duh’. I don’t need to try. I’m naturally good at math. I’m Azn.

Okay—so because I’m not Asian, I’m going to suck at math? :( Or if I were Asian and still sucked at it, something would be terribly wrong with me?

Other annoying people feel that such stereotypes are wonderful. They get rather huffy when the subject is brought up. “OMG, you’re Asian. You can’t complain about racism. Your stereotypes are all good! You guys are good at math. You guys are frugal…ugh.”

I don’t know about them, but I don’t see anything particularly good or progressive about being held to a higher standard than the rest of your peers, simply because of your race, and then being looked down upon if you can’t meet it.

I haven’t had any personal experience with the subject, though. I’m black and female, so 99.9% of my stereotypes are bad. Sadness. Something that irks me, though, is that it seems… a lot of people assume that I’m part Asian or something because, “Like, OMGz, I’m not an idiot.”

What experiences have you had with stereotypes?

I don’t know if it’s the same where you live, but in the States we do this thing where the cost of items isn’t the same as the price tag on them. An over sized cup of Chai, priced $2.50, is probably going to cost $2.72.

This insanity has two effects: First, people rarely know how much money they’re going to spend, before getting to the register. Second, it makes paying with exact change difficult. Prettily, evenly, priced things are corrupted by the sale’s tax.

Most Americans have given up on paying with exact change, but I like it… because I’m not fond of pennies. I want to get rid of them, not accumulate them. One cannot buy anything for a penny. :(

Do you pay with exact change?

In other news, I’ve been toying about with my abacus. I can only add and subtract, but I already pwn the calculator dependent. :)

Anyway, updates are coming to Callistonian.net. But I’m unsure of what to add first… Suggest something. In my queue are blog entries better than this one, photos (baby bunny photos, random place photos, &c.), a photo blog, foreign movie reviews, and books reviews.

For your information, (and in the US, at least) tomorrow is Mother’s Day. If you haven’t prepared something for your mum just yet, you may want to get to it.

I’m a Grade A* procrastinator. Procrastinating is something that I shouldn’t do. But as it is something that I do very well, I can’t help but indulge in it every once in awhile. Anyway, I bought my mother something today. I’ve still yet to put together a card and things… I will.

I bought my mother a tea pitcher and dainty tea cups/saucers. She likes tea. I like pretty things. Tea + pretty things = pretty tea things. Thus, that is what I bought her. :D

The pitcher was originally way overpriced, but because I was oh so lucky, I got the pitcher + cups + saucers + a coin purse for myself for less than the original price of the pitcher. I win! Seriously, I feel like I accomplished something amazing in the world of retail. :) Have you ever gotten a good deal on an item you really wanted?

Do you have any plans for Mother’s Day?