We have always suspected there is more to Texas than W. Now it's proven.

hey pig, u r an a** whole. W is not from texas, but he got here as fast as he could. as for u? STAY HOME!!!!!!

Pig we in Texas have always known. FYI We have 4 of the top 33 high schools in the country in the latest list. One in a border area with a 70% + hispanic population. Our kids can do it.

They are expected to do well and the family makes sure that they study and not take the easy way out. I am a former technical recruiter (having seen thousands of resumes and interviewed hundreds of techies) and the educational differences are striking between Indians (both foreign born and US born) and Americans. We have fallen behind because we don't demand more from our children and our schools.

I can't put it any better than LovesDLG. The American public school mission is fundamentally wrong on so many levels. It emphasizes self-centeredness and political indoctrination over basic education, hard work and self-reliance. The end result is that American kids coming out of the public school system (and most private schools as well) feel great about themselves, but lack the educational background and the work ethic to compete in the global job market. The schools aren't fostering self-esteem - they're filling kids with a false sense of security about their own worth, but don't give them the goods to "back it up." Most Americans born after the mid 1970s are coddled, narcissistic and have an inflated sense of entitlement, and they lack the competitive drive to go out and work for what they want to achieve in life. This is why so many companies are passing over Americans in favour of Indians, Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, etc.

Amen to that. We are too worried about hurting their feelings. But wait a minute. This kid lives down the street. He is an AMERICAN. And he goes to an American school. He is learning despite that fact.

LovesDLG-

Now all we need to do is change the U.S. culture by shifting the burden of motivating students (even if it takes some veiled threats of negative consequences for slacking off) back to the parents. We used to have that system in place. But then we promoted the concept that everyone being entitled to achieve their full potential (and get a taxed pay check) and both parents marched off to the work force. The motivational task was relegated to the class room teacher. Hard to motivate after the close of the school day when most of the studying has to take place. It does not seem that bewildering and complicated that U.S. students, for the most part, are falling further and further behind the rising eastern rim students. But perhaps the cultural change needed here is too much of a sacrifice. Let's figure out a way that the gov't or teachers' union can handle this for us. Good luck.

The American education system is not interested in producing volumes of intelligent people. Our education systems number one priority is to keep us all dumbed down. There are a heck of a lot more minimum wage jobs out there than the high paying "successful jobs". Most of the low level occupations are needed for our society to function. They want to produce sheep that don't question authority and take the constant ramming up the ass by the 1%. The governments highest priority over anything else is to maintain control over it's people. Lots of stupid people are much easier to control and that's what we have in this country. The majority of Americans are stupid. This country sucks. Our public education system doesn't even rate in the top 10 globally. Surely our Universities are some of the best but that's because college tuition is so high and those are private organizations. LovesDLG points out that parents are failing as well. It's all connected and this can be attributed to the fact that they grew up in the same system and the parents are sheep just like thier children. Our culture has lost any sense of dignity or self respect. Morality is a concept lost on the minds of most Americans and whats really really funny is most of them will scoff indignantly at that statement and profess how moral they are. That's the new act in America right. As long as you can maintain the apperance of being good then it's ok, but we all know that there aren't any innocent people anymore. From the media we watch to the way we act in public morality has eroded from years past. In some other cultures the moral goodness at the core of their beliefs has not yet been eroded and this is why children from those families tend to do better. Their parents actually stress the important things to the children and make them apply themselves rather than letting them sit around playing x-box while mom buys a new i-pad on e-bay.

"The land of the free and home of the brave"...HA!. First we have a larger percentage of our citizens in prisons than any other country in the world. America has the greatest inequality of income of any modernized country (not even close). Most European nations have now adopted limits on compensation for C.E.O's and other high earning positions. Our country is among the few modern nations that have not done this. Our country is one of the few that failed to join the Quioto protocol which is an initiative to reduce harmful emissions into the atmosphere. Our nation is no longer...scratch that....Our government and those with political and financial power or influence, are not interested in the well being of our environment or the well being of our people (I changed it to not from no longer because I don't think they ever were). They are interested in maintaining power and gaining more power. Interested in profit margins and finding ways to overcome "stupid regulations" that hinder them from gaining even more power and making even more money. This is not the land of the free. "Land of the imprisoned and home of the sheep" is more like it. We are sheep because we all know this is true yet we do nothing about it. In Rome the senate had corruption just like ours does but at least in Rome the senators had to consider the needs of the people slightly more, because if the people became unhappy enough an angry mob might show up and kill all the senators. Where's the mob now? The government understands this better than anyone and that's why they go to such great lengths to keep us sheep. God forbid the masses ever united and demanded that their voice actually got to count for something rather than the current illusion that our votes count for anything. Anyone who still thinks America is the greatest country in the world either has their eyes closed or suffer from a severe case of naivety. The idea that it ever was is questionable and today America is just a cancer on the rest of the world. Woodrow Wison former President of United States saw where things were heading in the early part of the 20th century. He wrote a book called "The New Freedom". It reads almost like he was a prophet. It can be downloaded for free using the kindle app on your pc or with a kindle if you have one. Any book published before 1929, I think, (could be wrong about the year) can be gotten for free if you can find a copy online.

I think he's Mexican

Tom it is my opinion that you are as misguided as your statements. The government has put it's hands in the education of our children and put requirements on them that were not there for your generation and previous generations. With the Government and Teachers Unions involvement it is just assumed that all children are smart as a whip. Schools have take the emphasise off of reading, Writing and Arithmetic and placed it on other aspects much sooner then the development of the average child. Parents have in turn responded by turning their backs. Schools even thou they encourage parental involvement do not want or tolerate it. Teachers are not held to any standard and are allowed to do as they please because the teacher have tenure. It is my opinion that the current system need to be scrapped and started anew. But as long as you have Teachers Unions and Government involved we will head to the bottom.

he is Mexican, but what does that have to do with studying hard and working to learn everything he cans!! good roll parents come from all races!! just because your black or white or any other race doesn't meen your child isn't going to learn, you just have to guild them and work with them and teach them at home as well as them getting taught at school, all kids can learn, just give them a few mins a day and you will see results!! part of loving your children is making sure their lil minds grow with knowledge!!

I have never heard of a Mexican named Rahul. That's a very Indian name.

Actually he is not Mexican. He is an American with Indian parentage. And that is probably why he won the bee. Having parents grow up in a competitive country like in India really rubs off on the kids. They seem to be a lot more disciplined, "finish homework first, extra reading second, then if you have time go watch tv".

The kid now is helping Pres. Bush find Iraq on the map; afterwards, Bush says - now I know where is the country I screwed up.

He is of Indian heritage and their parents start them very early. They even have their own organization called North-South foundation where they compete among themselves in spelling,geographic, math, etc competition. The parents start their children very early in these competitions. It's work you guys. Edison said it best: genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. Everything balances out in the end though because it takes more than just intelligence to succeed in life. It takes a lot of hard work and God's grace (some people call it luck). It's also who you know and being in the right place at the right time. "People skills" is also very important. Humility will also get you far. Anybody can do well in these competitions, its just how much the parents invests on their children at this young age.

"The kid now is helping Pres. Bush find Iraq on the map; afterwards, Bush says - now I know where is the country I screwed up."

Actually, the kid was going to show Obama that the US only has 50 states, but Obama stuck by his claim of 57.

Ridiculous! BOTH claims.

he is Mexican.

No, he's not. Not unless his Mexican parents thought it would be cool to give him an Indian name.

When I was a kid my mom worked. My grandma and uncle made sure I got the homework done. In HS I was doing it on the bus on the way home. Parochial school kid long bus ride. Passing without knowing the subject wasn't expected.

Congratulations and Good luck to Rahul.

I don't think Indians (and I am one) are particularly smarter or anything. It's just a matter of focus and discipline on part of the child as well as parents. It is high time, everybody starts to pay more attention to education because in the new economy education is the key to better life. Sure there are high school and college dropouts. But that's an exception - not rule.

Well after he is done finding Iraq for Bush he can explain to Obama the US only has 50 states not 57.

Jai Ho!!!

Amazing how first second and third place can be achieved by Indians and the non-indian people commenting on this criticize the American education system. Instead of placing values on sports and social aspect, try pushing your children on education. Not every child can be a star quarterback or a 100 mph fastball pitcher.

There's a good reason why kids from Indian families do so well, and it's because of the way we're brought up. I'm a 16 year old from and an Indian-American family, so I know what it's like to grow up with such high expectations placed on you from an early age.

My parents love me, care for me, and tell me that they'll be proud of me if I become successful in life, so I guess they sort of guilt-trip me, but not really. They made sure I understood right of the bat that I'm responsible for my own destiny. If I want a nice house and cool car when I'm older, it means I need to get a good job, and that means get into a good college, which in turn means get good grades and be well-rounded. So instead of letting me come up with petty fantasies, they ensured I could read before I started school, knew how to add and subtract in Kindergarten, and bought be books for birthday presents until 6th grade. (I'm serious, haha they got me a bunch of Andrew Clements books in 5th grade, not that I minded. :) )

I guess things started changing a bit when I became a teen, but not much, if anything they made sure I understood that now more than ever I have to work hard and do my best. It's not like I don't have a social life, because I go to parties and hang out with my friends, but they helped me set my priorities straight. School first and then everything else. Because of that, I've never gotten anything below an A- in my life and now colleges like Chicago and Rice send me regular emails.

You guys say there's a problem with the education system, but I don't think that's it. I go to the same school as a lot of kids. I have more or less the same teachers and am taught the same things. The only difference is I spend time outside of school teaching myself other things and dedicate myself to learning more. What kids today lack is good parenting and motivation, if more non-Indian parents instill that in their kids, maybe it won't be an Indian-American winning these bees every year.

It is not just the teachers. IT is the parents. I blame them and the government for the problem in our schools. I taught for 30 years and the first day of school if you walked into the school room and saw all Chinese and Indians it was a "thank you Jesus" moment. They would be the ones that studied and you didn't have their parents blaming the teacher if little Johnny didn't study and therefore failed his test. I even had one Indian parent tell me I didn't give enough homework. the "Americans" both black and white complained about too much homework.

What that hell is a conconant?

BTW I sure hope you aren't a NO Saints fan. Gotta suck with that bounty investigation and all.

Dude, are you maybe dyslexic? That's an 's' up there, not a 'c'. I'm not being mean--it happens to me sometimes, too.

What that hell is a conconant?

Ha-haaaa...FAIL!

What that hell is a conconant?

Silly. They come from conconant trees.

Hey Tracy, how many consonants in your last name? If less than 8, whell, you might not be a Texan!

If you need Tracy to help you count to 8 you probably aren't a Texan.

nibor. I live in Texas and you are so wrong. Yes we have some very smart kids here, mostly foreign. But we also have some of the dumbest.

Better dust off your paper bag. The Aints are in decline.

@Aticiln617

You didn't catch my sarcasm did you? Championsaints asked a dumb question and he got a dumb question/answer.

Most Texans I know have names like Vela, Garcia,Smith,Luna. Lot of vowels in thoose

Absolutely Agree that Rahul is a Geo Star....The writer of the article however, is an inattentive idiot..

A Houston-area whiz kid is the new champion of 2012 National Geographic Bee after correctly answering the question: "Name the Bavarian city located on the Danube River that was a legislative seat of the Holy Roman Empire from 1663 to 1806."

Not Houston area rather Missouri City is in Fort Bend County, Part of FBISD not HISD...

The 14-year-old eighth-grader from Quail Middle School in Missouri City, Texas

Perhaps the author doesn't think details are very important... It is Quail Valley Middle School. Makes you wonder if the person who wrote the article has a chip on his shoulder about Texas.

As for those who just guess about stuff because you don't like my state....try reading

http://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/texas

Blah. Blah. Blah. A bit preachy aren't we?

SteveJ, that's why so many people in foreign country's also die of Cancer right?

SteveJ

It is in the interest of the medical community to keep people sick?

So what you are implying is that no researcher or person working in "Big Pharma" has a family member who has cancer?

Steve please leave the ssite now. You're stupidity is showing.

God f*cking damnit why am I screwing up my spelling so horribly today???? Site*

You, sir, are an IDIOT.

Talking to me?

That must mean the kid from your state didn't win.

Shaun Actually it's either, you are an idiot or you're an idiot. Idiot.

And Shaun, spell your name Sean from now on!

dan-282760, your "A" from "Actually" shouldn't be capitalized. Plus, you put a comma in the wrong place. Idiot.

You guys sound like Napoleon Dynamite.

My sister lives in Texas and the schools her girls attend (one in high school and one in middle school) are not that great. So, we can't really generalize about every school in Texas.

I taught (at the Community College level) in Texas. The state does far better supporting their schools than many other states. Family issues caused me to move to WA, but I would still be teaching there if I could.

People first I live in Texas. In the Rio Grande Valley and there is a lot of input from the people to the school district. That makes a difference also the graduates will go to multiple church services the Sunday after graduation so the community can congradulate them. Community involvement makes a difference in how well kids do.

SRScott - he attends a GT academy. 30% of the teachers have a masters degree. This is an elite school in Texas. This is not the norm. With the resources being cut from the school districts, these GT academies as well as regular public schools will be negatively impacted - which means our children will be as well. We have already seen a 15% increase in the student to teacher ratio (and this is one of the wealthiest school districts in Texas).

This year a new test was implemented - STAAR. This was extremely frustrating because the information regarding this new test was not released until after the school year began. These tests take away from our students problem solving time and shifts it to memorization time.

We need our children to learn how to be creative and solve problems.

zztopps....Quail Valley MS has a GT academy it is possible that he is enrolled in the academy but not necessarily so. My kids attend an equally successful MS in the same district. The district in fact have incorporated different Academy Programs at different High Schools throughout the district offering kids the opportunity to prepare for specialized vocations. It really is a terrific plan but in some cases poorly executed or placed. Like having the IB program located at a school that is in a poverty area. Not great planning but certainly may open the eyes of kids being served by those schools into the possibilities that life has to offer.

These "legal" immigrants are consuming high paying white collar jobs. The illegal immigrants take jobs that no American is willing to do (example - Georgia is losing billions of dollars).

HP, IBM and Microsoft exaggerated that there were not enough US citizens to perform IT work. Since the late 90s, over 1 million H1B visas have been issued. This has displaced and devalued the American white collar worker.

Legal does not make it ethical or moral - Corporations and wall street bankupted Americans "legally".

zztopps

who founded Webex? TibCO, nVidia, many other high tech companies?
Indian, asian immmigrants. Who is father of Pentium chip? an Indian. Who invented fiber optics? an Indian.

And they created millions of jobs!!!

zztopps : For every legal Indian immigrant in this country 5 jobs were/have been created; Billions of dollars of taxes paid which go into your social security, food stamps and medicare! Go get your facts right. But you won't because you are happy to make yourself believe that your damn problem was created because of an immigrant. How convenient is that while you sip in soda with your unemployment benefit? It is about time you take a hard look at your high school diploma or a humanities degree you earned because that ain't worth a dime now !!

P.S :"American is willing to do (example - Georgia is losing billions of dollars)".. You, of course, are willing to do; the question is are you qualified to do??

Not until we instill the study habits the Indian and Asian parents are instilling in their kids.

Absolutely right PeopleFirst. I know a lot of these kids and when they go home their parents are all over them to make them study and do their work.

usmc 68 said: Are we ever going to see a non-Asian or non-Indian kid win one of these things?!

Are you not comfortable with the winner? If not, why?

@PeopleFirst, right on! I'm black with an asian wife, and I've seen a huge difference in the behavior of kids in my extended family versus the kids in hers. The kids in my family? Most of the ones under 21 have dropped out of school, doing drugs and alcohol and working dead-end jobs and have the nerve to blame "The Man" for their troubles. The under-21's in my wife's family? They've all either graduated from high school and are in college, or they're still in school but are stellar students. We have to change our cultural thinking regarding education and behavior. But it's not just the black kids; I look at the kids in my white sister-in-law's family and they're just as bad.

Michael we have taken personnel responsibility out of the culture. It is always somebody elses fault. If you didn't study and failed it is that teacher doesn't like me not I was lazy. And everybody wants to start at the top instead of working up the ladder. Life just doesn't work that way. Nobody wants to take the not perfect job until the good one opens up.

Exactly right.

Try having your kids study above and beyond the school requirements. Make them read and push their studies. Throwing a ball down a field will get them no where. How many quarterback in high school are employing Indian or Asian kids? Not one I am sure. Stop saying are you tired of seeing Asian kids progress in studies. You do not see Indians say how come my son can't throw a football. We do what we do bet and that is education. Stop criticizing and start understanding that most non-Asian families focus on sports and social activities over education because it allows the parent to socialize also. Push your kids like China, Japan, India and so many other Asian societies do.

The US Education system is not there to make your child a genius it is up to the parent to make sure their child succeeds, Every wonder why Indians win the spelling bee, and so many other contest that require a brain over brawn?

It's not just a history question you know. They're asking "Name the Bavarian city located on the Danube River that was a legislative seat of the Holy Roman Empire from 1663 to 1806" not a history question dip@!$%#

I'd just guess that it had something to do with how those places got their names, could be a bit of history there.

Otherwise 42.3 degrees North by 72 degrees West would lose the audience.

You hit the nail on the head, Deep.

It has a helluva lot to do with the student's home life.

It is up to the parents to instill a love of learning in a child.

Does Texas Instruments (TI) still exist? Last I looked they sold off all the plants they had in Texas that I knew about. Each of those plants also had design centers attached to them that are no longer there. And I can't remeber the last time I saw a TI anything for sale in a store.

Yes they do Rincewind I had to buy my daughter one of their TI-84 plus calculators for school, those things are expensive!

r u retarded or what? Indian Americans and Asian Americans ARE ..... AMERICANS!

Asians understand the value of an education and try to instill both a work and education ethic in their children. Far too many of the this generation parents ask "can you please repeat the question".

It's not that people don't care about their children or their education. It is most Americans are afraid of their government to force their children to learn. Remember our politicians have turned us into a kinder and gentler nation. No more of this do what i tell you stuff cause there is no such thing as punishment any more. It's time out for you here sit down and scream or not really up to you cause if a parent does anything other then that it's jail for them. And schools when was the last time you herd of the school paddling an unruly student not any more must of been in the 70s

A lot of it has to do with culture. Indian/Asian culture places a high premium on education, and it's helped by the fact that Indian/Asian culture stresses respect for all adults, not just their parents. Thus, their children are more likely to be attentive to the teachers and listen and follow directions, and when at home they're more likely to do their homework when told, instead of ripping and running the streets or hanging out with their friends playing video games. When I was a teacher most of the respectful students I had were asian and indian students, while a lot of my disrepectful students were either black, white, or hispanic. And even then, most of the parents of my hispanic students were respectful and tried to support me while the parents of my black and white students were quick to defend their kids' outrageous behavior and would treat me as if I was the problem.

He is as American as this Polish,German, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, French, Russian, Mongolian American is

We don't concentrate on sports or who looks best for the prom we make sure our kids have a future that makes sense

Duh!

I couldn't tape it at the same time I was recording the Home Shopping Network.

Just whom are you aiming your comments at?

I honestly don't know tina. I honestly can't find a racist on here. Ignorants well most people on here are. Oops scroll down you'll find an ignorant racist.

Wow Terrence Stamp! Really? You want to ridcule another race because their kids are smart? That's lame. When we motivate our children to study as hard as the Asian kids, only then we will see more Caucasian kid winning. By the way, why do you assume that the kid is not an American? Don't forget, this country is made up on many races/ethnic groups.

Judging from your well thought out remark and intelligent statement regarding someone's anatomy, we certainly won't be expecting one of your offspring in any academic competition. Please, if you procreate, let an intelligent person raise your children.

I'll take brains over penis size any day. It doesn't take brains to have sex. At least we know now which is more important to you...

Why are you trying to come up with reasons why this kid is smart? I know many Indian kids who attend public school and they excel in academics. It is the study and work ethics that are instilled in them that make them successful.

We also have really good magnet schools in Texas.

Qualye Middle School isn't private.