Very nice ones, Asher. I would love some close ups too. These asians are weird... At the age of 3 they know how to play any instrument!!! Have seen the stats of IQ for each country? Take a look and be affraiiiiddd!!! LOL!!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IQ_and_the_Wealth_of_Nations
That reference to IQ and economic success is really a hoot but likely nonsense! First, one needs to establish that IQ was measured well and provide a degree of certainty to those measurements. Otherwise, there's no difference between the range 98 +/- 10 or 15 for your average IQ's in the table.
My observation is that the differences are foremost cultural. The training on certain societies allows one to take I.Q. tests more effectively. One needs twin studies and genetic markers to be able to understand what components that appear to be hereditary, or indeed so.
Back to the Asian kids, just remember that Mozart was European but he was brought up with the language of music in which he was fluent as a child. At the Colburn School there are indeed a lot of talented Asian students but but we also have musicians from every culture and race. It so happens that some cultures value soccer, baseball or basketball more than music and so get less representatives at a particular time. When Jews came out of the Ghettoes and Pale of Settlement to the cities, education exploded and then there were abundant Jewish musicians and composers where there none before. So it's likely that the rise of Asian musicians is related to an explosion of opportunity.
However, when the stage is full, all races are present and shine! The Colburn School has an outreach program and has hundreds of scholarships for disadvantaged students to nurture talent from all quarters of the city. Obviously, it's harder for a child to be brought to the school when the parents, themselves don't have much of anything in education or the values of the Arts. So the opportunities are open from the earliest age to be able to plant seeds and then nurture the children so creativity and talent is valued.
In addition each summer, 60 teens are brought in from the most troubled neighborhoods for an intense summer Encounter program. Here they are transformed by coaching for self-worth, community, acting, singing and playing instruments. At the end there's an amazing performance of a transformed group of friends, each destined not to be part of another lost generation.
So for the IQ's, yes it a fun thing to quip about. Reality is more likely cultural values, economic opportunity, role models and enthusiastic guides that are the arbiters of all progress where education is part of the process.
Asher