If a watermelon weights 1kg, how many kilograms would 10 watermelons weigh?
If your answer is 10kg, a math teacher would most likely smile at you for giving a correct answer. But if an Aboriginal answered otherwise, what you think?
"Would you think the Aboriginal student is dumb? The math teacher probably would. But is it really true? I think not," said Yiyang, of the Ami tribe, who holds a doctoral degree in agricultural chemistry from National Taiwan University.
"It's more likely that the Aboriginal child is thinking practically, that since watermelons come in different shapes and sizes, 10 watermelons couldn't possibly all be the same size and weight," Yiyang said.
Stereotypes
Yiyang told the anecdote about the watermelon problem to show how Taiwanese have long stereotyped Aborigines as being incapable of doing well in science and math.
The emergence of an Aboriginal high-tech elite, including Yiyang, has helped to bring the discrimination into the spotlight.
Yiyang, one of the few Aborigines to pursue a degree in a scientific field, said the watermelon story illustrates one reason why there seems to be only a handful of Aborigines in Taiwan pursuing higher educational degrees and careers in high-tech and scientific fields.
"Many scientific notions are quite abstract and many scientific theories are based upon `what if' and `control variable' patterns," Yiyang said.
"Such ways of reasoning and deduction are not traditionally used by Aborigines because our culture is very attached to nature. That influences us to think practically and not about things that aren't tangible.
"Nothing is wrong with Aborigines' genes so as to disable us to think scientifically," he stressed. "It's just that we are inclined to think differently due to our generations-old way of life."
But Yiyang said that scientific reasoning could be cultivated among Aborigines if the government would readjust its educational curriculum.
"The government should design a curriculum that would best suit the Aborigines by ways such as incorporate Aboriginal cultures, values and behavior into their textbooks and learning materials, instead of always forcing the Aborigines to think in terms of the Han Chinese values and culture," Yiyang said.
Discouraged
He added that because teachers fail to recognize how Aboriginal children might approach science and math differently, they are often discouraged from developing an interest in math or science.
But Yiyang is not the only Aborigine who has overcome cultural barriers to achieve in high-tech fields.
Kao Zong-chin (
Kao has received considerable attention for a computer game he created called "Princess Paleng," based on an Aboriginal legend.
The game is the first of its kind to be centered on an Aboriginal theme.
"The government should re-evaluate its educational curriculum concerning Aborigines so that Aboriginal talents in high-tech or science fields are not led to think they aren't capable when in fact, the problems are not within them but in the curriculums," Kao said.
Tribal values
Pan Shih-yung (
RSS