Is it just me - Filipinas

Discuss culture, living, traveling, relocating, dating or anything related to the Asian countries - China, The Philippines, Thailand, etc.
sushiman
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Post by sushiman »

Yeah I imagine brain drain is a big problem here.

Nerding out on the math for a moment -- the mean IQ is 85 here, and one standard deviation is 15pts. That means only 0.1% of the population are born with an IQ above 130 (3 standard deviations), while in the west 2.5% are born above 130.

That's only 1 in 1000 with an IQ > 130. Those people would certainly feel intellectually unchallenged. While they are the people who move society "forward", they would feel compelled to migrate to the West or NE Asia for a better education and opportunities.
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Mr Natural
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Post by Mr Natural »

sushiman wrote:Mentally less than 1% are attractive. I'm always struck by the mental aspect when I'm here. The average IQ is only 86
I think the EQ (emotional quotient) and certain other personality aspects are much more important than IQ.
Taco wrote: I don't see this as problem because the worst woman(American) I ever dated had a 4.0 GPA and a scholarship. I don't really have a lot in common with my Filipina wife yet we're still best friends.
You know I constantly hear guys talk about how they want a smart educated woman, someone that they can have intellectual conversations with etc. But sometimes I wonder if they should be careful what they are wishing for, because my experience has basically been the same as yours. You can make the case that the smarter they are, the more dangerous and difficult they have the potential to be.
sushiman wrote:Yeah I imagine brain drain is a big problem here ..... only 1 in 1000 with an IQ > 130 ...... They would feel compelled to migrate to the West or NE Asia for a better education and opportunities.
Maybe, but it depends on how you look at it. Brings to mind the old saying - in the land of the blind the one eyed man is king.
Everybody has a plan til they get punched in the mouth
Mike Tyson
ChampionKaji
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Post by ChampionKaji »

Filipinas are ugly as f**k. I don't see the appeal in them, especially since being white is a ticket to poon in places where there are good-looking girls like China, Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea. If I were not Black I'd be headed to those countries.
Enticer
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Post by Enticer »

Depends on your patience level...in regards to IQ...

I am not the most patient with idiots...however, people who are uneducated but fast learners, I'm fine with. I'm a teacher....

As for Filipina's being ugly as f**k. That's an asshole thing to say about an entire culture, based on your opinion. So, who the hell are you that your opinion is so valid?

I have seen many beautiful Filipinas. My favorite are indeed Japanese....but to each their own. No need to force feed your asshole opinion, especially when it comes to opinions of beauty...
Rock
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Post by Rock »

sushiman wrote:Yeah I imagine brain drain is a big problem here.

Nerding out on the math for a moment -- the mean IQ is 85 here, and one standard deviation is 15pts. That means only 0.1% of the population are born with an IQ above 130 (3 standard deviations), while in the west 2.5% are born above 130.

That's only 1 in 1000 with an IQ > 130. Those people would certainly feel intellectually unchallenged. While they are the people who move society "forward", they would feel compelled to migrate to the West or NE Asia for a better education and opportunities.
Where do u get the standard deviation of IQ in Phils is 15 points? Was it measured too or are you just guessing. It could be a lot more or less than that.
davewe
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Post by davewe »

sushiman wrote:Yeah I imagine brain drain is a big problem here.

Nerding out on the math for a moment -- the mean IQ is 85 here, and one standard deviation is 15pts. That means only 0.1% of the population are born with an IQ above 130 (3 standard deviations), while in the west 2.5% are born above 130.

That's only 1 in 1000 with an IQ > 130. Those people would certainly feel intellectually unchallenged. While they are the people who move society "forward", they would feel compelled to migrate to the West or NE Asia for a better education and opportunities.
The intelligence or lack thereof in the Philippines is a confusing issue. While most of us are worldly enough to know that different cultures have different interests and notions of what is a smart person, it's so easy to get fooled in the Philippines. By that I mean, most of the girls speak English, and often well, and they know something about American culture and like it. Therefore you get surprised when you find out how much they don't know (and maybe don't care).

A recent example. My wife and I watched the film The Right Stuff the other night. An epic that starts with Chuck Yaeger's breaking the sound barrier but is mostly about the original 7 Mercury astronauts. After the film was over I started telling Janet about what John Glenn had done after he was an astronaut: Senator, ran for Pres., went into space again in his late 70s. I was always a big Glenn fan. Finally she said, "Which one was John Glenn?" I was incensed! "You just watched the movie - what are you talking about? Were you paying attention?"

Finally I calmed down and realized from her perspective as a non-American who was born decades after the events in the movie, which guy was which (Glenn, Shepard, Grissom, etc.) was a mystery. But from my reality as a kid in the 60s those people were important - everyone knew who they were. Finally I said, "Glenn was the one whose wife stuttered," and of course she then knew who I was talking about.

So just because the Filipina you are speaking with/chatting with knows English well and appears to know American culture, don't expect her to understand the context of any of it. Janet knew nothing about 9-11, the Vietnam war, WW2, let alone the Mercury astronauts.

One other thing you will find. Because Filipinas are less likely to admit they don't understand something, you will assume they understand - until it is obvious that they don't. Often it is because you used an expression that is incomprehensible to them. I generally go back in our conversations and ask Janet, "did you understand what I meant when I said 'dollars to donuts'?" "Nope." Come to think of it - I don't know what it means either.

Not saying that all Filipinas are smart - no doubt they aren't. But don't confuse intelligence with cultural context.
Rock
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Post by Rock »

davewe wrote:
sushiman wrote:Yeah I imagine brain drain is a big problem here.

Nerding out on the math for a moment -- the mean IQ is 85 here, and one standard deviation is 15pts. That means only 0.1% of the population are born with an IQ above 130 (3 standard deviations), while in the west 2.5% are born above 130.

That's only 1 in 1000 with an IQ > 130. Those people would certainly feel intellectually unchallenged. While they are the people who move society "forward", they would feel compelled to migrate to the West or NE Asia for a better education and opportunities.
The intelligence or lack thereof in the Philippines is a confusing issue. While most of us are worldly enough to know that different cultures have different interests and notions of what is a smart person, it's so easy to get fooled in the Philippines. By that I mean, most of the girls speak English, and often well, and they know something about American culture and like it. Therefore you get surprised when you find out how much they don't know (and maybe don't care).

A recent example. My wife and I watched the film The Right Stuff the other night. An epic that starts with Chuck Yaeger's breaking the sound barrier but is mostly about the original 7 Mercury astronauts. After the film was over I started telling Janet about what John Glenn had done after he was an astronaut: Senator, ran for Pres., went into space again in his late 70s. I was always a big Glenn fan. Finally she said, "Which one was John Glenn?" I was incensed! "You just watched the movie - what are you talking about? Were you paying attention?"

Finally I calmed down and realized from her perspective as a non-American who was born decades after the events in the movie, which guy was which (Glenn, Shepard, Grissom, etc.) was a mystery. But from my reality as a kid in the 60s those people were important - everyone knew who they were. Finally I said, "Glenn was the one whose wife stuttered," and of course she then knew who I was talking about.

So just because the Filipina you are speaking with/chatting with knows English well and appears to know American culture, don't expect her to understand the context of any of it. Janet knew nothing about 9-11, the Vietnam war, WW2, let alone the Mercury astronauts.

One other thing you will find. Because Filipinas are less likely to admit they don't understand something, you will assume they understand - until it is obvious that they don't. Often it is because you used an expression that is incomprehensible to them. I generally go back in our conversations and ask Janet, "did you understand what I meant when I said 'dollars to donuts'?" "Nope." Come to think of it - I don't know what it means either.

Not saying that all Filipinas are smart - no doubt they aren't. But don't confuse intelligence with cultural context.
Look, give them one of those pattern recognition IQ tests which have nothing to do with language or cultural context. I did that with a few local friends in Taiwan who seem pretty average intellectually (in Taiwan context) and almost all scored between 115 and 140 (it's calibrated to score similar to Binet IQ test for the areas it measures). Try that here in the Philippines and see just how low the scores can be.

Today my friend went to Wendy's across the street from my condo to get me the fish and chips combo 2. She told me the girl effed up the order so bad 2 times and originally tried to charge over 500 Pesos. And she told me there was an American guy in there who said he had waited over 30 minutes for his order and they were still 'working on it' lol.

I'm fortunate to know some exceptionally bright Filipinas. I've looked at their term or thesis papers and am always very impressed. They are very well spoken and logical and write without mistakes (unlike me lol). And some of them admit to me that a huge percentage of people in this country are as dumb as rocks!

If you live here, get used to a dearth of common sense from so many people and local institutions. You will encounter deep unmitigated stupidity on a regular basis. That's the way it is. It can actually work in your favor in some ways if you exploit it. I mean, some may just use others who are too slow to know any better.
davewe
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Post by davewe »

Rock wrote: I'm fortunate to know some exceptionally bright Filipinas. I've looked at their term or thesis papers and am always very impressed. They are very well spoken and logical and write without mistakes (unlike me lol). And some of them admit to me that a huge percentage of people in this country are as dumb as rocks!
There's a huge percentage of people who are dumb as rocks everywhere. Hell I know it's hard to believe but there's a few right here on HA!

A recent survey which went around the Internet pretty heavily said that 25% of Americans did not know that the earth revolves around the sun. Don't know if the study's true or not but I think it's consistent with the morons that are around here.

So yes I do agree - lots of dumb Filipinas. But language, different cultural rules, and failure to understand what we all know - that the world revolves around Western sensibilities, also impacts our view of intelligence abroad.

Frankly when I am in PI I find the expats to be the dumbest people I encounter and I have often been embarrassed to be lumped in with them.
Enticer
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Post by Enticer »

I can see the possible frustration of having a simple minded woman for a wife. Yet, love and patience can persevere. I'd rather have a warm, loving and kind hearted Filipina, than a smart but ignoramous, bitch AW woman....
ChampionKaji
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Post by ChampionKaji »

I'd rather sport-f**k women in taiwan. Too bad I'm Black so I can't.
Rock
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Post by Rock »

davewe wrote:
Rock wrote: I'm fortunate to know some exceptionally bright Filipinas. I've looked at their term or thesis papers and am always very impressed. They are very well spoken and logical and write without mistakes (unlike me lol). And some of them admit to me that a huge percentage of people in this country are as dumb as rocks!
There's a huge percentage of people who are dumb as rocks everywhere. Hell I know it's hard to believe but there's a few right here on HA!

A recent survey which went around the Internet pretty heavily said that 25% of Americans did not know that the earth revolves around the sun. Don't know if the study's true or not but I think it's consistent with the morons that are around here.

So yes I do agree - lots of dumb Filipinas. But language, different cultural rules, and failure to understand what we all know - that the world revolves around Western sensibilities, also impacts our view of intelligence abroad.

Frankly when I am in PI I find the expats to be the dumbest people I encounter and I have often been embarrassed to be lumped in with them.
I'm speaking in relative terms. The differences I notice are glaring.

I highly doubt the validity of that survey you cited. If I went around and randomly questioned adult US citizens in their native languages about that, I think the percentage who would answer incorrectly is much smaller than 25%. But even if not, it could be more than anything else a measure of poor education or schools which failed to teach that particular 'fact'.

What I'm getting at is not memorization of facts. It's basic processing capability and common sense. You cite language differences as one excuse. Well, don't you think that's even a much bigger challenge in S. Korea, China, Taiwan, or even HK (all of whom in aggregate significantly outscore American's on such tests by the way). Pattern recognition tests require no language capabilities anyway.

Even if you go to HCM Vietnam which is still behind Phils economically and is at a major English language disadvantage, you will not suffer the same type of people related nonsense you often are forced to endure in Metro Manila, IMO. That's been my own experience anyway.

I'm probably just as big a fan of the Philippines as you are. But don't try to sugar coat the intelligence and common sense issue. Phils. probably falls just as low on global intelligence ranking as it does on average height ranking. And the well known brain drain of the best and brightest only compounds the issue.
davewe
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Post by davewe »

Rock wrote:
I'm probably just as big a fan of the Philippines as you are. But don't try to sugar coat the intelligence and common sense issue. Phils. probably falls just as low on global intelligence ranking as it does on average height ranking. And the well known brain drain of the best and brightest only compounds the issue.
I really don't think we're in big disagreement here. No doubt there are plenty of morons in Metro-Manila and everywhere else in PI. What I would nonetheless say is:

1. There are enough available girls in PI that you can meet one with an education and/or intelligence to satisfy most guys even if the majority aren't in that category.
2. I am cynical enough to think that most people in my culture are also morons. Jay Leno made a career out of interviewing people in sophisticated LA, and hysterically discovered young morons everywhere. I work as an engineer surrounded by very smart guys - most of whom cannot put their pants on straight :) So there are different kinds of intelligence.
3. I know more expats living in PI that I can count and just as many guys here married to Filipinas. In most cases the girls are smarter than the guys and in nearly all cases the women adjusted better to life in a foreign country (USA) than the guys did to life in PI. Now that doesn't mean that the girls would do better in a special recognition test.
4. I do agree with your height analogy. If a guy needs a rocket scientist or a 6' tall girl, the Philippines is gonna be slim pickens.
Rock
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Post by Rock »

Hmm, it just happened again, twice!

1. Had dinner at nearby Korean restaurant. Total bill 400 Pesos. I go up to counter, hand accountant 1,000, then patiently wait for like 10 minutes while she fiddles around with what I don't know. Finally, she hands me a 500 and 10 20s for a total of 700. As I walk out the door, I stop and ponder, hmm, should I tell her she just gave me 100 too much. I just wait and watch and in like another 5 minutes, she finally figures it out and comes to find me at door to get back the extra. Lucky for her I waited.

2. From there, I stop by 7-11 on way back and pick up a 10 liter jug of water for 99 pesos. I hand girl 500, wait a couple minutes and then she asks me for 1 peso. I spend the next 3 minutes trying to get her to understand that she owes me 401 Pesos, not 399, lol. Finally, a light bulb goes off in her head (Eureka, you're right, I need to give you an extra peso, not the other way around).
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Mr S
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Post by Mr S »

Rock wrote:Hmm, it just happened again, twice!

1. Had dinner at nearby Korean restaurant. Total bill 400 Pesos. I go up to counter, hand accountant 1,000, then patiently wait for like 10 minutes while she fiddles around with what I don't know. Finally, she hands me a 500 and 10 20s for a total of 700. As I walk out the door, I stop and ponder, hmm, should I tell her she just gave me 100 too much. I just wait and watch and in like another 5 minutes, she finally figures it out and comes to find me at door to get back the extra. Lucky for her I waited.

2. From there, I stop by 7-11 on way back and pick up a 10 liter jug of water for 99 pesos. I hand girl 500, wait a couple minutes and then she asks me for 1 peso. I spend the next 3 minutes trying to get her to understand that she owes me 401 Pesos, not 399, lol. Finally, a light bulb goes off in her head (Eureka, you're right, I need to give you an extra peso, not the other way around).
You should just go ahead and buy either a counter top or standup hot/cold water dispenser that holds 3/5 gallon water jugs. It's a better long term investment if you have your own place and will save you lots of money than buying the bottled water jugs in the stores. I'd buy two 5 gallon jugs (around 300 pesos each) and alternate getting them filled at the local filtered water place. Usually 5 gallons of water is around 30-40 pesos depending on where you live and that includes delivery. It's cheaper if you pick it up yourself but if saving 5 or 10 pesos probably isn't a big deal in comparison to the amount of time and energy it takes to carry a 5 gallon jug back from the water place. Buy the Canadian brand Marks, they last the longest. The other brands are Chinese or local and will break after a year or two. I know from experience.
"The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane." Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor and stoic philosopher, 121-180 A.D.
In2dadark
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Post by In2dadark »

davewe wrote: 3. I know more expats living in PI that I can count and just as many guys here married to Filipinas. In most cases the girls are smarter than the guys and in nearly all cases the women adjusted better to life in a foreign country (USA) than the guys did to life in PI. Now that doesn't mean that the girls would do better in a special recognition test.
.
Hopefully I won't get flamed for not posting enough; but I don't see how someone moving from a 3rd world country to the U.S. (still first world but falling) can be compared w/ someone going in the opposite direction (or used as any measure). I think it's normal for it to be an uncomfortable challenge for many. Were the women going in the other direction (first to third, for some unmet emotional or other need) there would likely be much more complaining.
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