Vivek's 'Mediocre' Label for American Kids Sparks Twitter Debate

Vivek believes American children are not meeting their potential because of the way they are raised.

The reason top tech companies often hire foreign-born & first-generation engineers over “native” Americans isn’t because of an innate American IQ deficit (a lazy & wrong explanation). A key part of it comes down to the c-word: culture. Tough questions demand tough answers & if…
— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) December 26, 2024

While Vivek is successful and entitled to his opinion, his children are still small so the fruits of his parenting strategy aren't entirely backed by evidence, thus far. One tweep shared why he sees Vivek's stance as problematic.

Growing up, I saw lots of kids raised exactly like Vivek recommends. It typically didn’t pay off at all. (1/12) https://t.co/EcdTxrVu7I pic.twitter.com/xt8HiGVcd2
— Kyle (@Brownkyl1) December 28, 2024

My next-door neighbor growing up was the son of Chinese immigrants who studied his ass off and completely burned out. He finished in the top 50 in the 2005 National Spelling Bee. But he was also pretty resentful of his Tiger Mom/conservative Chinese upbringing. (2/12) pic.twitter.com/MGKHkZBAGS
— Kyle (@Brownkyl1) December 28, 2024

He ended up attending the same college I did, where he started getting into the club scene, drinking, and drugs. Way more so than the average college kid. Barely graduated with a Business degree. Now he’s a business manager at a small chemical supply company in Delaware. (3/12) pic.twitter.com/w371MroQ2w
— Kyle (@Brownkyl1) December 28, 2024

Obviously, no child is the same so a one size fits all approach to child rearing likely will never work.

The guy (1 year ahead of me) who lived 2 doors down was exactly the kind of person who Vivek disparages. We played video games and talked about 70s Rock. He spent most weekends practicing his kickflip and BB King songs. He was not a great student, but was “well-rounded”. (4/12) pic.twitter.com/xbceVdtMxA
— Kyle (@Brownkyl1) December 28, 2024

He ended up going to a local college that was slightly bigger than our high school. He fell in love with Microbiology and thrived. Graduated magna cum laude, got a Master’s from Princeton and just completed his doctorate from Dartmouth. He’s published multiple papers. (5/12) pic.twitter.com/UeIQAkyqd0
— Kyle (@Brownkyl1) December 28, 2024

His older sister totally flamed out. She was the Salutatorian of her class and voted “Most Likely to Succeed.” She ended up becoming a sort of Margot Tenenbaum vagabond. Dropped out of college. Dropped out of the Coast Guard. Moved to Jamaica for a year. (6/12) pic.twitter.com/usfKrK9vwa
— Kyle (@Brownkyl1) December 28, 2024

Spending a year in Jamaica also has its perks.

My HS got rid of “Most Likely to Succeed” superlative because it started to feel like a curse. My friends who have “succeeded” most as Engineers (working at Google, Lockheed Martin, etc.) were well-adjusted student athletes who goofed off and socialized on the weekends. (7/12) pic.twitter.com/XMqZXMPlhY
— Kyle (@Brownkyl1) December 28, 2024

When I was 17, I took a Java programming class (that I absolutely hated) through John’s Hopkins because I thought it would look good on my college applications. Have I ever used Java? Nope. Did it help me get into college? Probably not at all. (8/12) pic.twitter.com/rmetJ76qfs
— Kyle (@Brownkyl1) December 28, 2024

It's almost like people prosper when they fall in love with what they do.

We were taught that everyone needed to learn how to code. But my first real job was at a company where 99% of the programming was done in Bangalore.

The job had an “80 hour/week” mentality. Guess what? 90% of my hiring class quit in 3 years. But stock price went up a lot. (9/12) pic.twitter.com/gBxfHlKxeT
— Kyle (@Brownkyl1) December 28, 2024

Were there some kids who goofed off and got burned? Yeah. Were there kids who worked really hard and did stuff like learn Latin on the weekends and became a top scientist? Yeah, just 1, our class valedictorian, one of the smartest people I’ve ever met lived 5 houses away. (10/12) pic.twitter.com/aT57vj7IMp
— Kyle (@Brownkyl1) December 28, 2024

He’s a doctor & researcher of infectious disease at one of top medical facilities in the country, but also married, has a kid, and is a normal dude. He didn’t break his brain every weekend. He was born with a 160 IQ and studied hard, but also played Halo 2 and had a gf. (11/12) pic.twitter.com/dndCJtcele
— Kyle (@Brownkyl1) December 28, 2024

One of the saddest things I discovered during my tenure in Silicon Valley was how the competitive high schools in the bay have the highest suicide rates in the country.

I lost a friend to suicide from a strict Chinese family who took his own life after being waitlisted at Penn.
— bellicose_bestie (@BellicoseBestie) December 28, 2024