Are Chinese candidates far superior?
If you're running a team, particularly in the unforgiving environment that is financial services, the last thing you probably want is someone who needs constant reassurance, is happy with mediocrity and has spent his or her time in education partying and participating in sporting activities rather than obtaining deep expertise in an area of maths or science.
Meet the average Western candidate.
In the West, it's normal for parents to nurture children and praise them even when their achievements aren't exemplary.
In the UK, this is typified by the examination system. Prior to 1988, grades for A levels were awarded according to rank: the top tier of candidates got an A, the next got a B and so on. Since 1988, grades have been awarded simply according to the achievement of a specified pass rate. The result has been to massively increase the number of students with A grades; by 2010 27% of all passes achieved an A, even though most were far from the best performers.
By comparison, a controversial article in the Wall Street Journal at the weekend, highlighted the extent to which Chinese mothers accept nothing less than excellence in their children.
"If a Chinese child gets a B-which would never happen-there would first be a screaming, hair-tearing explosion," writes the author, a Chinese professor at Yale Law School. "Chinese parents demand perfect grades because they believe that their child can get them. If their child doesn't get them, the Chinese parent assumes it's because the child didn't work hard enough."
Differences between Chinese (and Indian) and Western attitudes to education are also investigated in the documentary 2 million minutes by US investor Bob Compton.
Having struggled to hire Westerners of sufficiently high calibre himself, Compton compares how US, Chinese and Indian students spend their time in education. He finds that the Chinese and Indians are far more intellectual and career driven - to the extent that they will read texts on calculus as bedtime reading and wake up at 5.45am to do extra maths. US students are more interested in computer games.
What does this mean for the financial services industry?
In an international hub like the UK, the implications are clear: for non-client facing roles, non-Western candidates may well be best. It's a shame that the UK government is making it much harder for them to come through.
