What is Gladwell's argument in chapter 8 of Outliers?

Chapter 8 is titled “Rice Paddies and Math Tests.” Here Gladwell looks at the stereotype we hold that people of Asian descent are better at doing math than those of us in western cultures. Our long-held belief is that they are just inherently smarter in this respect. But Gladwell points instead to two factors that are important but widely overlooked in this assumption. One is how diligent a rice farmer must be in order to successfully raise a crop of rice. The work is constant and meticulous, which shows a cultural attention to the value of hard work. The second factor is the way Asian languages are constructed, regarding numbers. They use a faster and easier method of saying and conveying numbers, which means that children can learn and use numbers faster. The conclusion is that Asian students do not actually have higher IQs than students of other cultures. They excel in the field of math because of cultural advantages in language and pervasiveness of a high work ethic.