The post title may be too long, but the scholarship money involved in what we’ll be talking about is no joke. For a mere US$10 entry fee, kids under 18 could snatch US$20,000 college scholarships for each individual division (e.g. gafftop, sheepshead, etc.) they win in their age bracket at the 2006 CCA Texas/STAR Fishing Tournament. Yes, this is an American event, but I thought I could use this to talk about something more Asian-related later.

Anyway, for kids ages 6 to 10, the deal is even sweeter. For winning any individual division in their age bracket, they can win up to US$50,000 in scholarships.

Since its inception, the CCA Texas/Star Fishing Tournament has awarded a total of US$2,585,000 in college scholarships. So, you won’t have to be worried about them running out of scholarship money to give any time soon.

So, why this on a blog that claims to be speaking from an Asian perspective? In my honest opinion, I believe that these scholarship opportunities, whether from fishing, from cooking, or from writing an essay on a Kyoto Prize laureate, differentiate the Asian system from its Western counterpart. In Asia, you’re not going to find yourself a scholarship to an expensive university by fishing. And because of that, you’ll rarely find master anglers in Asia - simply because it’s just not worth it.

My point might seem a little ludicrous when seen in the context of fishing. But just look to the arts, and you’ll see what I mean.