I pretty much agree with this and the general consensus is that Southeast Asians don't read books, maybe Vietnamese people do but I'm not sure.

Anyway, a Lao person won't understand why one would be against Hi-So tendencies because even though many of them are poor and don't have modern luxuries, they don't understand the concept that life is about other things besides just material objects.

Lao people, like Thais, can be very materialistic, but it just doesn't show because they're poor, but it's there in their brains. I've had multiple Lao people show me their fake iPhones to try and impress me. I've seen some real iPhones shown off as well, because Lao people think iPhones are the pinnacle of human achievement.

Not all Lao people are like this but I'm willing to bet a great majority are. As for the minorities, well, they are in general much less materialistic and more honest, but a lot of them are beggars, you may have seen the black-skinned upland Lao people begging in the cities. Even the ones that aren't beggars are always asking for freebies.

{I pretty much agree with this and the general consensus is that Southeast Asians don't read books, maybe Vietnamese people do but I'm not sure.}

I doubt it.  From what college teachers told me Lao students here at college are trying hard to study, they are slow learners. Because they dont have solid background of knowledge. 

As for study, family tradtion and local surroundings are core factors . Sometimes, one's study attitude depends one's "Wake Up" time as we say here. I dont know what to say in standard english.

I just feel you are not so lucky to meet so many dont-read-book teens.

Culturally Lao people and Isan people are the same group and I've met a lot of Isan students and I can tell you that they are lazy almost to an extreme level. I know Isan boys who dropped out of school in 5th grade because they were too lazy to learn how to read. There are some that can't even comprehend the concept of 1+1=2. A lot of Lao girls I met, even in the city cannot read and do jobs like washing dishes for Vietnamese restaurants. I never see Lao people running restaurants, only Vietnamese.

Even for the Lao diaspora in the U.S., they have some of the lowest college attendance rates among Asians in America. Out here in CA there is a Khmu diaspora from Laos and some Hmongs. Dont get me wrong though, some of them do go to college, about 12%.

As for Thais in the US, they are relatively successful business owners but they regularly bring over workers from Thailand and use them as slaves because they dont have papers.

It is important, unless you are a slut. Nowadays, all of the ethnicities can be had in a hotel room for a certain price, which means we are equal, all equally low.

You can have a Thai girl in a hotel room, a Lao, a Vietnamese, a Burmese, a Hmong, a Cambodian. They can all be bought for a certain price. No one's better than anyone these days.