Stereotypes...Exist for a Reason?

Today, I  began to think of the many stereotypes in The Namesake directed at the Ganguli family and the many discussions we have had about stereotypes last year.  Stereotyping is defined in many ways; some describe it as to categorize, type, identify.  On the other hand, others explain it as a set of inaccurate, simplistic generalizations about a group that allows others to categorize them and treat them accordingly.  Personally, I mainly disagree with this second definition because I do not think stereotypes are necessarily inaccurate.  I think often times stereotypes exist because they have been proven as true. To justify this, I will use myself as an example.  People give Asians or more specifically Chinese people, many stereotypes.  Although I am only half Chinese, I think I fit many of the stereotypes.
1. "They are bad drivers" - I can certainly say I am not a good driver.  I do not know if this is a bad driver because of my ethnicity, but nonetheless, I would not consider myself a good driver.  
2.  "They love math" - I do like math.  It is my favorite subject.  Last year I took two math classes and whenever someone would hear this they would say "Oooh you would, you Asian!"
3. "They are awkward" - Many people would consider me an awkward person.  Possibly even the most awkward person they know.  The 8th period English class probably witnesses my numerous times of awkwardness during class. 
4. "They eat rice and Asian food- all the time" - My family probably eats Chinese food two times a week. And all I eat is rice...I cannot eat gluten (wheat) so that eliminates a lot of foods, so I do eat rice more often than normal.  Also, we had Chinese food at our Thanksgiving dinner.  As a little kid, I can remember having Thanksgiving dinner with my mom's side of the family and there would be a table full of traditional Thanksgiving food and a table of Chinese food. So, my mom decided to continue this tradition.  Also, most people eat the leftover turkey in say, a sandwich, but no, my mom makes this Chinese soup which we call "juk."  Additionally, I'm not lying, just before writing this, I ate edamame. 
5. "They use chopsticks all the time" - We do not use chopsticks all the time, but we do use them a lot.  For example, when cooking bacon, most people use tongs.  Nope- my mom uses chopsticks. She likes them and says it's easier. Try it some time. Except you probably cannot because I am going to take a guess that most of you don't have 20 pairs of re-usable chopsticks in your home? Do not worry, you can borrow ours because we do.
6. "They are good at martial arts" - As a child, I regularly went to karate classes.  Most people do not believe me, but I promise it's true, I have a black belt in karate.
7. "They excel at some kind of instrument - usually violin, piano, clarinet, flute"- I am in the band and I, not surprisingly, play the flute.
8. "They have strict parents" - My mom is very strict and usually does not let rules slide.  If I am even a minute late for curfew I am grounded for probably about a week or two which probably seems a bit extreme to others (and myself) .
9. " They have arranged marriages" - I am not quite old enough to elope, but if you read my last blog, you would know that my grandparents had an arranged marriage. 
Overall, I do not think stereotypes necessarily represent a negative thing, because in my case, most of them are true.  Oh and if you hadn't noticed, my blog has an Asian theme...because I embrace my culture unlike say, Gogol Ganguli.