Ok, I can't decide whether to put this in the Discussion or Spam zone, so I'm just putting it here and if it needs to be moved go ahead. This is about the absolutely insane, and teeth grinding article, Tiger Mom. A lady named Amy Chua wrote a novel called Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, and wrote in it how Chinese parents are better than Western parents. Here's the article. What do you guys think? I want to run screaming for all of this ludicrusy. Help me, my dear friends. Help me from insanity.
I kind of laughed at first, especially at the list the author had of things she would never let her daughters do. I'm just thinking if every "Chinese" mother is like this, plays wouldn't exist and every orchestra would only contain violinists/pianists for them. But seriously, from a Westerner's perspective, this seems kind of over the top. I mean, I grew up a straight A student all the way through high school. It was not because my parents pushed me to excel. My old AP History teacher actually asked me what drove me to be such a good student. I couldn't give her an answer then and I still don't know what it would be (I would always say I just paid attention in class and did my homework, nothing unreasonable). I do agree that people are more lax in their parenting in the West. They feel more like being their children's friends instead of parents because being strict may push the children to do the rebellious "bad" stuff. Thing is, the Western perspective is different from the Eastern. We (West) want to be individualistic and rely on our own motivations to get ahead. They (East) tend to mold children into people who will function into a cohesive community where everyone is similarly accomplished. Our shame typically falls on ourselves when we fail. Their shame not only falls on the person who fails but also the family ("face" tends to be important in Eastern society). People can't be great at everything, even this article is saying that the children are being pushed in selective areas of life (mainly academically/instrumentally). But what use is it to restrict a spectrum of different people who will have different strengths/weaknesses? I'm a Physics major and my best friends ended up being those with little math/science experience. They don't understand most of the things I've talked to them about (granted, I don't completely understand all the stuff I learn right off myself) and I could never accomplish song writing of a Music major or a beautiful art piece of an Art major, but that is why I love being around them. Life would seem really monotonous/dull if I had to be around people with the same academic achievements as me. Really, it'd probably only end up being a competition among us of who are most academically inclined in particular areas and less about enjoying life with friends. I agree that parents should expect more out of their children, but children should be able to strive to be the best they can be in whatever faucet of life they have a passion/excel in, not what their parents think they should excel in.
