Tiger Mom

In Response to “Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior” By Amy Chua

I first heard of Amy Chua, the Tiger Mom, when she was on the Today show a couple of years ago publicizing the book that this excerpt is taken from.  When I first saw her on the Today show, I thought she made Asian people look bad by reinforcing stereotypes.  After reading this excerpt, I am still troubled by Amy Chua’s argument.  First of all, I don’t understand why Chua could’t have just released a parenting book based on just her personal experiences, without bringing in all Chinese parents.  Secondly, it bothers me how in Chua’s argument there are only two types of parents, Western and Chinese.  In the excerpt, Chua explains that Western and Chinese parenting styles can be adopted by parents of any race.  So I don’t understand why she decided to label the two different styles “Chinese” and “Western”.  Although I see flaws in Chua’s argument, I also see similarities in how she describes the Chinese parent and my own Chinese mother’s parenting methods.  Chua states that a difference between Chinese parents and Western parents is that Chinese parents assume that their children are strong and capable.  When I was really young my mother pushed me to achieve and forced me to do extracurricular activities that I did not enjoy.  I am thankful that my mother assumed strength, because I have internalized this strength and belief in my capacity.  However, my mother used the same parenting methods on my brother and they were damaging.  My parents are in the process of  learning that they need to approach parenting differently with him because he is not like me.  So fundamentally I do I not believe that Chua’s Chinese parenting model is the best model of patenting for every child.  I also disagree with her nomenclature. 

Do you think Chua brought race into her parenting book for publicity?

Breana Inoshita

Section A02

Response #9