Why Chinese Mothers are Superior

Zenni Duong
ASA 2 A03

"Why Chinese Mothers are Superior" by Amy Chua

First, I want to believe that this text is satirical (it IS satire, right?). Second, satire or not, it seems to have struck a chord with many Western parents who rush speedily to the defense of "creative" parenting. Chua's article recounts many instances where the tiger mother brutally and mercilessly pushes and commands her daughters to reach her idea of success. She defends her style by pointing out that when Sophia/Lulu finally reach their goals, it's all sunshine and rainbows because her daughters' self-esteems are incredibly harden and tough for all the other girls her age (impressionable Western children...)

This narrative reminds me of how other API high school students work towards their goals today. I worked on a high school workshop curriculum for the college admissions process a while back for a nonprofit, leadership organization. These workshops are now being hosted around the country, in different high schools. What I've heard so far is that students are complaining that there weren't enough hard skills being demonstrated. They believe that there is a formula of A + B = Harvard. They don't believe that the soft skills of reflecting on yourself and understanding why you want to go to X college to do Y goal are important to college admissions... Maybe they are, maybe they're not, but they're really important for the life that comes after college, and with tiger mother parenting when is that reflection ever going to surface? Tiger mother parenting may work for another system (in Asia, high school exit/college entrance examinations dominate all aspects of life), but in this system that we're stuck with, it's important to understand your own reasons for wanting success in the first place.

Is Tiger Mother parenting truly sustainable when motivating an individual to do things after they move out?