Week 3 -Iris Wu

Iris Wu
Section A01
Week 3

        In the article “Beyond Tiger Mom Anxiety: Ethnic Gender and Generational Differences in Asian American College Access and Choices”, second and 1.5 generation Asian Americans were interviewed about their concerns in college choice process and the importance of individuals’ opinions around them. Results showed that various concerns such as genders, information sources, and influential individuals can impact new Asian American generation’s college choice.

This result has challenged the stereotype that tiger parents domineer their kids’ college choice.

        Growing up in an Asian family, I do agree that Asian parents are usually stricter and tend to take charge of their kids’ choices. However, this behavior is often unintentional; they never want to be mean nor to force their kids. They are only doing so because they are expecting much from the newer generation and hope to see their kids succeed in life.

        Nevertheless, the newer generation has become less independent on their parents. In the case of the study in the article, students are less independent on parents about their college pathways. In my opinion, this is not only because that parents are not as familiar with the college process anymore, but also due to that the newer generation has learned to speak up. We learned to express what we want and to open-mindedly persuade our parents. This is against and slowly changing the stereotype of tiger parents, the second type of anxiety, on Asian American kids.

Question: What actions can a student take if his/ her parents are the typical “Tiger Parents”, being strict on his academic studies and tend to take charge of his decisions.

Reference:

1. Poon, O and A Byrd. "Beyond Tiger Mom Anxiety: Ethnic, Gender and Generational Differences in Asian American College Access and Choices." Journal of College Admission, 2013.

2. Why Being a Tiger Parent May Be Good for Your Kids. (2015, September 8). Retrieved from http://www.kidsstoppress.com/2015/09/why-being-a-tiger-parent-may-be-good-for-your-kids/