Week 3 - Jowi Deguzman

Jowi Deguzman
Section A03

Beyond Tiger Mom Anxiety: Ethnic, Gender and Generational Differences in Asian American College Access and Choices, by OiYan Poon and Ajani Byrd Loyola, relates to this week's theme by explaining how the concept of the Tiger Mom growing genius children to attend Ivy League universities is impossible to apply to all Asian Americans. The article states that this false concept and how Tiger Moms grow these genius children create the “anxiety about Asian Americans eclipsing white dominance in the nation’s elite colleges” and “fears of Asian economic competition on the world stage.” This ultimately leads to Asian Americans being perceived as a model minority, though the statistics state otherwise. The reading also stirs up a newer debate in higher education regarding Asian Americans and falsifies the common belief of Asian Americans being superior in the academic field. This relates to the affirmative action that some college campuses take part in, because of the thinking that there are either too many or a lack of Asians that get in. Personally, I agree that the Tiger mom concept may be true for some. However, it is not true for me, and most Asian Americans, in regards to higher education. My parents did have me participate in the stereotypical piano lessons and had me enrolled into different fine arts activities as a child. They also told me that a “B” was failing and I could only get A’s. However, as immigrants, when it came to applying to colleges, they were not familiar with the process and I had to go through the application process on my own. The only thing they told me to consider was the price of tuition, if I knew what I would do at the institution and where the campus was. There was no instance where they told me that I had to go to an Ivy league university. This was not the case for most of my Asian American class mates either. The reading explains that the stereotype of most Asian Americans applying to elite institutions is actually false and that “Asian American educational attainment levels greatly vary by ethnic sub-group with nearly half enrolled in community colleges.” Being an Asian American, I can say that the Tiger Mom concept of Asian moms raising children strictly to attend elite institutions is not true with most Asians. We must consider ethnicity, gender and generational differences as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9hTvzbo8AE

Media: I chose to include this youtube video because it shows CBS' successful efforts to debunk the trending (at the time) concept of the Tiger mom, caused by Amy Chua's book The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother.

Question: (For Professor Valverde) Did you have a tiger mom?

References:  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

C. (2011, January 21). The Myth Behind China's Tiger Mothers. Retrieved April 16, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9hTvzbo8AE