Week 3

Kimi Villaroman
A01
Week 3

In OiYan Poon and Ajani Bryd’s article, “Beyond Tiger Mom Anxiety: Ethnic, Gender, and Generational Differences in Asian American College Access and Choices”, issues concerning the stereotype of Asian American parents controlling their children’s college-going process is both supported and debunked when related to ethnic, gender, and generational differences. For example, women more readily admit that external factors played a role in their college decisions than men do.

            I can easily say that the results of this study did not surprise me; I assumed that the most influential person in an Asian American’s college choice process would be their parents. I only assume this because I have lived this exact stereotype, to the T. Poon and Byrd wrote that “within a society riddled with inequalities, Asian Americans place a significant emphasis on educational attainment as one of the only realistic pathways to mobility” (Byrd and Poon, 24). In my family, education is extremely important. I was not even allowed to work so that I would not distract myself from my studies. My parents always told me growing up that education will be the key to being financially stable, which ties into last week’s reading about financial stability equating to leading a good life. Another quote that resonated with me, and a quote that I found particular delight in because of representation, is that “Filipino Americans…were found to be more influenced by their relatives’ views and the proximity of colleges to home in the final stage of college choice” (Byrd and Poon, 24). In the Filipino culture, the family is an extremely important part of our daily lives; we live in nuclear homes, we take care of our relatives in all ways, whether financial or personal, and we are expected to keep this tradition going. If I ended up going to school in Southern California, which was already a SET plan for me, how would I have taken care of my family? What would they do if I was gone? Pressures like these almost forced me to choose UC Davis over Loyola Marymount University. My parents especially did not like the idea of me going to school hundreds of miles away, and UC Davis gave me grants that made my tuition so much cheaper. The clear and obvious choice was to choose Davis instead. So while my mom is no Tiger Mom in the sense that she controlled my life growing up, she is one in the sense that I felt a familial pressure to appease her with my college choice.

Question: Do you believe that the Tiger Mom phenomenon is hurtful or beneficial to a child's developmental stage?

Reference:

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

2. Kang, John. (2015, May 28). "The psychology behind tiger mums and her children." Retrieved April 16, 2017, from http://yp.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/96460/psychology-behind-tiger-mums-and-her-children.