Week 2 Ziyu Wang A02

In Oi Yan Poon and Ajani Byrd's Beyond Tiger Mom Anxiety: Ethic, Gender and Generational Differences in Asian American College Access and Choices, highlights the impact of Asian mothers for their children's development and career path. There have always been a stereotype of Asian tiger moms: strict, harsh, and no fun allowed. It is said the children of tiger moms grow up to be the top of their class and dominates all academic charts. Stereotypes don't come out of thin air, so there is some truth to this. My mother for example is one of them. As a doctor herself, she expects the best of me, and signs me up for everything she can without ever consulting me. Both my parents want me to follow my mother's footsteps to become a doctor, but in the end I chose a different path. As a teen, I was as rebellious as ever, and rejects most of my parent's advances when it comes to my academics. This leads me to a different path than my parents intended, but they are proud of me nonetheless. This issue goes beyond family however, as in Asian societies, the school and faculties were strict and harsh as well. When I attended elementary school in China, beating students is considered the norms, and it is effective as well. There were no such thing as GPA, but no one dared to not turn in their homework, as it results to a beating in school and at home. So my question is: should school teachers in the western societies be harsher toward their students in an attempt to better their academics?

Reference:

• Poon, Oiyan. Byrd, Ajani.  Beyond Tiger Mom Anxiety: Ethic, Gender and Generational Differences in Asian American College Access and Choices.  Loyola University Chicago. 2013
• UC Riverside. Hold On, Tiger Mom. Retrieved from: https://phys.org/news/2014-09-tiger-mom-refutes-idea-traditional.html