Part Vietnamese and Strict Moms

Aung Lin

ASA 2-Reading Reflection #9

Title: Part Vietnamese and Strict Moms

Word Count: 547

1.       Title: “Doing the Mixed-Race Dance: Negotiating Social Spaces Within the Multiracial Vietnamese American Class Typology” by Caroline Valverde

Vietnamese Multiracial Family 

Valverde is very lucky that she get to live in Vietnam for couple of years as a child and as an adult because I never had that chance. I came from Myanmar as a child and could never go back there to live for couple of years due to the on-going war between the communist leaders and anti-communist leader Aung Sun Su Kyi. Like Vietnamese multiracial people, Burmese multiracial people also cannot blend into their community. Some Burmese people called these multiracial people “not our blood” which is very mean and racist. Like Vietnamese community, Burmese community also sees multiracial people very attractive. More attractive than pure Burmese in fact. We are in 21^st century and I just can’t believe how Asian communities don’t accept multiracial people because they’re not 100% Vietnamese, not 100% Burmese, etc. I really enjoy reading Valverde’s articles because everything she wrote is based on her experience and real life stories that teach people not to be racist. I can relate to most of the stories in her articles and I learned many struggles in Asian community.

Question:

1)      Is it hard for Valverde to fit into Vietnamese crowd since she’s only part Vietnamese? How do people treat her differently when they see her?

2)      Why is it so hard for the Vietnamese community to accept Vietnamese multiracial?

2.       “Why Chinese Mothers are Superior” by Amy Chua

A Chinese Mom Forcing her Son to Study 

I can definitely relate to this article. It reminded me of my childhood. My mom was very strict and these rules that Chua listed in her article are exact same rules that I used to follow. My parents’ friends that are not Asians also always asked them how they raised me and why I’m so good at math. My parents were also math majors and I got their genes. Their friends always say I’m an Asian kid and all Asians are good at math. I was often stereotyped when people hear that I’m a math major but they never hurt my feelings because I don’t have time to pay attention to these comments. Like Chua’s parents, most of Chinese parents are great at training their kids how to be polite and how to be successful in school. Like Chau stated, Chinese parents doesn’t care about their child’s self-esteem. If their child failed something they get yelled at instead of an encouragement like western parents. I think a child’s mental health is more important than getting straight As in school. Having happiness and high self-esteem in life is very important. Chinese parents love their kids but they always put more and more pressure on them so they can succeed. Sometimes their child might suffer depression because of it.

Question:

1)      Why do Chinese parents keep forcing their kids to do things they don’t want and don’t care about their self-esteem? Do they know that success in school doesn't always lead to money? Most of the high paying jobs in US are held by non-Asian. Do they know about that?