WEEK 3- George Welly

George Welly

A01 

In regards to, Beyond Tiger Mom Anxiety: Ethnic, Gender and Generational Differences in Asian American College Access and Choices, Poon and Byrd delve into the phenomenon presented by Amy Chua, infamously known as Tiger Mom, because of her stereotypically fueled ways of parenting. Chua’s parenting suggest that Asians are feared by a white racial majority and that Asian American children do well in response to fear of Asian Parents. This is a direct attack on the model minority.  Within their research, Poon and Byrd study different Asian ethnicities as well as the myriad of influences that went into making college decisions. Historically, the model minority of asians are becoming increasing harder to accept where debates over college acceptance decisions such as affirmative action became necessary to erase discrimination. Specific ethnicities such as east Asians tend to put emphasis on college ranking and prestige. Other factors such as a close proximity to home were also a major decisions. For the majority of first generation Asian Americans, people depend on high school counselors and advisors for advice since their parents are unfamiliar with the American regime. Gender differences were also prevalent in a way that male students tended to be more self focused on their decisions compared to women who where largely depended on their interpersonal relationships. 

Growing up, my parents always stressed education and fear of disappointing them always made me strive towards a higher goal. While my parents’ teaching ways were not as severe as Chua’s, they were still able to show love and gratitude within their ways of parenting. I believe this article succeeded in debunking this stereotype because the other factors played a huge role in determining college decisions. Within my own experience of a first generation college student, my parents are not familiar with the American education system, ergo I sought help from counselors, which is parallel to the experiences of students within the article. While Chua’s parenting is classified  as more of an Chinese American stereotype of parenting, I believe that this article highlights the fact that we cannot use her single experience for all asian ethnicities. Once again. the majority of different asian ethnicities often place different priorities in their college decision and I strongly feel that socioeconomic factors largely determine one’s college decisions—not only upon the parents themselves. 

Q: What should be done to debunk this Asian American Tiger mom stereotype? 

References: 

Poon, O and A Byrd. "Beyond Tiger Mom Anxiety: Ethnic, Gender and Generational Di erences in Asian American College Access and Choices." Journal of College Admission, 2013.
Jeremy Lin Quote. (n.d.). Retrieved April 16, 2017, from http://www.azquotes.com/quote/175959