Although I would not consider myself to be a son of a Chinese Tiger Mom, I definitely have friends and family that are constantly under the pressure of achieving high success for their parents’ satisfaction. I’ve had friends who would go to Kumon, a math and reading tutoring program, after school. Other friends even had piano practice after school, everyday. Of course my parents want to see me succeed, but they encouraged me to find other ways of demonstrating my success. Going to college to study something that I was truly interested in and passionate about was something they highly valued. As the son of two university graduates, I was expected to attend college right after high school, which I believe was the right move for me anyway. In OiYan Poon and Ajani Byrd’s article “Beyond Tiger Mom Anxiety,” they state that parental involvement to be one of the most important factors in college enrollment (Poon and Byrd 2013). They describe that Asian Americans have diverse experiences which meant that the degree to which parents were involved in the college enrollment process varied. In my experience, I believed that my parents, especially my mom, were highly involved in my college enrollment process. However, some may feel that parental involvement has a negative connotation because it may come across as them overriding my ability to make an autonomous decision. I felt that with the help of my parents, I was able to make a more educated and thought-out decision because their involvement was motivated by making sure I was happy with me decision.
A question I have about the reading is to know what exactly would define someone as a “Tiger Mom” or a “Tiger Parent.”
Photo from - http://www.sg.kumonasiaoceania.com/
Poon, O and Ai Byrd. (2013). Beyond Tiger Mom Anxiety: Ethnic, Gender, and Generational Differences in Asian American College Access and Choices. Retrieved January 12, 2019 from https://canvas.ucdavis.edu/courses/299229/files/folder/Week%20of%20Readings/Week2?preview=4936657.
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