The two notable parenting styles discussed in Amy Chua’s article, “Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior” are the Western style parenting and the Chinese Tiger Mom style parenting. Chua explains the methods, the advantages and the disadvantages of both styles. She believes that Tiger Mom parenting is superior to Western parenting. In her article, Chua proves that raising children with the firm belief that failure is unacceptable will prepare them for the future.
Culturally speaking, Western parents believe that strict parenting damages the psyche of children and does not build character within then. Kaung Chang, who commented on the article states, “Being a tiger mom or dad does not always raise successful children. It has to do with the character of the child. To an outgoing and confident child, it may work; however, to an introvert child with little confidence, a tiger parent may destroy his life. My (grown-up) experience was the only model I had for raising children. Therefore, I turned out to be a very (strict) father.” In his comments, Chang elaborates that his older son was a victim of tiger parenting, causing his son to go into a deep depression, believing that his father did not love him. His younger son, however, grew up without problems, confident that his father loved him despite the stern parenting. Chang explains, “These are attitudes of two boys raised by the same parent. Therefore, I think the character of the child plays a major role in this issue.” Chang concludes that Tiger parenting is not the ideal parenting style for every child; although it may motivate some children, it may harm others.
Although Tiger parenting has been criticized by many, culturally, tiger parenting has led Asian children to achieve academic...
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...se Tiger Mom style both have their positives and negatives. The Western style offers more freedom, which sounds fun, but in most cases, will not shape a child to survive in the real world, whereas, the Chinese style pushes children to their limit and beyond and makes them excel at things that are unimaginable. Most importantly, Tiger parenting makes children ready to survive in the outer world based on intelligence and hardship.
Works Cited
Chua, Amy. ““Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior.” Wall Street Journal. 12 Jan. 2011. 11 Feb. 2014.
Spencer, Kyle. ““For Asians, School Tests Are Vital Steppingstones.” The New York Times. 26 Oct. 2012. 11 Feb. 2014.
Like the name of this article suggests, the writer's main purpose is to persuade the audience to make them believe that Chinese mothers are indeed superior. To support her argument she uses different methods to appeal to her audience's favor: she uses statistics of researches about Chinese mothers and Western mothers opinions, opinions that are mostly about how parents should or should not do when they are raising their children. She also uses passages of her life as a Chinese mother to support her argument. Also, she points out a few characteristics of western parents that are completely opposite to how a Chinese mother raises their children, which made her argument stronger. Nevertheless, there were some fallacies in her logic. One of her main fallacies is what we call "Hasty Generalization".
New Yorker Elizabeth Kalbert focuses on a story on America’s Top Parent. Amy Chua a writer on “The Roar of the Tiger mom,” Kalbert tells how there are two kinds of mothers. Amy Chua for instance is a Chinese woman who keeps her children from the outside world Chua, and her daughters of Chinese immigrants. Her daughters and herself practice their work every day and is a law school professor, who also includes only the best for her children. Although western mothers think they are being strict when their children were to practice their work.
Amy Chua utilizes evidence to verify that Western parenting practice is wrong and not as effective as Chinese parenting practice. In her article, Chua comments, “Chinese parents can do things that would seem unimaginable-even legally actionable-to Westerners, “Hey fatty-lose some weight.” By contrast, Western parents have to tiptoe around the issue” (Chua 54). She also gives her observation as evidence to convince Westerners treat their kid wrongly. She adds her observation in her article “Why Chinese Mothers are Superior,” “I also once heard a Western father toast his adult daughter by calling her “beautiful and incredibly competent.” She later told me that made her feel like garbage” (Chua 54). Brooks, in opposite, does not fight against to prove Chinese parenting techniques are completely wrong. However, he just want to give evidence so that Chua and Chinese, in common, understand Western parenting practices are good in some ways. In Brooks’ article, he clears, “So I’m not against the way Chua pushes her daughters” (Brooks 59). Furthermore, David Brooks writes in his article “I wish she recognized that in some important ways the school cafeteria is more intellectually demanding than the library” (Brooks
Chao, R. K. (1994). Beyond parental control and authoritarian parenting style: Understanding chinese parenting through the cultural notion of training. Society for Research in Child Development, 65(4), 1111-1119.
Chua believes that Chinese parents force their children to be academically successful in order to reach “higher” goals in life. She emphasizes this when she states “…Chinese parents have … higher dreams for their children…” (Chua 8). Although Amy set higher s...
One type of effect the Chinese mothers’ expectations has in their relationship with their “Americanized” daughter is negative since the mothers are unable to achieve anything. An-Mei Hsu expects her daughter to listen and obey as the young ones do in Chinese culture, but instead receives a rebellious and stubborn daughter, “‘You only have to listen to me.’ And I cried, ‘But Old Mr. Chou listens to you too.’ More than thirty years later, my mother was still trying to make me listen’” (186-187). Instead of the circumstances improving, the mother is never able to achieve anything; her forcing and pushing her daughter to the Chinese culture goes to a waste. They are both similar in this sense because both are stubborn; the daughter learns to be stubborn through American culture and wants to keep herself the way she is, whereas the mother wants to remove this teaching from American culture and does not give u...
Paul, Annie Murphy. “Tiger Moms: Is Tough Parenting Really the Answer?” Time Online. 20 Jan. 2011. Web. 16 Mar. 2011
A strong work ethic and high expectations in education are values of many Asian-American parents. Their children are not only expected to get good grades but to be at the top of their class or get straight As. Many Asian-American children experience test anxiety due to their fears about pleasing their parents or shaming the family.
The Chinese mothers, so concentrated on the cultures of their own, don't want to realize what is going on around them. They don't want to accept the fact that their daughters are growing up in a culture so different from their own. Lindo Jong, says to her daughter, Waverly- "I once sacrificed my life to keep my parents' promise. This means nothing to you because to you, promises mean nothing. A daughter can promise to come to dinner, but if she has a headache, a traffic jam, if she wants to watch a favorite movie on T.V., she no longer has a promise."(Tan 42) Ying Ying St.Clair remarks- "...because I remained quiet for so long, now my daughter does not hear me. She sits by her fancy swimming pool and hears only her Sony Walkman, her cordless phone, her big, important husband asking her why they have charcoal and no lighter fluid."(Tan 64)
There are big differences in how Chinese mothers act towards their children compared to Western mothers including the expression of feelings and approval, the worth of their children, and what is best for them. Amy Chua (2011) incorporates her own personal experiences of being a Chinese mother within her article and compares that to what she witnesses in America.
When Amy Chua, a professor at Yale, wrote her personal memoir in 2011 called Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, controversy arose regarding the topic of an extreme parenting type called a “Tiger Mom” (Tiger Mom). When The Wall Street Journal posted an excerpt from Chua’s book on their website, it received over 7,000 comments both positive and negative including death threats (Extreme Parenting). In her book, Chua describes is forcing her 7-year old daughter to stay up all night without bathroom or drink breaks until she was able to play a certain piano piece (Extreme Parenting). Her daughter rebels, drops violin, and takes up tennis (Luscombe). Extreme parents exert great pressure on their child to meet expectations, and if they are not met, the child may be punished (Hatter). The MacMillan Dictionary defines a tiger mom as “a very strict mother who makes her children work particularly hard and restricts their free time so they continually achieve the highest grades,” (Tiger Mother).
The universality versus cultural specificity debate both have aspects that make sense and can be applied to childhood development. On one side, supporters of the argument for the universality of parenting suggest that certain types of parenting styles will produce the same child development outcomes in different cultures. On the other hand, the argument for cultural specificity states that different parenting practices vary from culture to culture, and that culture ultimately determines the outcomes of child development. Each culture has specific styles of parenting that instill values on children particular to that culture. Each individual has characteristics of what their parents taught them, which gives every individual their own personality. Both sides present logical information on the cultural impacts of parenting on child development outcomes.
Successful parenting may be judged by many different standards. Raising a child to be a respectful, mature, and independent adult requires a great deal of effort. There are several parenting styles, and not all lead a child to reaching their full potential. Overpowering sternness leads may lead to a rebellious child, while passive parenting may lead children to inept for the challenges of adulthood. Parenting requires more than teaching children submissiveness, or building of self-importance. Children learn best from a role model who is admirable. Parenting is a great opportunity to set the course of one’s entire life in the right direction.
Parenting in today’s society is extremely competitive. Raising children has become the new sport interest to the parents, and the success that the kids achieve in life is the gold medal. You see the articles in magazines, the websites online, and the ads on TV that promote the newest and greatest parenting methods used by mothers and father everywhere. The differences we see in parenting can differ from family to family, but the biggest contrast is between the different ethnicities of the world. How a Western mother raises her child may be completely different than that of a Chinese mother. These differences are the ones that are observed by author Amy Chua, as well as mothers who have read her works of literature.
“Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior” is an excerpt from Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua, a Yale Law professor. In this excerpt the author explains why Chinese children tend to be more successful in life and expresses her dislike towards Western parenting. The first idea Chua explains is a list of activities her daughters are allowed to do and not do in order to focus solely on academic progress. Second, the author demonstrates the contrast in mindset between Chinese mothers and Western mothers by explaining how Chinese mothers feel differently than Western mothers in regards to academic success and learning. Furthermore, she describes how Chinese mothers can demand things from their children. Finally, they can also say