This is absolutely ridiculous. I lived and worked in Taiwan and China for a couple years, studied Chinese for 5 years, have spent more than half a year living with different Taiwanese families, and have as many Chinese/Taiwanese friends as I do "Western" ones.
Let's address a few things:
1. Children raised with more academic pressure have less opportunity for creativity. Sure they may practice "creative" hobbies like musical instruments (indeed many Chinese/Taiwanese parents consider musical ability essential to being well-rounded, and of course it does have benefits), but the focus is definitely on meeting expectations and not on artistic or creative exploration.
Although I can't prove it, I think it's VERY reasonable to assume that there is a connection to the "shanzhai" and knock-off culture in Chinese industry and the culture of mental rigidity surrounding Chinese education systems and beliefs about child-rearing.
2. Corporal punishment is often considered acceptable in Chinese/Taiwanese families. Of course no one can make an objective judgement about the morality of beating one's children, but that's exactly my point. It's subjective. Just like rigid domination of a child's academic behavior is subjective, thus the PREPOSTEROUSNESS of saying one way is "superior" to another.
3. Amy Chua so blatantly lumps together and makes presumptions about the "norms" of Western parenting, it's honestly astonishing that anyone could take it seriously. Oh right, silly me, I forgot that Western parents all have fat kids because we're too sissy to be mean or abusive. What was I thinking.
4. Chua acts like Chinese parenting creates more successful children, but it's absolutely (and rather idiotically) overlooking the facts that-
A: MANY IMMIGRANTS AND THEIR FAMILIES IN THE U.S. HAVE A CULTURE THAT ENCOURAGES HARD-WORK.
B: TONS OF CHINESE PEOPLE (in China) GET BAD GRADES, DO DRUGS, ARE CRIMINALS, ARE CONTINUOUSLY DESTITUTE, etc. etc. etc.
This whole thing reminds me, horrifyingly, of Ann Coulter. "Let's saying something really polemic, borderline racist, and totally mindless, so that I can sell my crappy book and make a lot of money." Woohoo. Please people, think before you buy that book, and think before you accept some bombastic, pretentious person's beliefs (even if they have a J.D. or PhD).
If anyone would like to defend this foolishness, feel free to email me at hello@anopencircle.com, or leave another comment here. I'm committed to doing my best to prevent the world from getting any dumber.
Let's address a few things:
1. Children raised with more academic pressure have less opportunity for creativity. Sure they may practice "creative" hobbies like musical instruments (indeed many Chinese/Taiwanese parents consider musical ability essential to being well-rounded, and of course it does have benefits), but the focus is definitely on meeting expectations and not on artistic or creative exploration.
Although I can't prove it, I think it's VERY reasonable to assume that there is a connection to the "shanzhai" and knock-off culture in Chinese industry and the culture of mental rigidity surrounding Chinese education systems and beliefs about child-rearing.
2. Corporal punishment is often considered acceptable in Chinese/Taiwanese families. Of course no one can make an objective judgement about the morality of beating one's children, but that's exactly my point. It's subjective. Just like rigid domination of a child's academic behavior is subjective, thus the PREPOSTEROUSNESS of saying one way is "superior" to another.
3. Amy Chua so blatantly lumps together and makes presumptions about the "norms" of Western parenting, it's honestly astonishing that anyone could take it seriously. Oh right, silly me, I forgot that Western parents all have fat kids because we're too sissy to be mean or abusive. What was I thinking.
4. Chua acts like Chinese parenting creates more successful children, but it's absolutely (and rather idiotically) overlooking the facts that-
A: MANY IMMIGRANTS AND THEIR FAMILIES IN THE U.S. HAVE A CULTURE THAT ENCOURAGES HARD-WORK.
B: TONS OF CHINESE PEOPLE (in China) GET BAD GRADES, DO DRUGS, ARE CRIMINALS, ARE CONTINUOUSLY DESTITUTE, etc. etc. etc.
This whole thing reminds me, horrifyingly, of Ann Coulter. "Let's saying something really polemic, borderline racist, and totally mindless, so that I can sell my crappy book and make a lot of money." Woohoo. Please people, think before you buy that book, and think before you accept some bombastic, pretentious person's beliefs (even if they have a J.D. or PhD).
If anyone would like to defend this foolishness, feel free to email me at hello@anopencircle.com, or leave another comment here. I'm committed to doing my best to prevent the world from getting any dumber.