Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior

Line Rosenby Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior 24. October 2013

Every parent raise their child differently, and as this article clearly shows, there s a different approach to raising children in all cultures of the world. One of the most discussed methods of upbringing, is the so-called Chinese way , and that is the one Amy Chua is advocating in her article in the Wall-Street Journal, on January 8th, 2011. Amy Chua s when writing this article, is defending and justifying her upbringing of her children, and is written as a response to the many, at the time, criticisms in the Western papers, of the strict and goal-oriented methods Eastern parents employ to make sure their children does well in life. The main topic in the article is upbringing of children, and in this case; whether the Western permissive parenting or the Eastern Demanding parenting , is the most fruitful and what is best for the child in question. Amy Chua, a professor at Yale Law School, and author of the muchdiscussed book on the subject of upbringing Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother , takes the stand that the Eastern way, is the most successful way to raise your child. She raises three big arguments to support her claim that the Chinese way, is the right way. Firstly, she questions the Western parents sheltering approach to dealing with their children, making the claim: I've noticed that Western parents are extremely anxious about their children's self-esteem. The ground for her claim is: They worry about how their children will feel if they fail at something, and they constantly try to reassure their children about how good they are notwithstanding a mediocre performance on a test or at a recital. 2 With lastly, her warrant being: In other words, Western parents are concerned about their children's psyches. Chinese parents aren't. They assume strength, not fragility, and as a result they behave very differently. 3 She also questions the Western parents overbearing attitude towards their grades, saying indirectly that their relaxed attitude towards grades and school, could be a hindrance to the child s success, later in life. This can be observed in her statement Chinese parents demand perfect grades because they believe that their child can get them. Here, she indirectly makes the claim that the Western parents do not believe in their abilities, and therefore are weaker, producing merely mediocre human beings, whereas the Easterners constant strive to excel at everything, makes for a much healthier choice for the child overall. She paints a picture of the contrast between the two different culture s way of upbringing by giving an example of how Chinese parents and western parents would react if their child came home with an A-minus on a rapport, saying: