http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704111504576059713528698754.html
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OMFG 
Fascinating stuff. At first I thought it was satire, but it seems legit. I pity that poor woman’s family, and I pity that poor woman for possessing a mind that could come up with such trash.
Unbelievable.
Ahhh, nothing like pummeling your kids into[strike]submission[/strike]success…
Good grief. I noticed she failed to mention any stories about Chinese kids whose parents actually did make their kid(s) feel like garbage to the point where the kid(s) committed suicide. I knew a Taiwanese guy in Australia whose parents drove him to that point. That must have been a great example of the success of the parenting style that woman was advocating.
But, Mommy, I’m tired!
Shut up, you little ingrate. Now recite for me pi to the 50th digit perfectly or I kill your puppy. You’ll thank me later.
F&^%ing glad she’s not my wife. Even happier she’s not my mother.
She’s born in the US, married to what sounds like (in her words) a “westerner”, with kids born and raised in the US and the entire article is Chinese this Chinese that. :loco:
She may be intelligent, but the woman is psychotic.
Definitely psychotic. Poor kids. Mommy had a crappy childhood so she’s taking it out on us. 
The other things are:
If a Chinese child must be number one in the class, what happens if there are two Chinese kids in that class? Someone is going to be very unhappy;
She’s taking a particular caricature of Chinese parents that is not particular to Chinese parents. Evidently, not every kid in China (or Taiwan) has Chinese parents because not every kid I’ve met here is a freakin’ Nobel Laureate who can also play Rachmaninov, all by the age of two, and if I ask kids here what their hobbies are, they’re almost guaranteed to say “playing computer games”.
It also ignores the fact that if you go to families that are white where both parents have very successful careers, you’re likely to find a similar phenomenon. I certainly grew up around plenty of kids like that. Certainly at top private schools, you’re going to find kids who are pushed very hard by their parents. More than just being academically gifted, able to play musical instruments, etc., they’re likely to be highly successful swimmers, rowers or rugby players too. This is not a Chinese parenting thing. Jewish families have been producing highly successful kids for a long time before Chinese moved to the West in significant numbers.
I couldn’t imagine being married to her. Also, was I the only person who found it a little bit surreal that she’d just bullied her kid for days and then they had a special snuggle session afterwards? I was also surprised she let her kid have a doll house. What use is playing with dolls when you’re trying to make first violin chair for the London Symphony Orchestra before your fourth birthday?
The other problem with her method is that if everyone in China and Taiwan used her methods, some would just be wasting their time since not everyone can get into Taiwan National University or the top universities in China such as Fudan.
I noticed the author had only daughters. If she had a son applying for a top US college, she’d probably discover the same thing the Parks found out too late ten years ago… all that emphasis on academics at the expense of sports and other activities that lead to a well-rounded individual are not just going to lead to a boring kid … he’s not going to get into the Asian Mecca of US college either - Habaado.
Indeed, most US top colleges are not just looking for academics and value well-rounded individuals who complete the predefined diversity mix to make a class of freshmen well balanced. On the other hand, one of the largest colleges in the US this year filled up their roughly 10% quota of foreigners (non-US nationals) with students from China and Taiwan. Most likely because these hard working students pay the full tuition without draining the college facilities, funds and support groups.
It’s like my wife wrote that article.
Indeed, most US top colleges are not just looking for academics and value well-rounded individuals who complete the predefined diversity mix to make a class of freshmen well balanced. On the other hand, one of the largest colleges in the US this year filled up their roughly 10% quota of foreigners (non-US nationals) with students from China and Taiwan. Most likely because these hard working students pay the full tuition without draining the college facilities, funds and support groups.[/quote]
Sorry but did you read the WSJ article on the Korean guy who got rejected by the Ivies despite having higher grades and test scores than people who got in? That was a great piece of reporting. What happened to him and his family was outrageous. He didn’t get in primarily because his family didn’t donate millions to those institutions or hasn’t been sending its sons there for generations. There’s also a strong hint that he didn’t get in because he was Korean. All this talk of being ‘well-rounded’ is just an excuse not to let better qualified hard working students with an immigrant background into elite institutions. The same institutions did this to Jewish students for decades.
I’m sure he got a great education at Groton that has served him well whichever college he went to. Perhaps his parents and he shouldn’t have fetishized going to an Ivy league school so much.
Apple Daily’s headline story yesterday about a high school drop out in Hsinchu County who brutally murdered his father with a hammer and stabbed his sister with a pair of scissors is a compelling counter example to Chua’s over-achieving math whizzes and musical prodigies. The attacked was apparently provoked his father’s nagging him about not having a job. He is addicted to internet gaming like so many kids in Taiwan. I guess he didn’t have a Chinese mother. lol
Also, while Chua is apparently from the Philippines, I think an important reason for why Taiwanese immigrant parents push their kids so hard is that they are importing Taiwan’s examination system mentality where passing the university entrance and civil services were the keys to a secure middle class life.
Many but probably not most Taiwanese parents are turning away from that mentality, but migrant communities tend to be very conservative. Add to that the hard time Asian immigrants without professional skills have in the US, it becomes possible to have a reasonable sociological rather than cultural explanation of the over-achieving Asian stereotype.
The problem with you lot is that you just don’t appreciate Chinese culture. :fume:
Feiren: It’s distasteful in a way that U.S. colleges have legacy admissions, but who else is going to throw a lazy $5M they just had sitting around at such an institution? Who else is going to build a new building there? What if they didn’t? The college would either have to seek out money from the government or the wider community (probably not going to happen), or it would have to cut its quality, scholarship programmes or raise student fees, or a combination thereof. Either way, people who have money are going to get to send their kids to good universities.
Spot on, it just results in a lowering of life quality for all kids, the bar is raised at the expense of other things. Look where it gets more graduates in China, only the ones from the few famous universities are guaranteed anything, most of them would have been better of learning other skills for the result they get in the end.
nytimes.com/2010/12/12/world … ijing.html
Asians follow conservative trends for too long but they do break out of them in the end…look at the young Japanese…many know they will never be top grade stuff or get into the top companies so they don’t even try…they do other things they at least enjoy doing.
What I don’t like is sacrificing childhood for a small extra bit of adult achievement, I don’t think it’s worthwhile as childhood is an important part of your life in it’s own respect. In addition if you are not born to be an intellectual achiever you won’t be and that’s it…so all that pushing is rather futile in the end when the kid could have been doing other things or learning other things they will use later on.
But the problem with these highly selective schools is that number of applicants is far greater than the number of slots available. Even if they had completely eliminated affirmative action, legacy admissions, and athletic admissions, it’s unlikely that he would have gotten in. A 1560 SAT and 14th class ranking still probably isn’t enough; the article itself mentions that selective schools deny valedictorians or students with 1600’s on their SATs all the time.
The ironic thing is that while the bar is so high to get in, once you get in, it’s a relative piece of cake. A 1400 SAT scorer could easily get all A’s at Harvard or Yale.
By most mortal parents’ yardsticks, Chinese or western, my wife and I are hard asses. There is no TV or sweets in our house. Most of the kinds of toys our son’s classmates have are not allowed in our place. Our boy is simply not allowed to spend out-of-class time with kids who lack discipline, manners or interests appropriate to their age. There is no self esteem boosting in our home, and discipline is firmly enforced. We frequently impose our will on our child in situations where other parents would blow with the wind.
Having said the above, IMO Professor Chua is not only nuts, but is the type of adult figure who I would not allow to play a significant role in my child’s life. I am all for firm parenting. I agree with her view that self esteem comes from achievement, not ego stroking, but whatever happened to setting an example of basic civility? My wife and I put our son in his place without insulting him. Exactly why is a sleepover camp-perhaps one where a child develops decision making and leadership skills, or an instrument other than the piano or violin bad for a child? Will my son be fucked for life if he learns to play the viola or saxophone? What exactly is wrong with a child having an interest in drama if his or her academic performance does not suffer?
And by the way, I got about halfway through her “World on Fire” a few years ago and just couldn’t continue. I could not find a cogent, critical proposition in any part of the half that I read. I was left wondering how the writer of such drivel not only managed to publish it, but also managed to get on the faculty of such a prestigious university.
[quote=“Feiren”]
Sorry but did you read the WSJ article on the Korean guy who got rejected by the Ivies despite having higher grades and test scores than people who got in? That was a great piece of reporting. What happened to him and his family was outrageous. He didn’t get in primarily because his family didn’t donate millions to those institutions or hasn’t been sending its sons there for generations. There’s also a strong hint that he didn’t get in because he was Korean. All this talk of being ‘well-rounded’ is just an excuse not to let better qualified hard working students with an immigrant background into elite institutions. The same institutions did this to Jewish students for decades.
I’m sure he got a great education at Groton that has served him well whichever college he went to. Perhaps his parents and he shouldn’t have fetishized going to an Ivy league school so much.[/quote]
Yes, I read the article. The well rounded argument comes from the fact that these top universities offer a very broad liberal education and student life, which with only smart nerds would be totally dead. It is being with a balance of all sort of students that make the education complete.