A Letter to Amy Chua
A LETTER TO AMY CHUA
Dear Amy Chua:
I am a student who is raised by demanding eastern parenting style you described in your article “Why Chinese Mothers Are superior” and can easily find this kind of parenting style in China. As a typical Chinese mom, you demonstrate an general idea held by most Chinese parents that keeping working “makes the once not fun activity fun” with your own experience about enforcing Lulu to finish the task which seems impossible. And you also notice that children due to their mischievous nature “never want to work”, just as what your daughter behaved after several failures. When facing this conflict, you come with a conclusion that parents should intervene in children’s preference without any concession. However, I am more inclined to say parents children should have their own choice to pursue true natural interests.
You start out raising a question about western people wondering about the method of Chinese mothers to cultivate successful kids and then try to clarify marked and obvious differences between Chinese and Western parents. To reinforce these distinctions, you take several examples to show that “Chinese parents can do things that would seem unimaginable and actionable to Westerners” and may have strong repercussion among Westerners.
Putting the evaluation into a deeper level, you list three “parental mindsets” cause these distinctions: the concern of children’s mental health, the “sacrifice” children need to pay back and the many of choices children could have. You elaborate on each issues one by one to show Chinese and Westerns parents actually take two opposite sides. After that, you share a story “ in favor of coercion” to specify all the theoretical discussion and in the story you “take every tactic could think of” to handle with your daughter who wants to give up the piano competition. Finally you use your success in the story to solve misunderstanding of Asian mothers that are thought as “scheming and callous” by
Dear Amy Chua:
I am a student who is raised by demanding eastern parenting style you described in your article “Why Chinese Mothers Are superior” and can easily find this kind of parenting style in China. As a typical Chinese mom, you demonstrate an general idea held by most Chinese parents that keeping working “makes the once not fun activity fun” with your own experience about enforcing Lulu to finish the task which seems impossible. And you also notice that children due to their mischievous nature “never want to work”, just as what your daughter behaved after several failures. When facing this conflict, you come with a conclusion that parents should intervene in children’s preference without any concession. However, I am more inclined to say parents children should have their own choice to pursue true natural interests.
You start out raising a question about western people wondering about the method of Chinese mothers to cultivate successful kids and then try to clarify marked and obvious differences between Chinese and Western parents. To reinforce these distinctions, you take several examples to show that “Chinese parents can do things that would seem unimaginable and actionable to Westerners” and may have strong repercussion among Westerners.
Putting the evaluation into a deeper level, you list three “parental mindsets” cause these distinctions: the concern of children’s mental health, the “sacrifice” children need to pay back and the many of choices children could have. You elaborate on each issues one by one to show Chinese and Westerns parents actually take two opposite sides. After that, you share a story “ in favor of coercion” to specify all the theoretical discussion and in the story you “take every tactic could think of” to handle with your daughter who wants to give up the piano competition. Finally you use your success in the story to solve misunderstanding of Asian mothers that are thought as “scheming and callous” by