Amy Chua, the clan in China, was born in Champaign, Illinois, in 1962. She pursued her graduation from Harvard College and earned her J.D. (Juris Doctor) at Harvard Law School. She is now the John M. Duff Professor of Law at Yale Law School; she advocates international law and business, ethnic conflict, globalization, and the law.
In this compare and contrast excerpt "Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior", Chua has raised the issue related to the practice of raising children in "Western" society and "Asian" society, — China in particular. Seeming to be discontented, she critically argues that "Western" parents are highly anxious about their children's self-esteem; she claims that this change in their parenting is relatively new because when we look at the history of parenting, it is noticed that in the seventeenth century, American Puritans practised a philosophy of "Better whipt than dammed." Again in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, American parenting ideology usually focused on discipline, emotional detachment, and the wisdom of experts. Through his book Baby and Child Care published in 1946, Benjamin Spoke brought a kind of social shift towards more permissive child-rearing, especially in the context of the baby-boom generation. Spoke urged parents to trust their own judgement and to meet their children's needs rather than worrying about "spoiling" the child. Since then, this new parenting approach largely started emphasizing children's self-esteem, both at home and in school.
People wonder how Chinese parents raise children who "display academic excellence, musical mastery, and professional success" (Chua). A mother of two successful daughters, she has shared her story comparing the ways of Chinese mothers and Western parents in training their children. Chua thinks there are three big differences between the Chinese and Western parental mindsets: 1) Western parents are extremely anxious about their children's self-esteem, 2) Chinese parents believe that their children owe them everything, and 3) Chinese parents believe that they know what is best for their children and, therefore, override all of their children's own desires and preferences. How it happens, she explains, that Chinese parents make rules for their children regarding what children are allowed to do and never allowed to do.
Amy Chua, born in the USA, married Jed, an American, and had two daughters: Sophia and Louisa. She is a Western now. She raises her daughters with certain rules and restrictions because of her Chinese heritage. According to one study, Chua claims that Western parents think that "stressing academic successes is not good for children". They stress that parents should make children realize and understand that "learning is fun". On the contrary, Chinese parents are different from Western parents in this respect; they are convinced by the idea that "academic achievement reflects successful parenting"; and thus, they believe that their children can be" the best" students. According to Chua, Chinese parents believe that if their children do not perform best at school, there is "a problem". It means parents were not doing their job good for their children. If a child has scored a bad grade, i.e below A, Chinese parents never hesitate to shout at and even punish him/her severely. To make him/her "superior", a Chinese mother can do anything: she spends plenty of time in her daily life to enable him to excel at school. She can make the child study for long hours till success is guaranteed for him/her, and once the child starts to excel at things, he/she gets praise, admiration and satisfaction that makes the child self-motivated and confident as well.
Chinese parents are also aware of the fact that children on their own never want to work because things are always hardest at the beginning. They cannot decide what is good for their career and what is bad for themselves. This is why it is crucial to override their preferences. They believe that nothing is fun until you are good at it. It means children can never feel easy to do anything if they do not attempt and get that done. They think that after being good at things, the children can build confidence and can feel "the once not-fun activity fun". Unlike them, Western parents do not want to compel and force them to achieve or pursue things. They tend to "give up" if their children do not feel comfortable, but there are no such words as "give up" in the dictionary of a Chinese mother.
Chua remembers one incident. Once upon her misbehaviour toward her mother, her father called her "garbage" in her native language. She says that she did never feel that this insulting term damaged her "self-esteem" rather that worked really well for her to make her realize her mistake and felt ashamed of her misbehaviour. She also thinks that her father really cares for her and does not want to see her as a bad character in her life. Similar to the incident that happened to her, when Chua called Sophia before her Western friends "garbage" upon her disrespectfully behaviour toward her at a dinner party, her Western friends thought that Sophia was badly treated by her mother, and they felt extremely hurt by Chua's rude remark. Due to this, one of the guests burst into tears and left the party. The point to mark here is that Chinese parents can say anything to their children and they never take that negatively, but if the same happens to a Western child, the reaction is just the opposite and he/she ends up with a "negative self-image".
According to Chua, Chinese parents believe that their kids owe them everything. The reason behind that is they think they have sacrificed their precious time and effort to make their kids excel in their careers and life; therefore, their children must remain indebted to, and repay and obey their parents for their entire life. Just opposite, Westerners never think so. To support herself, Chua gives an example of her husband, Jed, who says, "Children don't choose their parents and they don't even choose to be born" (Chua). It is the parents who have wanted them; thus, it is the parents' responsibility and duty to provide them everything. So, Jed thinks "Kids don't owe their parents anything". This comment of his was so shocking for Chua and sounded very terrible about Western parents.
To sum up, both Chinese and Western parents want their children to be more successful in life but they go in different ways. Although Chinese parents seem to be dominant and indifferent toward their children's interests and preferences, it does never mean that they do not care for their children. They are ready to give up anything for the sake of their children's betterment. They believe that they have a good sense of choosing the right direction for their children's future. They always help them to build up "self-confidence" in themselves so that they can confidently excel at things and become more successful. Thus, she means it is quite a different parenting model of raising kids. On the other hand, Western parents are more concerned about their children's self-esteem and independence. They always encourage and help their children to work on their own interests and make their dreams fulfilled. They trust their children's decisions.
Comprehension
1. What does Chua mean when she says, "What Chinese parents understand is that nothing is fun until you're good at it" (6)? Do you agree with her?
Here, Chua means as Chinese parents understand that children do not show interest to do things since everything is tough to do at first, they force their children to do hard work. They believe that the praise, admiration and satisfaction that comes from the hard work of children makes them self-motivated and encourages them to do even harder ahead.
2. Does Chua's husband agree or disagree with her child-rearing methods? Why does he react the way he does?
Her husband does not agree with her child-rearing methods because both of them have different views regarding rearing children. Whereas Chua believes that children owe their parents everything, her husband, Jed, thinks just the opposite. He believes that it is not children who have chosen certain parents: it is parents who choose to give life to their children; therefore, it is the responsibility of parents to be prepared to provide their children with all kinds of help and support.
3. According to Chua, why are Chinese parents able to do things that Western parents cannot?
According to Chua, Western parents are very soft while speaking to their children because they are highly anxious about their children's self-esteem, but she says that Chinese parents do not think it is not necessary. Remembering the incident of being called "garbage" by her father, she says that it does never mean that her father really understands her so, rather her father's insulting term made her feel terrible for what she did to her mother. She believes that, rather than damaging the self-esteem of their children, this is how Chinese parents treat their children to make them prepared for any situation in life ahead.
4. How does Chua respond to the charge that Chinese parents don't care about their children?
Many people blame Chinese parents saying that they do not care for their children since they override the interests and preferences of their children. Chua flatly rejects this charge. She says that Chinese parents behave like that because they care for their children a lot. They want what is best for their children; therefore, they make the right decisions for them to make them prepare to succeed in life.
5. According to Chua, how do Chinese child-rearing practices prepare children for life?
According to Chua, although it may seem to others that Chinese parents are too dominant with their children in rearing them, Chinese child-rearing practices build up hard-working habits in kids, develop skills and prepare them to stay confident in any situation.
Purpose and Audience
1. What preconceptions about Chinese mothers does Chua think Westerners have? Do you think she is right about this?
Chua believes that many Western parents believe that Chinese parents are too dominant and indifferent to their children's interests, needs and preferences. I don't think the perception she has is correct. However, I do say that she is correct in the sense that many do believe this to be true.
2. Does Chua seem to expect her readers to be receptive, hostile, or neutral to her ideas? What evidence can you find to support your impression? How do you know?
Chua appears to anticipate her readers to respond adversely to her ideas. At the point when she talks about her comment to her daughter, Sophia, as "garbage", she felt socially segregated by her American friends. Similarly, she also talks about some books that depict Asian mothers as cold and heartless. She also seems aware that this nurturing style is not generally welcomed among most Westerners.
3. What is Chua's thesis? Where does she state it?
Chua's thesis is that there are three main differences between Western parenting and Chinese parenting, and this she has stated in paragraph 11.
4. In an interview, Chua said that the editors of the Wall Street Journal, not she, chose the title of her essay. Why do you think the editors chose the title they did? What title do you think Chua would have chosen? What title would you give the essay?
The editors probably chose the title "Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior" since this in the question form attracts readers' attention. Chua's point does not seem to claim that Chinese parents are superior; her purpose seems to be concerned with explaining the subtleties of parenting techniques to dismiss the analysis they get and to discuss how these techniques contrast with Western techniques.
Style and Structure
1. Why does Chua begin her essay with a list of things her two daughters were not allowed to do as they were growing up? How do you think she expects readers to react to this essay? How do you react?
Her purpose of beginning her essay with a list of dos and don'ts for her daughters is to make her readers feel shocked or angry. She appeals to their emotions and wants to persuade them to go through the text thoroughly.
2. Is this essay a point-by-point comparison, a subject-by-subject comparison, or a combination of the two organizational strategies? Why does Chua arrange her comparison the way she does?
Chua has arranged her essay on a point-by-point comparison structure. This organisation perfectly fits the essay and this has allowed her to focus on each point. This has also made her job easy to show the differences between Western parenting and Chinese parenting. Readers feel easy to mark how these two parentings differ from each other.
3. What evidence does Chua present to support her view that there are marked differences between the parenting styles of Chinese and Western parents?
Most of the evidence is based on her own viewpoints and perceptions. Her comparisons between Western and Chinese parents dealing with learning instruments and how to speak to one's child are based purely on her experiences. In paragraph 5, mentioning one study Chua compares Chinese immigrant mothers' opinions and Western mothers' opinions on topics like academic success.
4. Chua was born in the United States. Does this fact undercut her conclusion about the differences between Western and Chinese child-rearing?
Her birth in the USA does not undercut (weaken) her arguments, rather it supports her case. Being born in the USA has offered her a chance to see both child-rearing practices she discusses here. Her conclusions are more seriously weakened by the lack of minute differences she mentions; there is little evidence that the techniques she discusses are effective.
5. What points does Chua emphasize in her conclusion? How else could she have ended her essay?
In her conclusion, Chua compares and contrasts both Chinese and Western parenting styles. She also could have used narrative as a strategy to draw a conclusion by sharing her experience with her two daughters.
Vocabulary Projects
1. Define each of the following words as it is used in this selection.
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