...Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior Raising a child can be done in various ways, but one thing is certain: all parents want what's best for their children. There are however quite a few different opinions on how to raise a child in the best way. One of the more prominent and controversial ways of raising a child is the Chinese way, which is discussed by Amy Chua in her article "Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior", published on January 8th in 2011. The article is published in The Wall Street Journal, which is an American newspaper, which means the readers of the article are mainly Americans and western people in general. In the article Amy Chua argues that the Chinese way of raising a child is far better than the western way. Amy Chua has a decent insight on both the western- and the Chinese way of parenting, since she, herself, is Chinese and in addition to that she is married to a Western man, with whom she has two children. There are quite a few things that appeals to ethos in the article. First of all, she was raised in the Chinese way, and because of that she is today a professor at Yale Law School. It shows us that strict parenting results in academically successful children. Another thing that strengthens her ethos is that she is referring a lot to her own youth, telling us about a few incidents in her childhood, where her strict parents made her improve. Chua is really comparative and mentions a few studies to prove her point about the very opposing mindsets that...
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...styles, and geographically speaking there is a wide variety of styles practiced. The most controversial styles are the ones adopted by the eastern and the western cultures in the world. While eastern parents are stricter and demanding, western parents are more flexible, nurturing, and more tolerant. Amy Chua’s article “Why Chinese Mothers are Superior” and Hanna Rosin’s counter-article “Mother Inferior” explore three basic concepts that make the difference between Chinese and Western parental approaches: children’s self-esteem, children’s appreciation, and children’s interest. Amy Chua states that the first difference she notices between these two parenting styles is that Western parents care a lot about their children’s self-esteem and psyches, while Chinese parents don’t. She explains that Western parents worry too much about their children’s feelings; hence they are always trying to comfort them. She also points that Chinese parents, on the other hand, demand perfection through criticism, punishment, and shaming the child, because they believe with this humiliation the child will be properly motivated to succeed on his own. Hanna Rosin doesn’t agree with Chua. Rosin states that “… there is no reason to believe that calling your child “lazy” or “stupid” or “worthless” is a better way to motivate her to be good than some other more gentle but persistent mode.” (Rosin par 9) Rosin believes that parents can practice a more nurturing approach with their kids in order for...
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...Misunderstood Methods: The Positive Results of Chinese-American Parenting At the age of seven, Lulu had never been to a sleepover and was not allowed to watch TV or play computer games. Instead, she was told she would exert her efforts on maintaining perfect grades and mastering the piano. Her mother supervised three hours of piano practice every day to prepare for her weekly lesson. At one point, Lulu was working on a piece called “The Little White Donkey.” The song had complicated rhythms that easily got muddled between the left and right hands. The day before a lesson, Lulu got up from the piano and declared that she gave up trying to get it right. As she rose, her mother ordered her to sit back down. When Lulu protested, her mother threatened to take her dollhouse away and donate it to Salvation Army. Lulu continued to play, but after a short time, she put up more of a fight. The practice turned into a screaming match between Lulu and her mother, with Lulu kicking and punching in resistance. The threats continued as her mother told her she would take away Christmas and Hanukkah presents, birthday parties and meals; she told Lulu that she was being lazy, cowardly, self-indulgent, and pathetic. The fight continued, but Lulu kept playing. Finally, after a night of warfare, Lulu’s hands executed the perfect rhythms. She could play the piece. That night, Lulu and her mother snuggled, hugged, and laughed in celebration of her achievement. Lulu’s mother is Amy Chua, the author of the book...
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...B Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior “Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior” is an article from The Wall Street Journal. The sender Amy Chua, a professor at Yale Law School in USA, is comparing the Chinese upbringing to the Western way of upbringing. Mrs. Chua is trying to explain to the receiver, western parents, that there are pros and cons when you look at the Chinese way of educating children, but she also shows, that it leads to good results. The argumentation, in Mrs. Chua’s article is open. By using the open argumentation is gives Mrs. Chua the chance to show of her own opinion. And thereby reveal a little bit of herself to the reader. “For example, my Western friends who consider themselves strict make their children practice their instruments 30 minutes every day. An hour at most. For a Chinese mother the first hour is the easy part. It’s hours two and three that get tough.” Here Amy is arguing which of the cultures that is the strictest when it comes to the children’s after school activities. Later on in the text she even gives an example of how she makes her own children practice. “Lulu could not do it. We worked on it nonstop for a week, drilling each of her hands separately, over and over.” In this paragraph on page 9, we can see how she is clearly in favor of the Chinese method, which she uses herself. Amy Chua uses all of the known forms of appeal to convince the reader. Mrs. Chua starts out with the logos appeal form. “..there are tons of studies out there...
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...article: “Why Chinese Mothers are Superior” The writer of the article, Chua, uses the terms “western mother” and “Chinese mother”, respectively about a mother who doesn’t expects a lot from one’s child and a mother who doesn’t accept lesser than the best. Chau, who herself is a “Chinese mother”, means that the “Chinese mothers” believe in and support their kids more than the stereotype western mother does. According to her ”nothing is fun until you are good at it”, and therefore it is necessary to be extremely focused at the goals one wants to accuse (for example to become a master at piano playing). According to her the “Chinese mothers” sacrifice themselves more for their children than ”western mothers” do. Chau’s extremely authoritarian upbringing is way to much, do you ask me, but still I see the reason in what she says about giving children self-confidence: When your child comes home with a bad grade and you praise her only, you have said indirectly, that your child doesn’t have the potential to achieve any better. This view the child will take over and her/his self-confidence will fall. The genre of the article is expressive and persuasive because of the fact that Chau has a point of view, which she wants to share with the reader and convince that she is right about her opinions. The majority of the moods of appeals is logos, but still there is a use of ethos and pathos in it. An example of logos is this: “In one study of 50 Western American mothers and 48 Chinese...
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...Chinese mothers If you ask parents all over the world, what they wish for their children, most of them would answer that their children should have a happy life. Does it mean that parents dictate every single step for their kids to take? When a child get used to follow orders from his/her parents all the time and doesn’t have any kind of freedom in his/her spare time, wouldn’t this dictatorial upbringing and zero tolerance toward the child lead to weak points and errors in child’s life? To get high marks at school and eventually having a good job does it equal to a happy life? What is most prioritized happiness or success in life? On the 8th January 2011, an article was published in the Wall Street Journal to explain the superiority of Chinese mothers. Amy Chua, who is a professor at Yale Law School and mother to two children, is the writer of “Why Chinese mothers are superior”. Amy Chua lives in USA, but of Chinese descent, narrates how to raise the stereotypical Chinese-success-kids by using the “Chinese mother” parenting method. In the article Amy Chua claims that the strict and “hardcore” upbringing method is better than the “loose” laissez faire upbringing method. She backs her claims up by arguing reasonably and referring to her life experiences, and thereby confirming her thoughts about parenting. At the beginning of article she presents a list of things that her daughters were never permitted to do. The list consists of activities that western parents consider...
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...Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior Amy Chua The Wall Street Journal; January 8, 2011 A lot of people wonder how Chinese parents raise such stereotypically successful kids. They wonder what these parents do to produce so many math whizzes and music prodigies, what it's like inside the family, and whether they could do it too. Well, I can tell them, because I've done it. Here are some things my daughters, Sophia and Louisa, were never allowed to do: • attend a sleepover • have a playdate • be in a school play • complain about not being in a school play • watch TV or play computer games • choose their own extracurricular activities • get any grade less than an A • not be the No. 1 student in every subject except gym and drama • play any instrument other than the piano or violin • not play the piano or violin. I'm using the term "Chinese mother" loosely. I know some Korean, Indian, Jamaican, Irish and Ghanaian parents who qualify too. Conversely, I know some mothers of Chinese heritage, almost always born in the West, who are not Chinese mothers, by choice or otherwise. I'm also using the term "Western parents" loosely. Western parents come in all varieties. All the same, even when Western parents think they're being strict, they usually don't come close to being Chinese mothers. For example, my Western friends who consider themselves strict make their children practice their instruments 30 minutes every day. An hour at most. For a Chinese mother, the first hour is...
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...One Style Does not Fit All Amy Chua’s book, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, caused an uproar in the US media. It’s triggered a nationwide debate about the merits of different parenting approaches, mainly comparing ‘Tiger’/Asian-style parenting to ‘Western’/American-style parenting. Throughout her book, Chua exclaims that strict Chinese or ‘Tiger’ parenting is effective because it forges academic success. According to columnist for the New York Times David Brooks, author of the article “Amy Chua is a Wimp,” her book “plays into America’s fear of national decline” (269). One of the biggest components of the debate between parenting styles is that American children are academically inferior to other countries. Elizabeth Kolbert, staff writer for the New Yorker writes that the only area in which American students “outperform the competition is self-regard” (276). American students are ranked seventeenth in the world in reading, twenty-third in science, and thirty-first in math, while students from Shanghai ranked first in all three categories. Much of the blame for the decline in America’s academic ranking is placed on the parenting style. Western parents often claim that their children are “talented” or “gifted,” Chua says, while Asian parents highlight the importance of hard work and academic dominance. Yet, “research performed by Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck has found that the way parents offer approval affects the way children perform, even the way they feel...
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...A professor at Yale Law School and Chinese mother, Amy Chua, writes a flashback/ argumentative article as to why a Chinese parenting method is better than a western parent's. The rate for Chinese women in college is 45%, in the 2010/2011 school year the rate for international students in college and universities increased by 5%. Chua's purpose is to clarify why a Chinese mother's way to raising their children is better than a western parent's methods. She adopts a very authoritarian tone in order to scare her kids and to teach them that failure is not an option, to succeed and to be the best you need to be taught strictly and harsh. She doesn't want her daughters to be weak minded and sensitive to criticism so Chua being so petty and hurtful...
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...Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior – Amy Chua Opgave B: Write an essay (900-1200 words) in which you analyse and comment on Amy Chua´s article “Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior”. Part of your essay must focus on how the writer engages the reader and on possible consequences of adopting Amy Chua´s values and methods of upbringing. In the article “Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior” Amy Chua , who is professor at the Law School in Yale, writes about how to rise your children, and the differences between the Western and Chines methods raising one’s children, by comparing Chinese and Western kids. The comparisons give us a view of what the good and bad consequences are, when it comes to high expectations and stereotypical raised kids. There are a lot of different views on which way is the right, but Amy Chua is sure, that her method is the secure way to make her children success. One of the first things we read in the article is a list of what Amy Chuas children aren’t allowed to do. Things like: Sleepovers, having a playdate or watching television, are totally unacceptable. In the western world is that very normal stuff to do when you are a kid, but in China it’s not the kids who decide what talent they want to cultivate, but the parents. And mostly, the parents choose school and playing a classic instrument to be the first priorities. Her methods are very strict and hard – not funny and pedagogical like the most do it in the Western world. Amy Chua means that Western parents often...
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...A lot of people wonder how Chinese parents raise such stereotypically successful kids. They wonder what these parents do to produce so many math whizzes and music prodigies, what it's like inside the family, and whether they could do it too. Well, I can tell them, because I've done it. Here are some things my daughters, Sophia and Louisa, were never allowed to do: Amy Chua with her daughters, Louisa and Sophia, at their home in New Haven, Conn. ENLARGE Amy Chua with her daughters, Louisa and Sophia, at their home in New Haven, Conn. ERIN PATRICE O'BRIEN FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL • attend a sleepover • have a playdate • be in a school play • complain about not being in a school play • watch TV or play computer games • choose their own extracurricular activities • get any grade less than an A • not be the No. 1 student in every subject except gym and drama • play any instrument other than the piano or violin • not play the piano or violin. I'm using the term "Chinese mother" loosely. I know some Korean, Indian, Jamaican, Irish and Ghanaian parents who qualify too. Conversely, I know some mothers of Chinese heritage, almost always born in the West, who are not Chinese mothers, by choice or otherwise. I'm also using the term "Western parents" loosely. Western parents come in all varieties. IDEAS MARKET The Tiger Mother Responds to Readers Chua's Daughter Sophia Explains What Life is Really With her 'Tiger Mom' An Asian Father's GIft:...
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...A lot of people wonder how Chinese parents raise such stereotypically successful kids. They wonder what these parents do to produce so many math whizzes and music prodigies, what it's like inside the family, and whether they could do it too. Well, I can tell them, because I've done it. Here are some things my daughters, Sophia and Louisa, were never allowed to do: Enlarge Image Erin Patrice O'Brien for The Wall Street Journal Amy Chua with her daughters, Louisa and Sophia, at their home in New Haven, Conn. • attend a sleepover • have a playdate • be in a school play • complain about not being in a school play • watch TV or play computer games • choose their own extracurricular activities • get any grade less than an A • not be the No. 1 student in every subject except gym and drama • play any instrument other than the piano or violin • not play the piano or violin. I'm using the term "Chinese mother" loosely. I know some Korean, Indian, Jamaican, Irish and Ghanaian parents who qualify too. Conversely, I know some mothers of Chinese heritage, almost always born in the West, who are not Chinese mothers, by choice or otherwise. I'm also using the term "Western parents" loosely. Western parents come in all varieties. Ideas Market The Tiger Mother Responds to Readers Chua's Daughter Sophia Explains What Life is Really With her 'Tiger Mom' An Asian Father's GIft: Permission to Fail Ms. Chua answers questions from Journal readers...
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...self-described “Chinese Tiger Mom” and Hanna Rosin, a “Western Mother,” in The Wall Street Journal in January 2011. These articles show that the two authors have completely different parenting styles. On one hand, Amy Chua believes kids should not go to sleepovers, be in school plays, and get anything less than A's in school except for gym. Meanwhile, Hannah Rosin believes that children need some freedom to express themselves. There are many differences between the two styles but each has had its own success in raising children. On January 8, 2011, Amy Chua wrote an article entitled, “Why Chinese Mothers are Superior” to explain how Chinese parents raise successful kids and produced so many math wizzes and music prodigies. In response to that article, Hanna Rosin wrote an article dated January 15, 2011, entitled “Mother Inferior?” with the subtitle “Amy Chua has the diagnosis of American childhood exactly backward. Our kids don’t need more drills and rules. They need to lighten up and roam free.” “Western parents are extremely anxious about their children’s self-esteem.” (Amy Chua) Chua in the following statements definitely makes it clear that grades are first priority then feelings. Chua says that Chinese parents are not as concerned about their children’s psyches as western parents. She says Chinese parents “…assume strength, not fragility, and as a result they believe differently.” (Chua) For example, a western parent would praise a child for getting an A-minus, but a Chinese parent...
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...between Chinese and Western Education- Yu Kang Pace University Fall 2011 ELI 084A Midterm Research Paper Tara Vassallo November 9, 2011 Abstract According to A cultural perspective for the differences between Chinese education and Western education, there are considerable differences between Chinese and Western education due to the influence of culture and history. What’s more, the article- Views on differences between Chinese and Western education from quality education and Analysis of the differences between Chinese education and Western -show the differences on school and family education specifically and separately. Chinese education is characterized by setting diversified strict rules and regulations on students; Whereas, Western students get more freedom and chances to choose and develop what they really interested in. Generally speaking, Chinese students usually are good law-keeper and possess solid basic foundation but lacking creative spirit. Western kids are more independently and do good jobs on innovation. However, they don not stress too much on discipline and hard working. Zhao and Bai said in Draw inspiration from comparing that Chinese and Western education should learn from each other (1999, p. 46). Therefore, integrating the essence of these two education systems will come up with a better one. Tiger VS Cat Difference between Chinese education and Western Education At the beginning of 2011, a book named “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother” set off...
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...parent goes above and beyond, and not in a positive socially excepting way. The difference between Chinese mothers and Western civilization “moms” is pitch black night and day. All a Chinese mother has left to do to raise their children is a battery pack inserted in the child’s back, given the way some Asian people in today’s society are stereotyped, math genius’s, music prodigies, large corporation CEO’s, it seems that in a way Chinese parenting has something going on, even as strict as it often gets, pretty much taking a child’s childhood almost completely away. As in “the west side”, it is highly believed to let a kid be a kid, that’s how you learn what’s right and wrong, your personal likes and dislikes and have a better chance to mold yourself as a person and not be molded like a product straight off the factory line. A Chinese mother will stress academic excellence, not encouraging but making, even if harsh threats and degrading are involved for their child to have perfect A’s and be number one in not pretty much everything, but EVERYTHING that that child does. A Western parent most of the times settles for a pass, “good job Bobby, you got a C in your social study’s test”, as a Chinese parent would just about cut your finger off for failing said test. While Chinese parents spend approximately 10 times as long every day drilling academic activities with their children, Western kids are more likely to participate in sports and play on their cell phones or game...
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