Bridget Johnston
Writing 101S
Writing Assignment 1: Comparison and Contrast Essay
March 22, 2015

Parenting: Amy Chua vs. Hanna Rosin
Is there a right way to raise your child? There are really no set rules on how to raise your child, as we can see throughout the articles written by Amy Chua, a 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 would express disapproval and ask why they did not get an A. According to her, a