Many children in an America are lazy and don’t strive to give themselves goals, especially academically. Empowerment is something we even as a country need more of for our children. Tiger Mom’s are a critical understandment of parenting to push children to prepare for their futures. I agree with Tiger Mom’s objectives but not with all of her methods. Tiger Mom’s objectives are truly remarkable in my opinion, but I would change possibly 2 ways of her methods.
Every parent has different ideas on how to raise children and believes their way is best. Amy Chua and Hanna Rosin are no exception to this. Amy Chua believes in a parenting style that is foreign and very different to Western parents. Her style is formed from a Chinese background and she refers to it as tiger parenting. Amy Chua has received a lot of criticism because of her strict parenting style.
I will go further into this topic later in my essay. In my writing I will use Amy Chua as an example of the tiger mother. She described in detail how had she been raising her two daughters and, most importantly, why had she been bringing up them in such a way. Some of the rules which she imposed on her daughters seem to be ridiculous (e.g. they were not allowed to attend a sleepover, watch television, play computer games, choose their own extracurricular activities).
Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior The article ”Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior” focuses on the fact that chinese children are turning out to be so stereotypically successful. Amy Chua points out that there is a big difference between Chinese mothers and Western parents and the way they raise their kids: ”What Chinese parents understands is that nothing is fun until you’re good at it. To get good at anything you have to work, and children on their own never want to work, which is why it is crucial to override their preferences. This often requires fortitude on the part of the parents because the child will resist; things are always hardest at the beginning, which is where Western parents tend to give up.” I think this quote makes a good picture of how she thinks of herself as a parent and the Western people as parents. To make her point clear she uses a lot of pathos and a lot of examples from experiences with herself and her two daughters, Louisa and Sofia.
The point that Amy Chua stresses the most in Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother is the difference between “Chinese parenting” and “Western parenting.” It is clear that in her opinion Chinese children excel more than American children because they are constantly being pushed by their mothers to be the best at everything they do. There are even studies Chua quotes that suggest the same thing: In one study of 50 Western American mothers and 48 Chinese immigrant mothers, almost 70% of the Western mothers said either that ‘stressing academic success is not good for children’ or that ‘parents need to foster the idea that learning is fun.’ By contrast, roughly 0% of the Chinese mothers said that they believe their children can be ‘the best’ students, that ‘academic achievement reflects successful parenting,’ and that if children did not excel at school then there was ‘a problem’ and ‘parents were not doing there job.’ (5). Whether this study and her book proved that Chinese parenting is better than Western parenting is not the point to be made. However there is much to be said for parents encouraging their children to strive to do well and not give up. A child who grows up to have poor work ethics and a track record of laziness will typically come from an upbringing where they were neglected or never pushed to do much of anything.
Throughout The Joy Luck Club the chapters in which Waverly is the main character, Waverly always changes her actions or opinions depending on what her mother’s reactions are. Does Waverly act this way in order to get her mom to like her more by agreeing with her or is it truly that her mom is always right and Waverly is always wrong? Why does Waverly change her opinion or attitude depending on how her mother feels? I believe that Waverly wants her mother to accept her. Her mother continually tries to show Waverly that she is a good parent and is looking out for her daughter’s best interest.
Antonia is a young girl who deals with family issues and overwhelming responsibility in her one depressed parent family. On the other hand Jazz deals with trying to make her parents accept who she truly is and she also constantly rebels. While Jazz's Gothic look may be deceiving but she is completely different once you get to know her. Someone of her appearance would never be assumed to play the piano and save lives as a lifeguard. While the two girls have their own unique points they also have one thing in common and that is family issues.
While in her mother’s eyes, she only supported her daughter and craved the absolute best for her child. Schwind-Pawlak presents this argument poorly due to her change of heart towards the end of the essay. She does not stick to her beginning argument which causes the opposition to lack stability. The two authors support their arguments by providing evidence. The supporting evidence of the two essay’s help reveal the hardships teenagers face while dealing with their parents.
The Joy Luck Club Assignment The film the Joy Luck Club was an excellent account of four different accounts of Asian American women and their grown up assimilated daughters. It dealt with the marked discrepancy in the story of the rough relationships of first generation Asian American mothers and the daughters’ complete assimilation. It was interesting viewing the mothers’ adherence to their customs and beliefs clashing with their daughters’ acceptance of the American lifestyle. In addition, the stereotypes that were perpetuated by the movie were intense, mainly of Asian men and women. By showing the beliefs and customs of the Chinese still done here in America, the film makes a massive effort to reinforce negative stereotypes such of Asians as sexist, poverty-ridden, cruel, and strange, exotic, and
She went through a tremendous struggle-to-success; a boring success that has being leading Amy’s everyday life with her ‘’tiger’’ mom. Her mother estimated that she knew better than anyone; from her humble job and her limited income, she was sure that: ‘’ you could be anything you wanted to be in America’’ (Tan 264), and that her daughter had to be ‘’the best she can be’’(Tan265), a pseudo-genius, in order to fit in, or better: to demark herself from the mere and common so she can attain success. The recipe was to assimilate her daughter with other people and create a competitive aspect in her child’s perspective; Amy had to succumb to her mother trying to extract from her the person she cannot be and to forge from her the type of genius she’s not. At the end, the author managed to define her own meaning of success, and became the person she was meant to be through her uniquely generalized experience: Strangers, in general, when they bring their children overseas, they tend to put pressure on them so they can stand out from the crowd of mere people and break the ceiling glass, the barriers to be the best. However, assimilation is not as simple as it may seem.