Children all over the world are raised in hundreds of different ways. Some parents strive to get a successful child, some are more casual, and some parents even relive their youth through their kids. China is on the running course with the rest of the world, and when it comes to creating masterminds, China is way ahead of everyone else. Should we follow, or should we simply go on the way we always have? In the article âWhy Chinese Mothers Are Superiorâ by Amy Chua, weâre informed about the differences between the western way of raising children and the Chinese way.
She is a Chinese mother herself, and from her perspective she explains how she has raised her children by excluding them from every social activity, both within school, but also during their extracurricular. Her opinions are pretty clear, and she doesnât hesitate to express how much she thinks her way of raising children is better than the western way. She explains that not all Chinese mothers are like her âConversely, I know some mothers of Chinese heritage, almost always born in the West, who are not Chinese mothers, by choice or otherwiseâ1.
Throughout the article, she states that the western way of raising children is not as good as the Chinese, and even though some western parents think theyâre strict towards their children, itâs nothing compared to the Chinese idea of strict ââŚeven when Western parents think theyâre being strict, they usually donât come close to being Chinese mothers. (⌠) my Western friends who consider themselves strict make their children practice their instruments for 30 minutes every day. An hour at most.
For a Chinese mother, the first hour is the easy part. Itâs hours two and three that thoughâ2. This proves that she truly thinks that she, and the rest of the hardworking Chinese mothers, are superior. Throughout the article, she also resorts to studies, that have examined the opinions of 50 western women and 48 immigrated Chinese women, all mothers. âAlmost 70% of the Western mothers said either that âstressing academic success is not good for childrenâ or that âparents need to foster the idea, that learning is funââ3.
The opinion of the Chinese mothers was a whole different story, though âBy contrast, roughly 0% of the Chinese mothers felt the same wayâ4. Dragging these studies into her article doesnât only make her reliable, she also argues very well for her case. The fact that she is a professor at Yale Law School also backs up her reliance. Being a professor for future lawyers usually requires being good at arguing, which she certainly is.
In her article, she has included stories and experiences from her own life, in which she was also raised the Chinese way: Play to be the best, or donât play at all. The first experience she explains is how her father used to call her names when she was disrespectful towards her mother â⌠when I was extremely disrespectful to my mother, my father angrily called me âgarbageââ5, but she also states that she was never negatively affected by his name-calling âI felt terrible and deeply ashamed of what I had done.
But it didnât damage my self-esteem or anything like thatâ6. Throughout the article, she uses humor even though she seems to be a strict lady, that doesnât waste time messing around âOne guest named Marcy got so upset she broke down in tears and had to leave early. My friend Susan, the host, tried to rehabilitate me with the remaining guestsâ7. This shows that she does, even though it might be a bit hard to detect, have a sense of humor. She is pretty subjective in this article, since she assumes that every Chinese child is an A-class student.
This is, though a bit of a paradox, since she in the start of the article wrote that not all Chinese mothers are the same âIf a Chinese child gets a B â which would never happen â there would be a screaming, hair-tearing explosion. â8. She is convinced, that a Chinese parent can treat their child in any way they want to, calling them names and forcing them to do things, they donât want to do, whereas western parents canât be critic at all or demand anything of their child without ruining the self-esteem of their child âChinese mothers can say to their daughters âHey fatty â Lose some weight.
By contrast, Western parents have to tiptoe around the issue, talking in terms of âhealthâ and never mention the f-word, and their kids still end up in therapy for eating disorders and negative self-imageâ9. In the modern world, itâs all about stepping up and making a name for yourself, no matter if youâre on Wall Street or a part of the underground music revolution. Many years ago, Chinaâs economy was a wreck, people starved and you had to be the best to survive.
Call it Darwinism, but these people had to fight to be something, and I think this is how this Chinese way of raising children was created, and we learned from Amyâs article, that Chinese children are still raised this way. If a young child is brilliant at for example an instrument and a video is posted on Youtube and it goes viral and people hear about it, they sometimes ask âIs the kid Asian? â. Then people laugh, but itâs funny because itâs true!
The Chinese, not to speak of rest of Asia, has conquered a big part of the market for manufactured products, and everywhere you go you see the stamp âMade In Chinaâ. No wonder if everyone in China raise their children like Amy does. When all this is said, I think children should be allowed to be children. Itâs healthy for them to create social bands, but if theyâre cut out from all social activity by their parents, they will automatically become the outcast in their class.
This is why we on American high schools always see white and black kids hang out together, but the Asians are usually for themselves. Itâs natural to make boundaries for your child, the child should know the difference between right and wrong, but should definitely not learn that socializing is wrong. Maybe Amy didnât get damaged in the process of being perfected by her parents, but Iâm sure not every Chinese child is like her. We keep talking about leaving a better planet for our children â But how about leaving better children for our planet?