At 0:49, KOMO catches her playing a video game during, of all things, Amy Chua‘s reading and discussion of her new and controversial book Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother…
Obviously, my daughter’s mother is not a tiger. (My daughter is, however, learning to play the cello and attends an Accelerated Progress Program.)
Speaking of Asian tigers, during the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis, the Hegelian political scientist Francis Fukuyama wrote an interesting article about the talk of his day: “Asian values”—I failed to find the article but my memory still retains much of its meaning. Asian values are essentially Confucian values: social harmony, loyalty to the whole and not the self, obedience to authority, one-party system, and so on—in short, Asians as ants.
Before the 1997-1998 crisis, Fukuyama pointed out in the article, these values were celebrated by journalists and economists in the West as the core cause for the explosion of economic growth in that part of the world. Confucianism was doing for the Asians what Christianity had done for the mighty Europeans—it planted a strong work ethic in each and every individual. After the crisis, however, economists and journalists in the West saw things quite differently: The very same Confucianism was now making Asians stupid (they had no imagination, or innovation; they only knew how to follow orders, behave like bees, act like ants). Fukuyama’s final point: Confucianism was great when things were going great and bad when things were going bad.
Two years after the 2008 financial crisis, something similar is happening with Chua’s Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, a book that’s being promoted around the occasion of President Hu Jintao’s visit. Because China (the second largest economy in the world) is seen by most Americans as unstoppable, and the US (the largest economy in the world) as in an irreversible state of decline, a book that goes on about the superiority of Chinese values will meet the needs of the moment, the mood of our geist. But if China’s economy were to suddenly collapse or be hit by a crisis, which is not impossible, the values of a tiger mom would certainly be seen not only in another light but also much less light than it currently enjoys. History does not repeat itself; it just rhymes a lot.
First it’s the New Zealanders acting more English than the English, and now these Midwestern Catholic-Jewsish girls fancy themselves more Chinese than the Chinese.
Catholic-Jewish, I meant to type.
Her name is Chua.
Sometimes it’s painful how bourgeois you really are Charles.
I’m beginning to get more creeped out hearing about the minutiae of your daughter than I am about the Smith-Pinkett children. Leave your kids out of the news, Chuck.
We went thru pretty much the same commentary, etc. during the late 70’s and early 80’s when the Japanese economy was ascending. One really shouldn’t pay too much attention to the noise.
I am somewhat appalled by what I’ve heard of Chua’s book (I haven’t read it, just heard a lot about it). If any mother in the US tried to raise a child like that, the kid would be the most rebellious child in the entire school. And the most ostracized. She’s fucking nuts.
Mystery rhymes with history.
@7 — I think she DID raise her kids in the US. So time will tell.
I think it’s because she’s trying to live up to an elite white priviledge, and is so concerned about not being of the legacy of old white wealth, that she ends up conceiving this hyper-exaggerated new way of instilling some kind of extreme elitism in her life and with her children.
What disturbs me is not the strictness of her approach, but rather the motivation. She demands her children be #1. She demands that they essentially complete a transition into a heritage of obscene American privilege. She is not demanding excellence of her children at all. She is demanding elitism. Her parenting is simply a form and demonstration of her own new-privileged power, and what she thinks was necessary in her life to attain the status that she has achieved. To me, it is more a sadness than anything.
This is not about cultural parenting difference at all. It is about raw societal power, pure and simple, and it is a litany of everything that Chua thinks she must do to instill in her children the ability to maintain the same social status.
She is not demeaning her children because they are not living up to their own potential, or even her expectations of them as a parent. She berates them because she demands that they live up to the expectations of elite society. She is teaching her children the performance of wealth, nothing more. And that is a vicious and disturbing parenting motivation.
Also, Mudede’s analysis of Fukuyama is entirely nonsensical. That’s not completely Mudede’s fault, though, because it is impossible for anyone to analyze Francis Fukuyama. The man lacks the ability to form a thought, or even to understand his own argument.
Amen #6
TMILFS!
@7
I work in a school and I can say with a straight face that your wrong.
Most of our troubled children come from over laxed houses when it’s been proven over and over that children either need a self built or imposed structure on their lives for them to thrive.
@7, Indeed, I’d like to thank you for being so incredibly wrong. Please make this a learning moment. The next time you you have an opinion about parenting or children, just tell yourself, “I have no experience with children or education, so I’m just going to stay quiet and read informed opinions.”
And if all of you with no children and who haven’t worked in education could just remember this, it would be a better world, I think.
I have found the controversy over Chua’s book fascinating. And the exerpts from that book as well. It has stirred some reflection on my own upbringing. I think little of her restrictiveness. Why limit the kids musical instrument choices to just piano and violin. Would she say no if they wanted to play guitar? While I disagree with her not allowing her children to pick their own exracurricular activities, I think having those kinds of activities are important for children.
One thing I am curious about. Her older daughter recently published a letter defending her, with a humor I would not have expected from someone who was raised in this way. The one I would like to hear from is the younger daughter, the one who rebelled.
Reverse Polarity has a good point in terms of Chua’s book (I haven’t read it, either, just a bunch of appalling excerpts). What she’s advocating sounds borderline abusive, in fact, one review by a Chinese man said these competitive, uncompromising mothers are the reason so many young adults of his generation are in therapy. Sure, kids need rules, structure, family dinners, someone making sure they do their homework and their chores, but that’s not what Chua is advocating. She’s bent on producing little soldier robots who will go on to have stellar careers. No square pegs in round holes for her, no creativity. It goes without saying that healthy attitudes toward sex and friendship are non-starters.
Drive around the Rainier valley at 9pm and check out the high school kids hanging out then get back to us about how ‘messed up’ Chua’s kids will be.
Seriously, Charles. Your job is to report events for The Stranger, not to report about your life to The Stranger. The egotism is getting a bit overwhelming. No one cares if you killed a horse, if your local greasy spoon is closed, or if your daughter plays video games.
GET OVER YOURSELF.
please.
I have two friends who grew up with a similar parenting style to Chua. They’re both intelligent, kind, lovely women. One has a job like what her parents wanted, is close to them in a fairly healthy way, and resents anything that reeks of intellectual elitism, particularly anything that reminds her of the “gifted” classes she attended at school.
The other has a job her parents don’t like, and moves between over-attachment with her parents and wishing that a natural disaster would happen so that either they or she would die and get out of each other’s lives.
Both are in therapy.
No video from your daughter’s 10 seconds of fame?
http://www.komonews.com/news/local/11440…
Oh, it will happen. You can only be a sausage factory for so long before your horny plebs go on a rape rampage.
Filial piety is crucial to cultures that come from confucian philosophy. These tiger parents want to live vicariously through their lives while also demanding worship from their children. This women knows it an is trying to turn a quick buck.
Everything I have read about her is that she plays the victim card as often as possible, claiming people have threatened her children because of her views. Everyone in America agrees that real tiger moms are disgusting but I have to applaud this women, successful troll is successful.
Guys, the results are in, and discipline works. Chinese-American median income: $58,300 vs white median income: $48,500.
http://www.asian-nation.org/demographics…
Whether the Chinese economy inflates, deflates, soars, or flatlines has absolutely no bearing on Amy Chua’s parenting tips.
Also… the level of vitriol against her pretty basic parental observations on the NPR site is pretty astonishing.
“So if I let my kid play WoW all day, and he doesn’t study, he won’t be successful? You don’t say!”
@17: she’s said that she didn’t allow her daughters to play the drums because “drums are for losers”. Piano/violin are traditionally acceptable elite instruments.
@26 Guys, the results are in, and discipline works. Chinese-American median income: $58,300 vs white median income: $48,500.
Total statistical failure. You utterly fail to account for the fact that as with any massively large country like China, most of the immigrants who make it to the US are of upper-class and educated descent. It should surprise no one that the average income of Chinese within the first generation or so is higher than the average American income. I’m actually surprised the disparity isn’t greater.
It also fails completely by assigning value to a person solely based on their income.
…. any word on what game it was? Phoenix Wright? Scribblenauts? Persona 4?
Seriously, inquiring minds wish to know.
After all these decades, we still like to bucket entire demographics with stereotypes. I’m sure the tradition of Confucianism still echoes through Chinese society (but you realize that Amy Chua was raised in a Chinese family in the Philippines, right?). But to start describing “Asian values” is moronic.
Asian values is human values, just like American values and European values. Of course, there are cultural distinctions and traditions that differ among us, some more questionable than others, but for the most part, we all share core aspirations. And before someone launches into a diatribe about how some cultures treat their women, or homosexuals, etc. just remember how we treated them not too long ago (or even today!), even at levels of national wealth and technology far beyond what some societies have today.
tl;dr horse-killer. the fact that I am white and think that you’re a dumbassed fucktard that should only post your own personal blog is, of course, a chance for you to bring up some other non-relevant bullshit and work in the race card.
regadless, still a rumbaed douchenozzle.
You fucked a tiger.
TMILF!
Oops. I got beaten by a long shot on that joke.
BTW are you referring to some video clip from KOMO that we can’t see? Where is this mysterious 0:49 and why is your illustrious family in the news again Charles?
@34 See my link @23
someone wrote a controversial book about parenting? Oh no! Please help me get this knot out of my panties.
I am not defending this woman but it is a memoir, NOT a parenting book.
Also, I do think she’s kind of nuts but as a parent, one thing you learn is that you never criticize another parent’s style (not within earshot). Everyone has their own good/weird/bad/strange ideas.
I think her restriction of tv/video/computer is fine. No sleepovers or parties, not so much. What happens when her daughters have their first sleepover …at college? What happens when her “gotta have an A or you are garbage” daughters get into highly competitive colleges/universities where there are thousands of them and the girls get their first B? (Yes, she did call one her daughters garbage.)
It’s a slippery slope.
@37 —
Are you the first person to comment who has actually read the book? Unacceptable!
Charles,
Stick to love songs to ugly buildings.
Talking about your children for self promotional purposes is limited to Dan Savage (first class, limo rides, and where I’m appearing tonight) and Angelina.
Charles,
Wow, I was seated just behind your daughter at the event, and I must say her hair smelled terrific! ;>)
Honestly, as a Chinese-American raised in this manner, I had bad flashbacks when I first read the excerpts in the WSJ. However, after reading her daughter’s defense of her and listening to her talk, I don’t hate the woman. She’s just trying to do the best for her kids. And if you read the book, she has relaxed a lot in the last few years.
Frankly, the latent racist reaction from white liberals is more hurtful. Comments like “Yeah, maybe this method works for turning out math geniuses, but their English must suck!” Never mind that my high school honors English classes were at least 50% Asian, or that I actually scored higher on my SAT verbal than the math.
Or things like Charles’ screed, conflating Chinese-Americans with China. The tiger mom is basically an upgrade of the old Catholic and Jewish immigrant mother model. Nothing that novel about it.
@41 —
I bet you’re a horrible driver. Just saying.
@41 — In other words, buck up. I’m sorry the latent racist libs didn’t notice you’re good at both math and honors English.
@41 You do know that no one on this thread mentioned anything like that, right? I mean with your incredible English skills…
I’d like to nominate “the mood of our geist” as Mudede’s most painfully pretentious phrase of the week.
I’m no expert in German, but I’m not even sure that “mood of our geist” makes any sense. Maybe he meant “the mood of our zeit”? Or maybe he should have just stuck with a word like, oh, I don’t know, “zeitgeist.” It’d still be slightly pretentious-sounding, being a German loanword and all, but at least it wouldn’t be nonsensical.
How dare she not let her children watch tv, and actually make them do things?!?!
Oh please. Every successful parent knows this shit, they’re just less heinous bitches about it than Chua. You want your kid to be smart? Do their homework with them, limit their screentime, surround them with classic literature. Debate with them. Tell them ‘the battle of agincourt’ bedtime stories instead of inane bs ‘rainbow fish’ storybooks. Quiz them on important world facts or geography when you’re waiting in the doctor’s office or the car. Expose them to classical music, jazz, blues whatever. Don’t just feed them pop culture BS and then expect them to be extraordinary.