<p>I think if more Americans became familiar with actual Asian kids instead of depending on the media carricature of them, they would find that Asian kids are just as interesting as non-Asian kids and not robots. That’s why diversity is so important. I feel not too many people here know Asians well.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I’m not sure it’s necessarily a reference to expensive spending habits so much as the still horrid job prospects/ginormous debt for many law school graduates, especially those who aren’t top 5-10% of most law schools or in the top quarter/half of schools in the T-20 unless she ends up at HYS for law school. </p>
<p>The anxiety I still see and hear from law students. Even those from schools like Columbia and NYU illustrate this factor. Only persons I know who aren’t worried ARE those in trust-fund situations and/or somehow work for corporations which are paying their law tuition in return for a 3-5+ year commitment to them after graduation. </p>
<p>Incidentally, her enrolling in ROTC to become a JAG officer is a smart move as it’ll mean she’s more likely to get it. However, it’s not guaranteed considering the increasing competition of ROTC enrollment and JAG slots due to many law school grads who are worried about post-graduation employment. </p>
<p>Chua said repeatedly her goal was to get her kids into competitive colleges, where they could study **whatever they wanted<a href=“read:%20stem%20or%20not”>/b</a>.</p>
<p>ROTC is the new tiger-parent fad/achievement badge they can smugly and faux-coyly brag about at wine parties. Her daughter is still angling (for prestige, power, influence, attention), like a good cub.</p>
<p>Majoring in philosophy and a dead language? What a slacker!</p>
<p>Just kidding, she is perfectly placed to become a good yoga teacher.</p>
<p>I have a friend whose daughter struggled in college and when I asked him how she was doing and he looked all embarrassed and told me that she’s a yoga teacher now, “but she’s very happy”. </p>
<p>It occurred to me - she will take care of herself, eat well, always have good posture and loose joints, and lead a spiritually fulfilling life. Jackpot!</p>
<p>My yoga instructor put her H thru architecture and law school and her D thru college in AU/NZ! She still seems to love her work and is in great physical shape. She’s now in her late 50s, I believe. I believe she is also a college grad. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Unless you know them personally, how do you know? Do you make such assumptions on all ROTC candidates? There are lots of CC parents here who have children in that program.
Your bias is showing.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Well, is it not fair to assume that “who we know well” is directly proportional to “who we met” in our life? Is it also fair to assume that it is a fool errand to discuss “Asians” in generic terms … just as one would find it questionable to lump Fins with Greeks? All any of us can do is to rely on his or her experiences to form an opinion. And, fwiw, some of us --and many who visit this site-- have had the opportunity to meet students, parents, grandparents, and friends in the context of what we call “higher education.” </p>
<p>Unscientific as it may be, those experiences are nonetheless real. As I said, we DO meet people of all races and all SES. We DO know that the stereotypes and caricatures are meant to irritate, fuel debates, and sell copies of articles and books. In this regard, could we not have an opinion that the self-caricature presented by Chua was meant to accomplish the three things I listed? </p>
<p>While we cannot pretend to “know well” the people we meet or spend years with in school, we have the right to make observations, especially when the “information” comes directly from the mouth of the people who did have years of tiger parenting. We do indeed know them well, but perhaps their own parents might not know them as well as they thought. Listening is more an art than a science! </p>
<p>Fwiw, one can admire the children and deeply respect their drive, intelligence, and dedication to learning, and … still feel sorry for the price they had to pay to “get there.” There is no need to repeat the litany of what some of us have decried in no uncertain terms. One can see the person named “the daughter of Amy Chua” as a wonderfully interesting person with a great future ahead of her, and still look at her upbringing as far from worthy of emulation. Obviously, it is undeniable that where is today can be credited to the iron lady in the house – and perhaps to the balancing father who only contributed an hyphenated second last name. But the question remains about what she missed in those years, and if the prize was worth the price.</p>
<p>Just as most everything, we will never know if success is “because” or “in spite” of something! </p>
<p>Cbreeze, her mother wrote a memoir and gave dozens of speeches detailing their obsession with achievement badges and status. ROTC is the trendy badge of the moment in the social circles they run in. My husband and I know a dozen children that are suddenly doing it (for disingenuous reasons). I think it’s lovely your children are doing it for all of the right reasons.</p>
<p>Gosh, as a slacker mom of an Asian child - adopted so he lucked out not growing up with a tiger mom, 
I am surprised to learn I was ahead of the fad curve! He did JROTC in high school - though tbh, it was required at the private high school he attended. </p>
<p>I must say it did a lot for him. He carries himself really well and it is great for good posture. Seriously. People tell me all the time they can pick out kids who go to his school just by looking at them. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Quite a change from just 2-3 decades ago when joining ROTC tended to be regarded as “too blue collar” for many of the UES side set or many upper-middle class suburbanites from what I’ve seen growing up in NYC in the '80s and early '90s and what some older cousins who did ROTC in the 1980’s experienced when it became known to HS friends/acquaintances or some higher SES college classmates that they were ROTC cadets. </p>
<p>Not too long ago, I came across an article about how admins from a respectable boarding school which drew overwhelmingly from the upper/upper-middle class and sent many kids to the elite colleges/universities acted as if something went wrong after one of their students opted to enlist in the Marines upon graduation rather than attend a respectable/elite college. </p>
<p>When I was in high school, ROTC was seen as something only the nerdiest of nerds did. One of my friends was in it. His Dad made him join and also made him cut his hair in a crew cut at a time when the guys wore longer hair. He was made fun of rather frequently, I believe. </p>
<p>I was so happy for him at our 10th reunion, when he came back and blew everyone away with his amazing good looks and incredible physique, muscular and toned as a result of his military service. He had gone to the Air Force Academy, was an officer, and was moving on to a very good civilian job. All the balding, overweight former football guys who had made his life hell were flabbergasted by him and how ALL the women were talking about how hot he was. Talk about a triumphant high school reunion. </p>
<p>Funny that now ROTC is now viewed as something prestigious!</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>In the suburban high schools my older cousins attended in the late '70s/early-late '80s and my public magnet during the '70s and '80s, ROTC was stereotyped as something highly conservative jockish type kids from poor/lower-middle class backgrounds did. </p>
<p>Especially at my STEM magnet, doing ROTC or anything associated with the military during the '70s and '80s would have been considered something as opposite from a nerd as one can get. </p>
<p>This changed by the late '80s as doing ROTC or moreso, attending a military academy became more prestigious among peers. However, even by the mid-'90s, doing military stuff in my HS was considered more of a “jockish” activity rather than a nerdy one. Even if it was the Naval/Air Force Academy. </p>
<p>This was underscored at a recent HS alum gathering when an early '80s HS alum felt the need to underscore the fact he was an Ivy graduate and a staunch progressive liberal after mentioning he is an Army reserve officer in a technical branch. None of the current/former military folks who graduated in my time or later ever had the need to do that. </p>
<p>Prestigious is maybe not the right word but yes, it is looked at much differently than it was even ten years ago. It also depends on your circle. Prep school and JROTC or Ivy League and ROTC are different from hicktown public and JROTC. Like everything else, it’s an angle and it’s a conversation piece for parents consumed with getting their kids to stand out. These days whose Ivy League groomed child doesn’t have a D.C. summer internship or a STEM undergrad research position, you know.</p>
<p>It is not at all my experience that ROTC is a hip credential among law professors who teach at Harvard/Yale/NYU. I have a number of friends on these law faculties. It’s quite alien and weird in this circle, and plenty of one’s colleagues would disapprove.</p>
<p>Yep, Hanna, me too.</p>
<p>My cousin’s step-dtr began in JAG training camp, after law school graduation. She left the program, and is now a prosecutor in our county. I never heard the details of why she left the JAG program. </p>
<p>Let us see how this gal does.</p>
<p>
Really? They are required to serve 3-4 years after graduation, and during that time they could be deployed to the front line. As a parent, selfishly, why would I want my child to risk his/her life? What kind of trendy badge is that?</p>
<p>My nephew decided to join ROTC when he was in college. His reason for joining was he felt it was everyone’s responsibility to serve our country. My sister asked him not to take the scholarship until junior year because she kept on hoping he would change his mind. She had no problem in paying for his private tuition, but at the end she supported his decision. He was just recently promoted to be first lieutenant. He very much wants to be deployed, but we are all crossing our fingers hoping he will be stateside until end of his service. Yes, we are all very proud of him.</p>
<p>BTW - my sister was very much a laissez faire Asian mom, borderline on neglect at times. :)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Not sure how a dead language is defined. There are about a billion Hindus out there still praying in sanskrit. Many have learnt the verses even if they don’t always know the meaning.</p>
<p>In this case, I think it is more appropriate to applaud the fact that she decided to participate in a challenging --and possibly-- dangerous activity than it is to question the motives behind the decision. </p>