"Tiger Mom" (Amy Chua) Has Controversial New Book

<p>“My issue with her book is not that it is offensive, or wrong, but rather that the insights she will provide are obvious and trivial. They boil down to the amazing insight that people who work really, really hard are likely to make more money than similarly situated people who don’t work as hard. So what? Of course, that wouldn’t make a very interesting book without all the ethnic stuff.”</p>

<p>Well said. And anyway, so what if Asians/Jews/whoever are “superior”? What are the implications of that? You still have to judge people on their individual merits. Indeed, I think it’s quite possible that a) some cultures are superior to others and b) it doesn’t matter.</p>

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<p>considering that:

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<p>I would doubt she wrote it, but who knows?</p>

<p>She explicitly states:

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<p>So it is not saying one race is superior.</p>

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<p>[Why</a> Chinese Mothers Are Superior - WSJ.com](<a href=“http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052748704111504576059713528698754]Why”>http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052748704111504576059713528698754)</p>

<p>ucbalumnus</p>

<p>So from that excerpt from her book, it appears it is about “producing so many math whizzes and music prodigies”, not raising well adjusted, well rounded kids.</p>

<p>I would agree that it’s not about raising what “Western parents” would consider “well adjusted, well rounded kids.” It’s about raising kids who are successful in a very narrow sense, and that’s what caused so much of the revulsion to her previous writing. Note the list of things her children were not allowed to do in the very beginning of that article–she clearly did write that.</p>

<p>Wow. I actually never read her before reading the article just now. What an awful person. Did her upbringing teach her all that contempt and superiority?</p>

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<p>@garland. I am not reading a whole lot of contempt in that.</p>

<p>ccdaddio, are you reading the same article as the rest of us? Aside from essentially confessing to being a monster, Chua clearly denigrates Western parents for “giving up” before adequately torturing their kids.</p>

<p>It’s so over the top that I have to wonder if it’s deliberately exaggerated.</p>

<p>@hunt</p>

<p>I did a search for “giving up” (your quote) and didn’t find it.
Maybe we are reading different articles.</p>

<p>Here’s where I found it:

Later in the piece, she describes a particularly disgusting series of events in which her Western husband tries and fails to stop the torture, which–according to her–eventually “works.”</p>

<p>Of course, the younger daughter, who experienced this torture, and for whom the techniques didn’t work so well, was accepted to Yale for this fall.</p>

<p>Since she’s a professor, I’m curious how she handles students from cultural groups that are less likely to succeed? Is she nurturing to them or does she dismiss them because they lack the traits she deems necessary for them to succeed? If I look at the A grades she gives to students from the most-likely-to-succeed group is it because she is positively biased towards them or do the students really deserve the grade? If I were a German Catholic student and I get a B in her class, did I really deserve the B or would I have gotten an A with a different professor? She has one rating in ratemyprofessor though, which declares she is “completely awesome” and gave her a perfect score of 5.0.</p>

<p>She teaches at Yale Law School–the students there have already mostly succeeded according to her criteria.</p>

<p>In the interests of fairness, Chua did not write the Wall Street Journal title, “Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior.” On the other hand, the descriptions of her daughter’s forced piano practice without a break for dinner or bathroom use, while mastering the syncopation in some “immortal” masterpiece like “Little White Donkey” are entirely Chua’s . . . as is visiting Athens, but not going to the Parthenon, so the girls could practice more on the piano . . . as are the bite marks on the piano . . . as is the denial of a request from the one of the girls’ grandmothers to get to spend some time with her grand-daughters. Guess which grandmother? </p>

<p>Some apparently excellent outcomes are not worth the cost.</p>

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<p>CCDaddio, I have to ask … did you read any of her books? I note that part of your spirited defense of Chua includes questioning the reading comprehension ability of the people who see things differently from you. While not very unusual on this forum when subjects are controversial, may I respectfully ask how familiar you are with her literary contributions? </p>

<p>Again, it is valid point to suggest that “we” should not judge a book by its cover, or even by heeding the opinions of advanced reviewers. We should form our opinions based on the actual and complete text. However, is it not understandable that our current opinions are biased by actually having read her previous books and her interviews, or perhaps by actually being oblivious of what she has been advocating in the past for having ignored her writings so far?</p>

<p>@xiggi</p>

<p>My defense of Chua is in the obvious misinterpretation of her saying that those groups are superior. </p>

<p>I also commented that people obviously misinterpreted the comment about the ladder.</p>

<p>Your point is well taken. People who read her previous books may have an ax to grind and rather than reading what was actually written came in with an agenda. That makes it a lot easier for them to rationalize twisting her words around.</p>

<p>It may be unfair to assume that because her previous book was horrible, as evidenced by the excerpt linked above, that her new book is also horrible. It may be less horrible.</p>

<p>Bets?</p>

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<p>While your interpretation might differ from others, it is hardly obvious that “people” misinterpreted the descriptive and short comment on the ladder. Unless you believe that the “ladder” is an entirely new concept that has never been discussed before in terms of social climbing. </p>

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<p>For the record, my well-taken point does not sugget the sequitur you presented, as it amounts to yet another indictment of “people” who not only are, according to you, unable to interpret her contributions correctly, but also have an ax to grind and find joy in twisting her words around. </p>

<p>Again, perhaps actually reading some of HER printed words might be enlightening, and offer the appropriate background.</p>

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This reminds me of a book (likely the title is “The button is to be pushed”) which was introduced to us by DS’s piano teacher. The author expresses the similar point. I still remember that at a certain age (preschool or early elementary?), DS once complained along the line that “even when I am at the age of grandpa, I still need to practice.”</p>

<p>Now he’s grown up and does not want to choose the instruments selected by us for him when he’s young. But he loves to practice on the instruments he chooses. I think we (mostly my spouse, not me) helped him lay down enough foundation so that he himself could grows his interest in this area. After he had reached some threshold, he could go from there all by himself, willingly this time. I think the key is that the parents help the child to achieve a certain level of excellency but they need to make sure that the process to “get there” is not too unpleasant. This is not easy.</p>

<p>He also complained about his high school years (not so much about the college years - likely because we were not around him so much, LOL) and he thinks he should “play” more instead of focusing on academics too much back then.</p>

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<p>In the previous thread when the Chua book came out, it was noted that this wasn’t true – there are plenty of things that can easily be fun even if you aren’t good at them. And, becoming good at something doesn’t necessarily then make it fun.</p>

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<p>I <em>absolutely</em> think my “culture” (such as it is - or maybe norms or mores are better choices of words) of sightseeing with the family and experiencing these things in the moment, live, and letting the piano-playing or other practice slide for a day is superior to Chua’s philosophy of traveling to Greece and ignoring the Parthenon for one more practice session. I also think my “culture” of not defining admission to HYPSM as the measure of life success is far superior, too. If that’s arrogant, oh, well, so be it.</p>