First of all, DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK. Seriously, DON'T BUY IT. Please don't support or contribute anything to this woman, much less money. Why are they letting her go on a book tour? There's already enough bad in this world. What a backward, elitist, and just plain awful person. Being Chinese American, I can understand what she is saying- the only thing is, I completely disagree with her. Based on the Wall Street Journal article (linked below), she's saying that "Chinese mothers" know how to raise the best kids. So basically, she's saying that she's a better mother than most of the world. This is so insulting to so many people.
Like I said in an earlier post, I understand that many people think they're better than others. Although I obviously don't agree with this, people should never act like they're better. Who gives them the right?
Chua says that "Western mothers" care too much about their child's self-esteem and Chinese mothers swear at their kids and call them "fatty." She also claims that "Chinese parents understand that nothing is fun until you're good at it." She then goes on to say that Chinese mothers are better mothers. Uhh...what? Better than who? The point she's trying to make is that Chinese mothers are motivating and push their kids to be the best they can be. Fair enough. However, this woman doesn't understand balance and it seems that she doesn't care about her kids either.
Chua says that her father once called her "garbage" and she "didn't actually think [she] was worthless or feel like a piece of garbage." Apparently, if it didn't affect her back then, it wouldn't affect anyone else today and this is a perfectly acceptable assumption. I don't think she knows what happens when people assume. Yes, she has made an ass out of herself. You don't call your kids names. Let me rephrase: If you care about your kids, you don't call them names!
I understand the need for parents to motivate their children. My parents pushed me to always do my best, but at the same time, they knew what balance is. They wanted me to put as much effort as possible into things and I continue to do so today. I talk to my mom almost everyday and she always asks how I am- it's nice to know that my mom is genuinely interested in how I'm doing. But if Amy Chua met my mom, she would call her a Westerner and say she wasn't a good mom.
I think that the Chua family should just go back to Asia. God forbid one of her daughters meets a Westerner-raised boy and marries him. There is almost always more than one way to do something successfully- someone should write a book about that.
I can think of tons of things that I'm not good at, but are still a lot of fun.
In college, classes are curved so not everyone can get an A. What if there was a class full of students that were raised by "Chinese mothers?" Someone has to get a B and it's going to be a "Chinese-raised" kid. Does that mean that their mothers are inferior? I mean, children are a reflection of their parents, right?
Bill Gates' mom wasn't Chinese and he is very successful.
There seem to be a lot of holes in Mrs. Chua's argument. Maybe I should be a professor at Yale too.
* After writing this blog post, I did a bit of additional research on this woman and her book. If you do the same, you will find some favorable reviews and some not-so-favorable reviews regarding the book. What I wrote above was simply my opinion on what she conveyed in the WSJ Article, which I do understand was biased- but so is everything else.
http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB10001424052748704111504576059713528698754-lMyQjAxMTAxMDEwNjExNDYyWj.html
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