Comments | ontd_feminism: WSJ piece "Why Chinese Mothers are Superior" and a rebuttal

apis_cerana in ontd_feminism

WSJ piece "Why Chinese Mothers are Superior" and a rebuttal

Jan 12, 2011 00:17

Cause ontd_political wouldn't let me post this

The original article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704111504576059713528698754.html

A lot of people wonder how Chinese parents raise such stereotypically successful kids. ( Read more... )

united states, parenting, race/racism, north america, asia, o i c, what kind of fuckery is this?

Comments 49

(The comment has been removed)

embryogirl January 12 2011, 21:43:06 UTC

This. It's child abuse even if the parents had good intentions.

ohmyphwoarrr January 12 2011, 05:32:20 UTC

Someone on my facebook posted this and I couldn't tell if it was satire or not. I'm very grateful my asian mother wasn't (too much) like like.

roseofjuly January 12 2011, 22:11:34 UTC

Yeah, I was kind of undecided when I first heard of it too. It was like a "she can't be serious" moment.

rhapsodeeinblue January 12 2011, 05:32:23 UTC

Yeah this article is terrible. Except Chua is dead serious. It's been getting quite a bit of circulation (mainly on my Facebook newsfeed) and I don't want non-Chinese people to use this as more fuel to their "lolololol backwards robotic Azns lolol" arguments. I'd posted it to my own FB profile with the comment: "This article reads like satire; it's pretty much a bunch of stereotypes thrown together. My parents never forced me to do anything, were always supportive of my artsy and not-so-profitable endeavors, let me watch [way too much] TV, let me pursue [way too many] extracurricular activities, etc. Getting A's was ridiculously easy. Chinese people don't excel because their families make them; we excel because we're awesome." It's sad that we live in a world in which one sucktastic individual comes to represent/shine a bad light on the entire minority group they belong to, but that's the way it is, and until that changes... WHY'D YOU HAVE TO GO AND DO THAT, CHUA. WHY.

rhapsodeeinblue January 12 2011, 05:36:32 UTC

Context for my "artsy and not-so-profitable endeavors": I've been an artist since I was a kid, majored in Visual Arts and Creative Writing in college, and am currently a curator/artist/writer/all-around-no-$$$-maker. And my parents think I'm a rockstar. So there.

rhapsodeeinblue January 12 2011, 05:53:25 UTC

Err and take out the "except Chua is dead serious"--meant to put that as an edit to my FB comment about thinking it was satire at first.

basepair January 12 2011, 06:19:18 UTC

It says at the bottom that she has a book coming out today, so that's why she did it, sadly.

Thread 8

_morning_glow January 12 2011, 05:37:16 UTC

She was on the Today Show TWICE this morning. TWO TIMES. In case anyone missed how completely awful she was the first time.

(I had a day off today and it was way too early for me to be getting that angry.)

shewasred January 12 2011, 05:43:48 UTC

I see a lot of my mother's behavior in this, and I'm quite sure she isn't Chinese. This type of parenting is not just limited to one culture, and it shouldn't be acceptable in any.

This little part stuck out to me:

What Chinese parents understand is that nothing is fun until you're good at it. To get good at anything you have to work, and children on their own never want to work, which is why it is crucial to override their preferences.

The "nothing is fun until you're good at it" thing is something I still can't shake. But I think that's a part of me and not result of parenting. But it's the second bit here that really bugs me. Why do so many people talk about children like they aren't just miniature versions of the same species? Like they aren't even people at all? Why is it okay to dismiss all children as lazy, undisciplined and too stupid to do what's good for them? Lots of people in general are that way; it's not limited to kids.

tamerterra January 12 2011, 09:38:08 UTC

My dad's, too.

With things like musical instruments and some other solo skill-based things, being good at something does make it more fun, IMO, and the beginning is the hardest bit to get through, learning-wise, because you're no good at it, yet. And young kids aren't so good at the looking to the future thing, so making them practise at the beginning is a good idea - if they still don't like it when they've got some skill, however, then continuing to make them is pointless.

(and the screaming at the kid to make them practise, um, no)

checkerblob December 9 2011, 01:55:36 UTC

THIS to all of this. My parents are white, and they're just...weird, like they're both very liberal (well, not by ontd_p standards, but by middle-aged-parents-that-I- know- of standards), and nonreligious (my Mom's just kind of "meh" about it, my Dad actively loathes religion. He once said to me, when I was about six "Kate, you can be whatever you want when you grow up. I want you follow your dreams and I don't doubt that you can accomplish anything. But... *puts hand on my shoulder* please don't become a nun) and uber-strict about grades, which judging by what my friends say about their households, is an odd combo ( ... )