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Erörterung

Why Chinese Mothers are Superior

1.423 / ~3 sternsternsternsternstern_0.2 Rita B. . 2015
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Erörterung
Englisch

Friedrich-Paulsen Schule, Niebüll

2, 12

Rita B. ©

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Essay: Amy Chua - Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior

When it comes to parenting, Chinese mothers most of the time come under criticism for, how they push their children to reach maximum performances in every imaginable matter. But is the way, how Chinese mothers do their parenting really the best method you can think of? And furthermore, is their parenting style successful and acceptable according to the welfare of the child and the child’s preparation for the future?

Amy Chua is a cocksure representative of the assumption that Chinese mothers do the best parenting to achieve sustained success in their children’s life. In her non-fictional article “Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior”, which is an excerpt of her memoir “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother” and published in the Wall Street Journal on 8th January 2011, she describes, why Chinese mothers seem to be better in upbringing their children and why it is so important for Chinese parents that their child always gets the best grades and is ambitious and disciplined.

Amy Chua is a professor of law at Yale Law School and a very successful woman, who has achieved a lot of things, ordinary people won’t reach in their life. She has written a couple of books, is one of the 100’s most influential people according to the Time magazine and she received the Yale Law School’s “Best Teaching” award.
Because of the fact that she is a teacher, her children are constantly under a lot of pressure and they have to deal with the strength of purpose and the ambition of a “Chinese mother”. Amy Chua uses the term “Chinese mother” summing up all Asian mothers, just as using the term “Western mothers”.
Because a Chinese mother is very disciplined and success-oriented, Amy Chua’s children are not allowed to do several things, like watching TV or attending a sleepover to prevent that the children get distracted by insignificant activities and won’t focus on the rules they have to follow (ll.112-115).
There are a lot of differences between Chinese mothers and Western parents, because what is strict for the Western mother isn’t strict enough for the Chinese mother.
Relying on several studies, Amy Chua says that Westerners think the “stressing academic success is not good” for their children and that the “parents need to foster the idea that learning is fun”, as against the Chinese think that the “academic achievement reflects successful parenting” and because of that, Chinese mothers are drilling their children to top performances (l.121) and high grades and spend a lot more time studying with them, than Western mothers do - so based on these studies, you clearly can see the intense contrasts between those cultural circumstances.
Amy Chua says that “nothing is fun until you’re good at it” and to get good at something you have to work for it and practice a lot regardless of the opinion of the child. Western parents give up when it gets tough, where Chinese parents work onwards. If you don’t give up, you get a circle where the child at first practices then gets praise because of their great performance and so it’s fun to practice, like in the story where Lulu achieved to play a certain song on the piano (ll.161-162).

An important aspect of the Chinese parenting is also the exposure with psychological tricks, for example when Amy’s father called her “garbage” in their native language. She felt ashamed, but knew how highly he thought of her, so that it didn’t damage her self-esteem (ll.57-59). Amy Chua once did this to one of her children, where she called it “garbage” in English at a dinner party. Maybe the fault was, that she said it in English instead of in the native language that it didn’t work that well, because all the guests were frightened.
It is a fact that Chinese mothers can be rougher to their children than Western mothers, because their children are not strong enough and they have low self-esteem due to the fact that they are too pampered (ll.67-69).
There are three main differences between Chinese and Western parenting:
First, the Western parents are anxious about their child’s self-esteem; they are worried about how their children feel when they fail and especially about their psyches, that is why Western parents are always careful with criticizing their children. However, Chinese parents assume strength from their children and Amy Chua often emphasized that Chinese parents really believe in their children; that they can take the shaming and improve from it.
Second, the Chinese believe that the children owe them everything, because they have done everything for them, so the children have to make them proud.
Opposed to that, Westerners think that they have the responsibility for their children and their kids don’t choose their parents.
Third, Chinese mothers only want the best for their children, so they don’t look out for their children’s preferences. Western mothers let their children give up, but that may be a misunderstanding, because all parents want the best for their children but in their own way.
Western parents “respect their child’s individuality” and let them “pursue their true passions “and make own decisions, whereas Chinese parents want to “prepare their child for the future” and want them to know “what they’re capable of” and want to give them working skills and most of all confidence.

Amy Chua uses many stylistic devices in her article, like for example anaphora in lines four and five “wonder”, which catches the attention of the reader, in lines 38, 93, 96, 99, 112, 142, 172 and 178 “believe”, which shows, how much the Chinese parents believe in their children and that they really can reach something. That is a very important part in Chinese parenting. In line 49, there is also an anaphora, which says “practice” three times, because that is what Chinese mothers do with their children: practice.
Accumulations are utilized very often in Amy Chua’s article. She tells about “math wizzes and music prodigies” (l.5), “Korean, Indian, Jamaican, Irish and Ghanaian parents” (ll.22-23), “praise, admiration and satisfaction” (ll.51-52), “tutoring, training, interrogating and spying” (ll.102-103) and of being “lazy, cowardly, self-indulgent and pathetic” (ll.136-137), just to mention some of them. She uses accumulations to point out the meaning of the listed words and catch the reader’s attention in mentioning associated terms. Because of the same reasons, she uses alliterations like “stereotypically successful” (l.4), “academic activities” (l. 42) and “inadequate or insecure” (l.82). It is also mentioned, that there are “three big differences”, which she is listing subsequently (First, Second, Third). She is also repeating herself, when she says that “Western parents are extremely anxious about their children’s self-esteem” in lines 72-73 and that “Western parents worry a lot about their children’s self-esteem” in lines 166-167, which shows that this is a very important fact she wants to point out and gets fastened. With the use of hyperboles, Amy Chua shows an exaggeration of a situation and following actions like when she mentions a “screaming, hair-tearing explosion” (l.90), when the child gets a B, the “dozens, maybe hundreds” (ll.90-100) of practice tests, which follow.
The argumentation of Amy Chua’s article is well-structured, because her arguments are comprehensible and convincing due to the fact that she uses lots of examples and studies to prove her assumptions and she can rely on her own experiences.
The language used in the article is very mixed. It consists of many technical terms and exalted terminology, but on the other hand there are many dialogues, which represent colloquial language and are easy to understand. In line 66, we have the interjection “Hey fatty - lose some weight!” which is very gross and abusive.

In adopting Amy Chua’s values and methods of upbringing, there can be advantages and disadvantages for the child. Practically all methods, except calling children bad names, are helpful for the child’s future. But in accordance with Zawn Villines’ article “Kids’ Mental Health Impacted by Strict “Tiger Mom” Parenting”, published on 27th September 2014 on the flip side of these methods are leached out children, depression, problem behaviour, lower self-esteem and the difficulty to reach school’s demands. The worst for Chinese children are psychological tricks and insufficient love from their parents, so that the children’s health is endangered.
Parenting should be a mixture between warmth and control, because under these conditions, children feel most comfortable.

In conclusion, Chinese mothers really are superior when it comes to the education part. Parenting doesn’t only consist of educating your child, you also have to give them love and show responsibility in accordance to your child’s health. It shows that a mixture between Chinese and Western parenting would be perfect for the children for their welfare and future life.



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