tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post2235814241826955864..comments2024-03-29T04:06:37.402-07:00Comments on Had Enough Therapy?: More Tales of the Tiger MomStuart Schneidermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12784043736879991769noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-26466855779076599422011-10-10T14:14:35.561-07:002011-10-10T14:14:35.561-07:00Here, I do not really consider it will work.Here, I do not really consider it will work.www.muebles-camobel.comhttp://www.muebles-camobel.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-84253514157105577142011-01-15T13:14:44.405-08:002011-01-15T13:14:44.405-08:00I’m looking back over my perhaps overwrought comme...I’m looking back over my perhaps overwrought comment and your reasonable reply and I guess I’m now trying to decide if I’m still concerned about the identity issue here. I am a 4th generation resident of Washington State, before that my kin came to America in dribs and drabs all the way back to the Mayflower, but having roots in a place like Washington, which I doubt could be put into any sort of cultural reference by most Americans (coffee anyone?), and being from a family that probably defies any categorical description as well (my grandfather could have listed his occupation as wood cutter when married and auto body mechanic at death, my father, high school vice principle and, thankfully still with us, his last job was as a real estate broker) maybe I’m just not a good person to evaluate this. I am always struck by the tendency of people to explain themselves based on their heritage or their social position. Most of the time it ends up providing a convenient excuse or, it seems to me in Chua’s case, an opportunity to celebrate themselves (which I think I am guilty of earlier in this paragraph). I would say Chua has done a wonderful job bringing up her daughters, even though if one can quibble about the things she finds important (concert pianist…blah) but because of her belief that this is mostly (completely?) due to her heritage she has turned what would be excellent advice about parenting into a screed that has drawn a firestorm over the internet. Maybe I’d be just a resistant to her message if she was just portraying herself as a law professor, but I don’t think so. Of course if she had I bet I never would have heard about it either. Is it possible in America today to state a point of view and have it stand on its own? Maybe I’m a little crabby about this at the moment because of the example of Sarah Palin. What she has to say has been heard by almost no one but that hasn’t stopped the reaction to her from being something quite remarkable. Maybe I just don’t get this.<br />Don’t feel compelled to respond to this comment and thank you again for your previous response.David A. Bennettnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-65964836318902971712011-01-15T10:18:03.606-08:002011-01-15T10:18:03.606-08:00Thank you, David, for your thoughtful comment. If ...Thank you, David, for your thoughtful comment. If I did what you are suggesting, it was certainly not intentional.<br /><br />I included the material about Ayelet Waldman's daughter's training to overcome dyslexia because I found it entirely consonant with the points that Chua is making. <br /><br />I don't think one has to go too far back in America's past to find that such techniques were commonplace.<br /><br />The Confucian culture that gave rise to them has much in common with any educational techniques based on Aristotelian principles. <br /><br />Clearly, Chua's Jewish husband does not seem to be a factor in the children's education, but that may be because, as Chua says in an interview, he did not want to be mentioned.<br /><br />It is worth mentioning that Chua's Chinese mothering would not be unfamiliar to many Jewish families.<br /><br />I could have added, and I did not, that there are many private schools in America where children are worked very, very hard. I have heard many parents complain about how much homework their children have, while at the same time having no wish whatever to send them to school anywhere else.<br /><br />As for the question of whether such techniques are reserved only for those who are gifted, Chua did an interview in the Journal today where she discusses how her mother raised and educated her sister who has Down syndrome. <br /><br />Here's a link: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703583404576080032661117462.html?mod=WSJ_hp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsTop<br /><br />I hope the link works, though, if it doesn't I do not imagine that it is behind the firewall on the Journal site.Stuart Schneidermanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12784043736879991769noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-57805934937231091442011-01-15T09:37:02.820-08:002011-01-15T09:37:02.820-08:00I’m a big fan of your blog. I’m someone that has ...I’m a big fan of your blog. I’m someone that has “had enough therapy” and, hopefully without belaboring the point here, I have found many interesting and useful tidbits in you writing. Thank you for making it available. I have never commented on your blog before and am not inclined to do so in general but I felt like I had to in the case of “More Tale of the Tiger Mom”. The problem with this woman and her book is not that she is espousing a parenting style that is at odds with current American societal norms; it is that she is a flat out racist. He parenting may be similar to what could be identified as an Asian Mom style but she is not just an Asian Mom and she is not living in Asia and she misidentifies most of what is going wrong with American parenting. That means that you are doing the same thing. Is her husband at all involved in parenting? Is he also an Asian Mom? Are her daughters not people of probably remarkable IQ and were they not raised in what would be considered unbelievable wealth by most people even in America? Are there not Americans that would agree with most of the things she says about parenting that are not Asian? Why did this need to be a book about Asian parenting and consequently about what a bunch of schmucks Americans are? Is there any chance on God’s green earth that a white American could write a book about the flaws in the Asian perception of the world, of which there are certainly many, and not be called a racist? You are no doubt aware that the statistics regarding educational attainment in various countries are at least problematic and very likely absolute nonsense. What I see when I read the excerpts from this woman’s book are the sorts of comments that only someone that has lived the insulated life of a college professor could come up with. She also seems to be saying that we all need to become Asian Moms but in the same breath that we are never going to be good enough to be Asian Moms cause were just a bunch of goofy Americans. Now you are promoting that opinion as well.David A. Bennettnoreply@blogger.com