CRITICAL REVIEW ON AMY CHUA: ‘WHY CHINESE MOTHERS ARE

SUPERIOR’

Chinese parents are always stereotyped as tiger parents. Their style of parenting is

quite tough compared to other parents from different races. Their tiger-parenting style is

often viewed as cruel by the Western parents because they really want their children to

become somebody. My critics on this essay would be agreeing on the rule of not allowing

children to watch TV and play computer games, excellent points organization and idea

flow, usage of professional but easy language, and disagreeing on children are not allowed

to choose their own extracurricular activity.

In “Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior”, Amy Chua elucidates insightfully how she

raises her daughters with tiger-parenting starting with mentioning the rules and regulations

she has set for them. She also explains that Chinese mothers are stricter than Western

parents in parenting. She backs up her point by providing a study of 50 Western American

mothers and 48 Chinese immigrant mothers, in which the Western mothers say that

“stressing academic success is not good for children” while the Chinese mothers think that

their children’s “academic achievement reflects successful parenting”. Furthermore, she

provides three big differences between the Chinese and Western parental mind-sets.

Additionally, she states her own experience raised in a Chinese household and her

experience in making her daughter works on a piano piece called “The Little White Donkey”

until she manages to play the piece gracefully using her tiger-parenting. Lastly, Amy Chua

concludes that Western parents nurture their children with supportive and encouraging

environment while the Chinese instil their kids with skills, work habits and inner confidence.

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 From this essay, I agree with the rule that Amy Chua has set for her daughters to

obey, which is they are not allowed to watch TV or play computer games. This is totally

understandable as watching TV and playing computer games can affect children’s

academic performance. A research by Yan (2017) has shown that higher TV viewing hours

are associated with a number of negative effects such as being overweight and obese,

attention and behavioural problems, and impaired academic performance. This is because

watching TV or playing computer games can make children lose their focus and steal away

the time that they need to develop important skills. TV viewing numbs children’s mind as it

prevents them from exercising initiative, being intellectually challenged, thinking

analytically, and using their imagination (Dorey, 2010).

Next, the essay has an excellent points organization and idea flow. The author, Amy

Chua, first stating that Western parents are not even close to being strict like Chinese

mothers. She then proceeds with stating her point on why Chinese mothers are stricter

than Western parents. To support her point, she shows clear contrasts between Western

parents and Chinese mothers in parenting by providing some studies. One of the studies

shows that Chinese parents spend most of their time drilling academic activities with their

children while Western parents will let their kid to participate in sports teams. I agree with

this because even in most of the Western films, the film maker will stress on teenagers

participating in sports teams such as American football instead of stressing on their

academic. In addition, she adds her own experience in getting called “garbage” by her

father when she was young and the fact that it did not damage her self-esteem but made

her realise that she was wrong really strengthen her point that Chinese parenting brings

more good than harm.

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 Moreover, the language used in the essay is very professional yet easy for readers

to understand. Despite of Amy Chua’s position as a professor at Yale Law School, she

does not use any pedantic words in attempt to sound like a professor she is. In fact, she

uses simple words in order to make the readers understand the message she is trying to

deliver. This clearly shows that she tries to educate people of all age from all walks of life

about effective parenting methods. She wants them to realise that tiger-parenting can

shape children into becoming someone useful to the communities. This can be supported

by Ang and Goh’s (2014) research that children of authoritarian parents actually showed

signs of being well-adjusted such as having good self-esteem and self-reliance,

demonstrating good interpersonal relations and self-efficacy.

On the contrary, I disagree with Amy Chua not allowing her daughters to choose

their own extracurricular activity. The fact that her children cannot explore their own

interests and be whatever they want is really upsetting for me to find out. It is as if her

children live just to fulfil her dreams, not theirs. It is understandable that she wants the best

for her daughters but to stop them from choosing their own extracurricular activity is not the

way to do it. Her daughters deserve to experience what it is like to have fun in a positive

way with peers at their age so they would not waste their teenage years. Based on my own

experience, extracurricular activity would not affect students’ academic performance as

long as they know their top priority and know how to manage their time wisely, so there is

no excuse for Amy Chua to never let her daughters choose their own extracurricular

activity. Darling, Caldwell, and Smith (2005) conducted a longitudinal study concerning

extracurricular activities and their effect on various aspects of development, including

academic performance. The results showed that the students who participated in school-

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based extracurricular activities had higher grades, higher academic aspirations, and better

academic attitudes than those who were not involved in extracurricular activities at all.

In conclusion, tiger-parenting is not as bad as it seems because it is proven by Amy

Chua that tiger-parenting can shape children into becoming successful individuals. The

essay really leaves a big impact on my view of tiger-parenting because of the rules Amy

Chua sets for her daughters so they will not waste their time on unnecessary things. The

way she organises her points as well as the usage of simple words and the debatable

issue on not allowing her daughters to decide their own extracurricular activity really make

me interested in reading the essay. Overall, it is an excellent essay as it caught my

attention and the issues addressed are really debatable.

(1047 words)

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References

Ang, R. P., & Goh, D. H. (2014). Childcare and parenting practices in Singapore: A

comparison of fathers' and mothers' involvement: Journal of Tropical Psychology,

28(1), 131-151. Retrieved on February 17, 2020 from

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-tropical-

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fathers-and-mothers-involvement/8E946830C51BD6B6B2BE08147D7EA717

Chua, A. (Jan 8, 2011). Why Chinese mothers are superior. The Wall Street Journal

[Article, Asia Edition]. Retrieved January 5, 2020 from

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Darling, N., et. al. (2005). Participation in school-based extracurricular activities and

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Retrieved on February 17, 2020 from http://plaza.ufl.edu/asarkees/PSY

%203220/ECsSelfEsteem/4-%20Darling.pdf

Dorey, E., et. al. (2010). Children and television watching: a qualitative study of New

Zealand parents' perceptions and views. Child: care, health and development,

36(3), 414- 420. Retrieved on February 13, 2020 from

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1365-2214.2009.01031.x

Yan, H., et. al. (2017). Associations among screen time and unhealthy behaviors,

academic performance, and well-being in Chinese adolescents. International

journal of environmental research and public health, 14(6), 596. Retrieved on

February 13, 2020 from https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/14/6/596

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