Analyzing Amy Chua's 'Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior'

Christina Jules 9/26/13 Not everyone can say that parenting is an easy job. Parents work hard to focus their kids on a successful career path. A successful career path requires discipline which can come from various national backgrounds. Discipline creates a label of parenting, by either being critiqued or accepted by others. One parent in particular, Amy Chua, makes her own label as a strict parent. In Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior by Amy Chua, the main focus is to show how Chinese parenting leads to stereotypically successful kids. A critic Victor Sherman assesses that “Chua’s premise that Chinese mothers raise ‘stereotypically successful’ children hinges on a limited definition of success, and, ultimately, this undermines
Things like sleepovers, attending in a school play or to watch television may be viewed as normal things to do when you are a kid, but in Chinese parenting it’s not the kids who decide what talent they want to cultivate, but the parents. There is no compromising in this kind of upbringing and the parents are in full control of everything the child does. According to Chua all these things are necessary if you want your child to succeed in life. Even though this may seem very rough to the most Western parents, it is what is best for your child and it will only have a positive effect. As Chua explains, “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 the their
Chua quotes a study where 50 Western and 48 Chinese mothers were polled. Seventy percent of Western women stated that stressing academic success is not good for their children and that learning should be fun. Zero percent of the Chinese mothers felt the same way. Chinese mother’s feel that it is only through hard work, complete dedication, and being perfect is when children realize what fun is. She states that most Chinese parents sacrifice everything for their children, and it is through these sacrifices that they justify the reasoning for pushing their children. She believes that Chinese parents feel that their children owe them everything due to their sacrifices and this is why their children should be the best.

It is often wondered why Chinese kids stereotypically excel in what they put their minds to and why Western children aren’t as driven. Chua provides several contrasts between the two ethnic backgrounds. Many Western parents will say that they have succeeded as a parent if their children succeed in doing what really makes them happy. One observation that Chua makes is that “Western parents are extremely anxious about their children’s self-esteem. They worry about how their child will feel if they fail at something”.