<p>“the daughters still have to practice their violin and piano for X hours a day on vacation, so they miss out on the sights because she’s rented piano practice rooms for them.”</p>
<p>Okay, that’s messed up.</p>
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<p>Yes, that begins with:</p>
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<p>If the goal is to nurture musical talent, why not allow the child to choose which instrument s/he plays?</p>
<p>Of course, this is also this:</p>
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<p>Why are those two subjects acceptable to not be the number one student in?</p>
<p>How will the children do if the school is full of children with parents like Amy Chua, which would mean that most of such children would be unable to be the number one students?</p>
<p>Chua is the author of a wonderful book about why empires rise and fall and the role of diversity tolerance in the rise of the best empires, whereas the resistance to diversity and tolerance contributes to the fall of empires.
She is a great author indeed. That doesn’t make her a perfect parent. I would like to know how much “tolerance” she has for her children’s diverse learning styles and preferences.
Hispanic parents are equally involved and supportive of their children’s education, but socioeconomic issues such as poverty of many, get in the way.</p>
<p>Well, I’ll show what an uncultured person I am, for sure, with this question, but … what’s the big deal about classical music? </p>
<p>There is no musicality in our family; I played piano for a few years as a child and my kids did the same, and now I could pick out a few simple songs if I had to … and maybe idly it might be fun to be better at it, the same way I’d also like to be better at ice skating and gourmet cooking and a million other things. </p>
<p>But classical music specifically? I’ll come out and say it. I don’t know anything about it and I can’t really say I feel some great void in my life because of it. I’m happy to listen to the radio, my CD’s, my own personal taste. Every now and then I’ll turn on classical music in the background, and it sounds nice and is pretty, and that’s all I think I need to know. If someone invited me to go to a classical music concert, I’d probably go, and enjoy the pretty sound. The end. What is so important about it that it deserved this level of obsession on her part?</p>
<p>I’m imagining an alternative universe in which all the Chinese parents force their children to study jazz because it’s a genuinely American idiom.</p>
<p>this is probably totally racist, but i go to a private school and there isn’t many chinese kids but the ones who are asian are far from the hardest workers. I see it all the time on CC though, so I just wonder if they all go to public schools or are there a lot less of these kids than we think. and what happens when these kids get to control their own lives, like in college or the real world. Sorry this might sound like hijacking because i don’t know the context but this was a sticky so thought i’d post here.</p>
<p>Drama is not an art, athletics doesn’t make a culture, but classical music is important. Subjective meter thru da rewf@@</p>
<p>Hello. I am very much interested in reading this book for reasons much different than yours I’m sure. For those of you who do not believe that this book is true or if you believe that she portrays Chinese mothers to be harsher than they truly are, trust me when I say just from reading the summary, it is completely true. My mom is of Chinese descent. I think the reason that when you look around and some Chinese-American mothers do not seem like the kind of women she describes is simply because people become (not to sound racist or something) white-washed. The ones that immigrate from Asia tend to be the people like she describes, but it seems as the generations go on, there’s a possibility that the children do not follow everything that their parents did to them. Just thought I would put in my two cents from my experiences =]</p>
<p>It’d be interesting to hear what her two daughters have to say about their lives…</p>
<p>I am a Chinese mom and I don’t have the same parenting style as Chua, lucky for my kids…</p>
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<p>Perhaps someone should tell Amy Chua that Chinese people can be good [athletes</a> and actors](<a href=“http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/51/BruceLeecard.jpg]athletes”>http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/51/BruceLeecard.jpg).</p>
![http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/51/BruceLeecard.jpg]athletes](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/51/BruceLeecard.jpg%5Dathletes){kind=link}
<p>“the best start to a musical education is classical music.”</p>
<p>This retort really belongs elsewhere, but I will say it because it really sums up a lot of assumptions made in this (hopefully satirical) book.</p>
<p>First, there is such a thing as classical guitar, and it’s not obscure, either. Some music schools have entire classical guitar departments. The guitar is a string instrument.</p>
<p>Second of all, jazz has been argued to be a form of classical music, like Chinese classical music is a kind of classical music just like Baroque music is classical music and Persian classical music is classical music.</p>
<p>Although Mozart has been shown to have a particular effect on mental ability (although… the new work coming out in statistics suggests that the methodology used in experiments like that may be deeply flawed, no links but look at this week’s Christian Science Monitor), other western composers such as Beethoven, Brahms, Vivaldi, etc. showed no such effect. And one wonders whether they tried any great Persian composers, or Chinese composers, or jazz composers.</p>
<p>She, and parents that choose music for this reason, are putting an awful lot of stock in some pretty heavily biased experiments. We listen to all kinds of music in our home and I do think music and learning and instrument are important. However, “western classical and only these two instruments are REALLY beneficial” is far too narrow a claim to back up with evidence, so ultimately it’s about control.</p>
<p>Amy Chua is quite successful in her career (please see this link: [Amy</a> Chua - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amy_Chua]Amy”>Amy Chua - Wikipedia)). However, based on this information, her parents were not even born in China. </p>
<p>Her extreme presentation of “Chinese” mother does not fit with average Chinese way of education. There are exceptions in all culture and ethnic groups. This may be a clever way of marketing her new book. However, she is, in no way, representing the norm for Chinese or Asian family.</p>
<p>I am late to this discussion and did not read all the posts, but I read the WSJ article and thought it was satirical… a way of using exaggeration to uncover some truths about Asian stereotypes. It’s a good way to sell books, I think.</p>
<p>I heard her interview on NPR today. Her 1st daughter was cooperative but her 2nd daughter fought with her constantly. This sometimes happens…people think they have the parenting thing figured out but child # 2 is different and it is a shock. She didn’t take into account that children are different.</p>
<p>Her 2nd child was excellent at piano & violin because she was made to practice but she HATED it. Finally the mom let her quit, apparently.</p>
<p>Sad.</p>
<p>I saw this when my daughters took music lessons, I would talk to parents in the hall and was shocked at such a young age, some Asian parents made their child practice hours and would switch instruments if their child couldn’t progress fast enough. (he’s still on "twinkle twinkle after two weeks) Off the record, teachers would tell me if hurt to see a passion squelched because of almost compulsive pressure but all they could do is advise and let the parents “parent”.
I have a friend from China that lived here most of his adult life, he said there are good things and bad things in their parenting style, he took the best and left the rest.</p>
<p>Although what the author wrote is true, she was aware of the controversy and that it could only help her sales.</p>
<p>I started reading this book at lunch today and I nearly choked.
On page 7, she writes “I was struggling to write a law article at the time-I was on leave from my Wall Street law firm and desperate to get a teaching job so I wouldn’t have to go back-and at two months Sophia understood this.”
I am sure that Sophia is very bright, but that is ridiculous.</p>
<p>S is a senior in HS and plays 6 instruments. There is no way I could have EVER MADE him practice. I must be lacking some “gift” as a mother that I never thought I could have pressured him in ANY way to practice.</p>
<p>I laugh at him because the 3 teachers he has had (different instruments) are all supportive and loving. He cannot wait for lessons. He would have rebelled if forced, no doubt.</p>
<p>I do not have the fortitude to stand over my kids and MAKE them study/practice. This author (whether satirical or not) must have far more energy than I.</p>
<p>The article is a little exaggerated but a lot of it is true. The instruments thing, the studying thing, the discipline thing. I wouldn’t say I agree with all her parenting tactics; however, I believe that there is some merit to the model she presents us. There is a reason why Asians are the model minority and rival whites on standardized testing. Many will say it’s because of socioeconomic issues. However, when adjusting for that, Asians still outperform other races. The reason is simple; it’s in the parenting. Asian parents pay a lot more attention to their kids.</p>
<p>“There is a reason why Asians are the model minority and rival whites on standardized testing.”</p>
<p>Rival ? I think you mean kick white butt back to the trailer. At least if you are discussing Chinese, Japanese or Korean.</p>
<p>^ Agreed. I’m sure it’s already established that in terms of standardized testing and quantitative academic fields, Asians (or at least NE Asians) dominate, both here in America and in Asia itself.</p>
<p>As an Asian-American student whose parents are similar in approach to Mrs. Chua’s “method” (but much more rational in practice), I think it’s interesting that people seem to think that this method somehow stifles creativity or otherwise hinders true personal growth. I personally think that Asian-Americans (including Chinese-Americans) are among the most “creative” students here in America, but my view is obviously biased and subjective. Still, you can’t deny the huge number of Asian-Americans involved in the arts (music, art, etc.). Thoughts?</p>