<p>"Amy Chua, a Yale law professor and the woman who has quickly become the infamous "Chinese Tiger mother," seems to be a taskmaster and a bully. I don't know her personally, but after reading the episodes she chose to put in her book, "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother," those are the nicest things I can find to say about her parenting techniques. The not so nice thing? I felt like Chua's accounts bordered on child abuse."</p>
<p>Yes! He’s a freshman - I’m impressed by his clarity of reasoning and confident writing style. I very much enjoyed his article. So that’s how Yale kids write - very well indeed.</p>
<p>I guess there are no gray areas for Ms. Chua. My son who was horrible at soccer used to like to be with the other boys and eat the post-game snack. But I can see where it would not be “fun” to be last string on the high school soccer team and not get any play time.</p>
<p>I’ve read the Harvard Crimson frequently and the Yale Daily News occasionally over the past five years. It’s fascinating stuff - some of the best writing in America, frequently impregnated with adolescent foibles such as the tendency to overuse off-color words in an effort to sound “edgy.” But Mr. Graver is a good example of H and Y student journalists - the flow of the writing style is one thing, but the logical flow of the reasoning seems almost implausible for a teenager.</p>
<p>I concur with all of Graver’s points, and I’ll add that one thing in Ms. Chua’s argument that seemed to me the epitome of the distinction between Western values and those that she espouses. She is clearly proud of the fact that her children have never been allowed to participate in school drama productions. As a parent and a college administrator, I can think of no more valuable experience for a young person. My wife and I guided all three of our kids onto the stage (guided, not forced) when they were children, and all three had experiences there that they loved. In the process, they learned to communicate well, to adjust their communication styles in order to connect with different audiences, and to work in teams to create something grander than any of them could have created on their own. I know Asian parents in our community who discourage their kids from participating in these or other types of school activities, because they believe in a zero-sum model for childhood time usage - any time not spent on academics or musical mastery constitutes a detriment to it. I believe that kids who are raised this way will be handicapped as a result when they seek to become full participants in the culture of American adulthood.</p>
<p>Another “agree” here on the rebuttal. Fotunately there is a happy middle ground between a Chinese dragon mom and a blind benevolent enabler mom…and I think I found that middle ground. I will be happy when Ms. Chau’s 15 minutes of fame are over.</p>
<p>So many of the arts teach similar lessons. My kids have decent singing voices…none of them will be voice majors, but they’re pretty good. Since they were tiny, they’ve sung solos in church (and we belong to a big one) and voice recitals. They have never been nervous. Consequently, no fear of public speaking or any other type of individual effort.</p>