Compare and Contrast Essay: Tiger Mothers versus Mother Inferior (Essay Sample)

Compare / Contrast EssayRobert Lewis29 Aug 2014UMUC
Tiger Mothers versus Mother Inferior
Amy Chua is an American author of Chinese descent and is the quintessential Chinese mom. Hanna Rosin works as an editor at the Atlantic and is the typification of the western style of parenting. The two authors advance distinctly different views about bringing up children. While Amy Chua advocates for a strict no-nonsense approach, Hanna Rosin fronts a relaxed approach. Chua presents the views that Chinese mothers have about bringing up their children and the weaknesses they see in western parenting. Rosin writes in response to Chua and in defense of western parenting and points out some weaknesses in Chinese parenting. This paper will explore the difference between the Chinese and the Western parenting models as presented by Chua and Rosin.
At the beginning of her article, Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior, Chua outlines activities her daughters are not allowed. These include playdates, choosing their extra-curricular activities, sleepovers, and watching TV; the same activities that Rosin confesses to allowing her son. For Chua, the only extra-curricular activities that her daughters take are only playing the piano and a violin. Indeed, she urges against other co-curricular arguing they foster laziness and drug use. This difference is, however, only superficial. The real issue lies deeper in the thought process behind the decisions. Chua argues that children are unsure of what they want, lack the drive for what they need, and are undependable when making decisions about their future. On the other hand, Rosin counters that the current generation of kids possesses an incredible level of drive to achieve success if provided with the right motivation, such as competition in school.
Chinese and western parents view failure and success using different eyes. However, the two authors agree on the conflicting feelings about achievement exhibited by parents using the typical western model. While the parents may secretly feel that their child is not moving in the right direction, they will refrain from questioning their children about it for fear of antagonizing them or destroying their self-esteem. The Chinese parenting model is the opposite of such restraint. The child must achieve the highest level of success. Chinese parents especially view academic success as demonstration of their superior parenting abilities. Western parents, however, are hesitant about emphasizing academic achievement instead arguing that children are talented in different ways. The reaction to failure is also different. For instance, when her daughter fails to play the piano, Chua threatens her and becomes generally overbearing in what Rosin calls uptight parenting. The tiger mother maintains this attitude until her daughter learns to play the piano. The mother then basks in the admiration and praise that follows her daughter’s piano performance. Rosin for her part insists that under no circumstances would she ever threaten her children. Instead, she offers that there are gentler and subtle ways of guiding children towards the direction that the parents want. At least, the parent should first establish whether the children have an inkling of talent or aptitude for a certain task before taking it upon themselves to ensure that the child becomes ‘a master’.
The two authors also present divergent views regarding mastery. Rosin is critical of the form of mastery the Chinese model emphasizes. Chua’s assertion that mastery of an art makes it fun is true. Towards this end, Chinese parents bulldoze their children into becoming little masters. Rosin notes that such parents’ prescriptions do not consider the passion and innate talent in a child. She narrates the case of her German friend, as an illustration. Her parents were similar to Chua; they made her sit for ten hours a day playing the violin. In the end, she became a good player, but when she became an adult, she hated the violin so much that she has touched it not once in the last decade. While the parents mean well for their children, they should provide some room for passion and ability since that is the where real happiness emanates. Rosin notes that the belief that anybody can become a genius is a modern type of human equality fronted by Malcom Gladwell that anyone can be a genius by putting 10,000 hours into an activity (Rosin). She warns against the risk of turning the children into proto adults, who are without a personality and individuality of their own. These child prodigies are just tiny adults with a deprived childhood. Childhood, according to Rosin should be about spontaneity, discovery, freedom, and experience.
Finally, the two models approach the link between achievement and happiness from different angles. Rosin argues that the model advocated by Chua is aimed bringing up perfect children. Many unpredictable situations play out in the course of bringing up children. Privilege, status, and strict discipline cannot guarantee that the child will grow up being happy. The important duty of a parent is to help the child nav...