CSB #7 - Asian "Tiger Parents"

CSB #7 - Asian "Tiger Parents"

Many people have heard of the nickname of a Yale law professor, Amy Chua: "Tiger Mother." In her book, she described how she raised her children like Chinese people would, forcing discipline and things like music, while not allowing activities like TV and video games. There were many parents who were angry at such treatment, but a professor at UC San Diego, Ramey, found evidence that support this sort of upbringing.

Asian students are often successful in academics, shown by statistics. 12% of all high school graduates are Asian, but around 1/3 of all students entering UC schools are Asian. Further along in life, the Census showed that Asian people often have a higher income and education. This may prove that a stricter academic childhood does have its benefits.

Now looking at what differences there actually are between the behaviors, a main difference is in the time spent studying. White high school students spend an average of 5.5 hours a week studying, Hispanic and black students even less, while Asian students spend an average of 13 hours. In college, Asian students spend over 15 hours, and other students spend around 10 hours a week. However, Asian students usually do not spend more time on music, the same amount of time watching TV, and even more time playing computer games. As a result, the extra studying time might have been deducted from having a social life and doing sports. On the parents' side, Asian mothers are found to have spent more time working with their children on academic activities.

This sort of topic is increasingly interesting in a community like Harker. Many people here stereotype Asian students as "smart," which is not entirely true, but some of those who are thought of as being "smart" have really strict parents. I think that the Asian parenting system does have some merit, even though it might be unnecessarily strict at times.

Citations

UC San Diego. “Is there a ‘tiger mother’ effect?” Science Daily. N.p., 4 May 2011. Web. 8 May 2011. .

Picture from site.