Egå Gymnasium
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28/03 2012
Engelsk A
at this craving for perfection the mother demonstrates. But in the case of lesser intelligent Chinese
children, many days like this would be required in order to achieve the perfection the parents
strive after. Many days of temper tantrums, sleep deprivation and hatred for the parents would be
necessary in these cases, and there is a good chance that many days like these would lead to an
altogether unhappy childhood. When we think back to the happier days of our childhood, it
certainly is not the homework we are being nostalgic about; it’s the social life and innocent playing
that can only occur during childhood. If Chinese children get to experience this side of their own
childhood, it is most likely in limited editions and only when they are done practicing.
One can only assume that Amy Chua is bringing up her Chinese children in a Western
environment, which could result in a problematic clash of cultures. “[…] compared to Western
parents, Chinese parents spend approximately 10 times as long every day drilling academic
activities with their children. By contrast, Western kids are more likely to participate in sports
teams.”2 This could possibly indicate a problem between the Western children and the Chinese, as
it is likely that this will create a cultural and social gap between the children of different cultures.
This is particularly referring to the Chinese children growing up in Western countries and going to
the schools here, where they will inevitably face highly different priorities than those that are
being drilled into their heads at home. If they spend all day every day practicing and studying, will
they not be lacking severely in the social department? This can be one of the dangers by bringing
up a child outside the norms of society in which they live. There is no doubt about the fact that
studying hard brings you ahead in life, but maybe there should be a limit that indicates when a lot
becomes too much. Or maybe that’s our Western roots that make us inclined to being lazy and
believing that social skills are more important than academics. Perhaps the reason that we view
the Chinese parenting methods as to being so extreme is that we should be stricter in our
parenting methods.
To a Western parent it must be difficult to view a Chinese upbringing. “Western parents are
concerned about their children’s psyches. Chinese parents aren’t.”3 Chua states that Western
parents are way more concerned with how their child feels about getting a bad grade and not why
they got a bad grade. In the incident with her daughter and the piano, she almost make it seem
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