Recently Amy Chua, a well known American author of Chinese Heritage published a book called “Battle Hymns of the Tiger Mother”. This book is available at Amazon and it describes why students of North East Asian Heritage including Chinese do so well in schools, colleges and Universities throughout America and what is the secret to their success.
One major reason Amy Chua feels for Asian success is the intense and pushy training parents impart to their kids. Until the 1950s American parents also used to be pushy and demanding from their kids, so that kids used to feel like little adults and they participated fully in family business, household chores and most definitely education.
However, during 1960s and after, North American parents became more permissive and less demanding to their children and this led to a low intensity education and poorer work ethic. This resulted in the decline of Western prosperity and a rise in mediocrity and a contempt for excellence. Nowadays. the widespread popularity of the wireless internet also proves to be another distraction for children of all races.
Amy Chua feels that Asian and especially Chinese mothers are culturally predisposed to highly intensive parenting and this stern demand from children to pursue excellence is one major reason why White children are rapidly declining in education and job prospects while Asian kids are rapidly cornering all the technology and brain intensive high quality and high paying jobs.
Education in Asian households is not just limited to science and Math but also extra-academic activities such as music, painting, intensive arts and crafts.
This serves as a great stimulant for mind and body and keeps the children positively engaged in the direction of excellence and performance while protecting them from television and mediocrity.
