Amy Chua, in the article titled “Why Chinese Mothers are Superior: can a Regimen of no Playdates, no TV, no Computer Games and Hours of Music Practice Create Happy Kids? And what happens when they fight back?” has presented two types of parental involvement in the academics of their children.
Western-style, entailing less involvement and characterized by poor school performance, and Chinese style, involving a lot of involvement and associated with best academic performance. This paper will explicate the idea that the approaches, used by Chinese mothers to foster the performance of their children in academics, are effective.
Too much permissiveness negatively affects the academics of young people. As the author indicates, “allowing school-going children to attend a sleepover, have a play-date, and watch TV or play computer games can take up most of the study time hence poor performance in schools” (Chua par. 19-20).
I agree with the author that without being hard on kids, they are likely to sacrifice academics for leisure activities. In different researches of Asian Americans, European Americans and Hispanic parents it was found that Asian Parents usually have higher expectations for their children and are not satisfied with Bs and Cs (Tewari and Alvarez 326). Even though success in everything, including academic, depends on the ability of the child, parental influence is vital in determining their success.
Due to high expectations, Chinese parents usually push their kids a lot. As the author states, “Chinese parents usually demand higher grades from their children” (Chua par. 17-18). It is true that Chinese parents demand a lot from their school, going kids. As reported by Mansell, Chinese children indiciate that they are usually under high pressure to deliver academically (par. 23-25).
She also indicated that parents usually prevail upon to explain why a child got B’s and not clean A’s (Mansell par. 18) In short, the efforts made by Chinese parents help in shaping their kids academically. However, too much of these things can instill fear leading to underperformance, so, they should only be used to some controllable extent.
Family commitment to education among Chinese is exceptionally strong. As the author states, “it’s true that Chinese mothers personally tutor, train, interrogate and spy on their kids” (Chua par. 18). Within Chinese society, a lot of emphases is put on practice. In fact, children are usually told that for them to achieve anything in life and for that matter in education, they must practice all the time (Mansell par. 13-15). As such, children are motivated when they achieve their best through practice.
Children’s early upbringing significantly impacts their academic performance. As the author states, “Lulu was about 7, still playing two instruments, and working on a piano piece” (Chua par. 20-21). I concur with the author that the future of someone is shaped when they are young because they get accustomed to the system and also find it part of their life.
Supporting this, Topor et al. indicated that parent-child interaction, particularly responsive and stimulating parenting practices, are key influences on the academic development of those children (183). This seems to confirm the argument of the author that the academic performance of Chinese kids is stimulated early in life.
Although the academic performance of people is determined by a number of factors, including genetics and environment, parental influence plays a vital role. However, it is wrong for parents to reproach their children harshly as it is likely to instill fear, which may undermine their self-esteem.
Works Cited
Chua, Amy. ” Why Chinese Mothers are Superior: can a Regimen of no Playdates, no TV, no Computer Games and Hours of Music Practice Create Happy Kids? and what Happens when they Fight Back?” Wall Street Journal, 2011. ProQuest. Web.
Mansell, Warwick. “Hidden tigers: why do Chinese Children do so Well at School“. 2011. Web.
Tewari, Nita and Alvin Alvarez. Asian American Psychology: Current Perspectives. New York, NY: Psychology Press, 2012. Print.
Topor, David R., Susan P. Keane, Terri L. Shelton, and Susan D. Calkins “Parent Involvement and Student Academic Performance: A multiple Mediational Analysis.” J Prev Interv Community 38.3 (2010): 183–197. Print.