Comments on: Tough-love parenting

By: Susanna

Susanna — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 02:18:14 +0000

I just don’t get it. Certainly we all want our children to fulfill their abilities, but do we have to make them miserable in the process? What is the goal of a life? To have a list of accomplishments or to live a happy and authentic life?

By: DMD

DMD — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 00:39:08 +0000

The WSJ article was edited without Chua’s input. The memoir paints a much more complex picture, including a complete re-evaluation of her own parenting when met with the rebellion of one of her daughters. See this article for an interview with Chua and more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=%2Fg%2Fa%2F2011%2F01%2F13%2Fapop011311.DTL&ao=all

Read the book for a fuller picture.

By: Starshaped

Starshaped — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 22:49:44 +0000

Ugh! I think this is an upper class, upper handing thing. It just has a new ‘Asian’ face to it. I have heard tons of parents telling other parents what they are doing wrong, just outside my classroom door. What will be interesting to see is what happens to these children in 20 years. These mother’s words may come back to haunt her in the future. I hope they don’t, but…

By: Cranky Teacher

Cranky Teacher — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 20:01:04 +0000

This was an interesting take on the whole deal:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=%2Fg%2Fa%2F2011%2F01%2F13%2Fapop011311.DTL

By: Connie

Connie — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 19:13:59 +0000

I read Dr. Chua’s article in last Saturday’s Wall Street Journal. I made me sick. Afterwards I wish I had not read it.

By: On The Fence

On The Fence — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 02:45:35 +0000

Nextset,

Not important to the central idea, but the public health biggie for Asian populations is Hep B.

By: Nextset

Nextset — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 22:00:43 +0000

An interesting story. Child raising is as much as an art as a science. Children are different and what works with an asian child may not work with a black child and vice versa. For one thing they are polar opposites physically with the onset of puberty earliest with blacks and latest with asians (several years apart on the average).

I do agree that males, especially black males, have a problem if given an overdose of unconditional love and an under dose of accountability and consequences. Before people get in an uproar, remember the physical differences – puberty and it’s effects being the first problem. Now uproar…

People are very different, nationally and internationally. I’m interested in reading more about the asian childrearing issues, but I’m more interested in how (the schools can) to keep urban black kids out of prison and early graves. I do not believe what works on one group is always directly transferable to the others. And then there’s the Mexican students.

And what about the asian Hep A problem? I’m especially interested in public health related issues as applied to the schools. in addition to all the other problems and responsibilities OUSD has to contend with there is always the issues such as TB control, STD control, Flu Contagion, Pregnancy epidemics/Breast Feeding, Food nutrition/food poisoning/food service, Drug use/overdose, Child Molest reporting, Rx medication dispensing, Eye and Dental screening & emergencies and other such things (the schools really do need nurses) you have to manage when you bring 1000 or more urban minority kids together.

Basically the large Urban Schools such as LA Unified and OUSD have a hell of a job – until their populations really shrink due to the Charters growth. I wish them well. And I am worried about what this depression is about to do. We can all see where the government budgets are going and it’s not up.

By: livegreen

livegreen — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 21:04:01 +0000

Yes, thank you for the link Sharon.

By: On the Fence

On the Fence — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 18:44:19 +0000

Thank you for sharing this Sharon. This article has gotten tremendous buzz in the media, and the quora link you posted offers an especially thoughtful forum, particularly regarding the high suicide rates.

I work in mental health and Asians are often severely underrepresented in our patient populations with the thought being that there are many cultural barriers to seeking treatment or even acknowledging mental health issues. This is particularly worrisome for a population that is suffering from high rates of depression/suicide, at least among their young women. Very sad.

By: Sharon

Sharon — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 04:34:48 +0000

This response to the WSJ article has also gotten a lot of buzz. It relates a personal tragedy and informs us about the high suicide rate among Asian-American females.

http://www.quora.com/Parenting/Is-Amy-Chua-right-when-she-explains-Why-Chinese-Mothers-Are-Superior-in-an-op-ed-in-the-Wall-Street-Journal