Criticism of Harsh “Chinese-Style Education” as “Child Abuse” While “Tiger Mom” Makes TIME 100 List in 2011.
Is “Chinese-style education” really so unbearable?
As the “involution” environment intensifies, and young people face the brutal competition environment of “996 is a blessing”, topics related to children’s education always spark heated discussions.
12 years ago, the unique education philosophy of Chinese-style education, which does not allow for breathing space, was first seen by the world and quickly caused a huge stir. China’s “high-pressure parenting” education method became one of the hottest topics of those years, behind which was the dissatisfaction of countless people with the so-called “Chinese-style education”, believing that it made Chinese people the laughing stock of the world.
12 years later, does anyone still remember the “tiger mom” who once brought Chinese-style “chicken parenting” education to the world?
Chinese-style education shocks the world, and Chinese-American "Tiger Mom" sings the battle song
Amy Chua, a Chinese-American mother, became known to the world for her unique approach to education, earning her the moniker “Tiger Mom” by the international media.
Chua, who graduated from Harvard University, is currently a tenured professor at Yale Law School. Born into a family of scholars, her father, Shao-Tang Chua, was known as the “father of nonlinear circuits” and was a professor at the University of California, Berkeley.
Growing up in America, Tiger Mom didn’t have to go through the gaokao, but that didn’t stop her from deciding to be a “Chinese” mom – in other words, to be more strict than a Chinese mom.
As the originator of the “chicken baby,” Amy Chua’s educational philosophy has been regarded as the “Bible” by countless people. In order to let her children become talents, she even formulated ten strict family rules to restrain her two daughters.
She forbade the children to stay out at night, to participate in recreational activities, to watch television or play video games, to have any grades below A…… It is not allowed to practice the piano and violin on a given day, nor is it allowed to practice instruments other than the piano and violin, etc.
Don’t mention happy education, don’t say free growth. Only a strict education is what Chua needs.
The future she plans for her children starts with the baby.
The most shocking thing in the world is that Amy Chua once forced her youngest daughter to stand in the garden in the cold winter of minus 6 ° C because she did not practice according to her instructions. She did not put her in the house until her daughter was willing to practice.
As a woman who upholds the strictest form of “Chinese-style tiger parenting,” Amy Chua, also known as “Tiger Mom,” has faced criticism, insults, and attacks for her parenting style. Chua’s memoir, “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother,” which delves into the differences between Chinese and Western education, has intensified the discussion.
In her book, Chua recounts how she raised her two daughters using the Chinese parenting method. The Wall Street Journal published a book review with a striking title: “Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior?”
In a moment, the response from both Western and Chinese media was intense. Terms like “child abuse,” “disregard for human rights,” and “Chinese-style terror” were constantly associated with Amy Chua, as if no one believed that children raised under such an educational approach could succeed.
However, despite being criticized, Amy Chua, the “Tiger Mom,” has never been surpassed.
Mind your own business: Successful career and harmonious family, why judge others?
In the year of unprecedented debates, Amy Chua made it to the cover of Time Magazine. Not for her role as a law professor at Yale, nor for her academic contributions, but for the uproar she caused in the realm of Western and Chinese education. Her book “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother” has been translated into over 30 languages and sold overseas. In 2011, she was named one of the “100 Most Influential People in the World” by Time Magazine. Her existence made Time Magazine openly admit, “The Tiger Mom hit a raw nerve with us.”
The evaluation of tiger mother Chua Mei-er is polarizing all over the world. However, 12 years later, in the “chicken baby” education is becoming more and more intense, “inner roll” everywhere today, this kind of Chinese-style education idea is always consistent, what about the two children of Chua Mei-er, who was the ancestor of “chicken baby”? The answer is that they are trained to be extremely good.
The two daughters have been admitted to Harvard University, the eldest daughter graduated from Harvard University in 2015 to attend graduate school at Yale University, after retiring from the military to enter the United States Supreme Court, and went to serve as a clerk of the Supreme Court, can be described as promising.
When children raised under “Chinese-style chicken parenting” are growing up so well, some “child psychology experts” have jumped out to claim that their mental health must be suffering and that they surely hate their mothers and cannot feel happy. Western media have even created illustrations to satirize this parenting style.
On the contrary, Amy Chua’s daughters have grown up to be grateful and understanding of her parenting style, and have even expressed their desire to become “tiger moms” themselves in the future.
She said in a letter to her mother, “It is precisely because of your strictness that I am forced to be more independent. As long as I finish piano practice, I can almost always do what I love. What does the fullness of life really mean? In my opinion, it’s not about achievement or self-satisfaction, it’s about going all out to feel the limits of your physical and mental potential.”
In the past 12 years, some people have been asking themselves, is the Chinese education method really so bad, and is the western happy education the best?
A Huge Scam: So-Called American "Elite Education" Is Not Actually Happy
It is not uncommon to see the “praise one and criticize another” approach when discussing the competitiveness of Chinese education, often comparing it with the “elite-style happy education” in the West. However, the happy education in the United States seems more like a scam.
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Edward Humes, who was stationed at the private Whitney High School in the United States for a year, exposed the scam of American elite education to the world.
Unlike the atmosphere of carefree learning and play that people imagine, as a top elite private school in California, the children who come here to study are either rich or privileged, and their lives are not easy at all – 4 hours of sleep, 4 cups of coffee, and a 4.0 GPA – this is their life.
Like the tiger-mother model, American students here are doing more than they can imagine. In order to achieve a 4.0 GPA (full score), students here generally can only sleep 4 hours a day and drink 4 cups of coffee to ensure their energy.
Therefore, the Tiger Mother’s education style is exactly in line with the educational philosophy of the American elite.
Public high schools in the United States create the illusion that school is easy and simple, hiding the nature of the top private schools. The atmosphere of China’s top international schools is also “involution,” free and happy international education paralyzes the eyes of ordinary people, who can find in the joy of nothingness, the essence of elite education is basically the same.
The same is true of Gu Ailing, who is known as the “Chosen Daughter.” Her private high school in California upholds a similar elite education. She is even sent back to China every summer by her mother Gu Yan to make up lessons in Haidian Huangzhuang, the “holy land of education.”
Good brains are not born, but made through hard work. Memory, reading comprehension, and understanding are skills that can only be developed through constant practice. Without practice, how can children develop innovative thinking? It is the solid foundation of knowledge that supports individualized development and creativity.
Who can criticize Tiger Moms? She simply sees the truth about education that we often overlook.
Whose Pain is Being Touched by Criticisms of Education Philosophy?
As the main force of international education, the middle class is the one that is caught in the dilemma of “chicken parenting” and “happy education” – the real upper class has long been free from such problems.
Xie Juan, the producer of CCTV’s “World Famous Universities,” once visited Harvard University for an interview.
Undergraduates at Harvard seem to be beyond the reach of the middle class. Xie told reporters that at Harvard, students study day and night. What is “Western happy education”? Harvard students can be exhausted and fall asleep in the library, but they clearly enjoy it.
Buffett’s right-hand man Charlie Munger has also praised Chinese mothers in a previous interview, saying that “tiger mothers” are a cultural advantage in China.
Munger recognized the Chinese-style education of tiger mothers, saying, “They ‘force’ their children to learn piano, excel in various projects, etc., but if I were Chinese, I would also insist on this approach. I believe this is a strength of Chinese culture, and I like the competitiveness of the Chinese, which is very effective.”
Last month, 61-year-old “tiger mother” Amy Chua gave a lecture at the Yale School of Management. During the event, a student asked her about the results of her “chicken parenting” and whether she regrets her educational approach.
In a recent talk at the Yale School of Management, the original “tiger mom” Amy Chua expressed her happiness that both of her daughters appreciate the parenting approach she used when they were growing up, and they have a good relationship with her.
Between the lines, there is a sense of pride as a Chinese person.
In reality, talent can be found anywhere, but privileged environments tend to produce more elites.
