Apparently the "blogosphere" has been abuzz discussing the whole "Tiger Mom" situation, which means I probably need to say something.
The uproar started with a Wall Street Journal article featuring Amy Chua, titled, "Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior." The article consists of an excerpt--or supposedly, an "extract"--from her new book, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mom.
The article emphasizes the difference between us lazy, Wii-obsessed, fast-food-loving Americans and our feel-good, New Age parents, and Chinese/Korean/just generally Asian parents, who are achievement-oriented and work their kids like drill instructors to get them into Yale. In fact, the enclosed passage speaks for itself:
"Here's a story in favor of coercion, Chinese-style. Lulu was about 7, still playing two instruments, and working on a piano piece called 'The Little White Donkey' by the French composer Jacques Ibert. The piece is really cute—you can just imagine a little donkey ambling along a country road with its master—but it's also incredibly difficult for young players because the two hands have to keep schizophrenically different rhythms.
"Lulu couldn't do it. We worked on it nonstop for a week, drilling each of her hands separately, over and over. But whenever we tried putting the hands together, one always morphed into the other, and everything fell apart. Finally, the day before her lesson, Lulu announced in exasperation that she was giving up and stomped off. 'Get back to the piano now,' I ordered. [...]
The uproar started with a Wall Street Journal article featuring Amy Chua, titled, "Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior." The article consists of an excerpt--or supposedly, an "extract"--from her new book, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mom.
The article emphasizes the difference between us lazy, Wii-obsessed, fast-food-loving Americans and our feel-good, New Age parents, and Chinese/Korean/just generally Asian parents, who are achievement-oriented and work their kids like drill instructors to get them into Yale. In fact, the enclosed passage speaks for itself:
"Here's a story in favor of coercion, Chinese-style. Lulu was about 7, still playing two instruments, and working on a piano piece called 'The Little White Donkey' by the French composer Jacques Ibert. The piece is really cute—you can just imagine a little donkey ambling along a country road with its master—but it's also incredibly difficult for young players because the two hands have to keep schizophrenically different rhythms.
"Lulu couldn't do it. We worked on it nonstop for a week, drilling each of her hands separately, over and over. But whenever we tried putting the hands together, one always morphed into the other, and everything fell apart. Finally, the day before her lesson, Lulu announced in exasperation that she was giving up and stomped off. 'Get back to the piano now,' I ordered. [...]
"Back at the piano, Lulu made me pay. She punched, thrashed and kicked. She grabbed the music score and tore it to shreds. I taped the score back together and encased it in a plastic shield so that it could never be destroyed again. Then I hauled Lulu's dollhouse to the car and told her I'd donate it to the Salvation Army piece by piece if she didn't have 'The Little White Donkey' perfect by the next day. When Lulu said, 'I thought you were going to the Salvation Army, why are you still here?'
"I threatened her with no lunch, no dinner, no Christmas or Hanukkah presents, no birthday parties for two, three, four years. When she still kept playing it wrong, I told her she was purposely working herself into a frenzy because she was secretly afraid she couldn't do it. I told her to stop being lazy, cowardly, self-indulgent and pathetic. [...]
"I used every weapon and tactic I could think of. We worked right through dinner into the night, and I wouldn't let Lulu get up, not for water, not even to go to the bathroom. The house became a war zone, and I lost my voice yelling, but still there seemed to be only negative progress, and even I began to have doubts.""I threatened her with no lunch, no dinner, no Christmas or Hanukkah presents, no birthday parties for two, three, four years. When she still kept playing it wrong, I told her she was purposely working herself into a frenzy because she was secretly afraid she couldn't do it. I told her to stop being lazy, cowardly, self-indulgent and pathetic. [...]
Forever plastered on the article page is a choice selection from the comments section, as one James Post states, "I am in disbelief after reading this article." Another wonderful piece of dialogue is given to us by Diron Tappin, who writes, "Parenting is the only thing people do once or twice and think they are an expert at it."
Critics, while obviously voicing their concerns about Chua's parenting methods, have also begun debating the notable racial differences in academic performance, especially with a growing number of Asians enrolling in top schools.
In response to all of this, Sophia Chua-Rubenfeld, one of Amy's daughters and supposedly traumatized tiger cubs, wrote a letter in the New York Times to her mother while retaliating against her critics. She takes a moment to clear the air by telling everyone that a lot of what we read in the Journal article was...well, a joke.
Because, you see, when an Asian woman jokes about driving her daughter to starvation and near-insanity over piano lessons, us dumb, uneducated, bar-hoppin', NASCAR-racing, Twitter-addicted Americans have no sense of humor beyond fart and boob jokes, and we're all gonna hide the kids, hide the wives, and hide the husbands while we call the cops on her. (While I'm still on this train of thought, I wonder how many "wives" and "husbands" are police...oh, crap...)
Sophia's letter to the editor goes on to say that while "having you as a mother was no tea party," she also admits that her Tiger Mama's tough love made her the strong, independent young woman she is today, and at the end of the day, they're all still family.
It probably needs to be said that both articles may or may not have been planted by someone other than the supposed author. Much in the same way that Jerry Springer gives us supposedly "random" audience members telling their latest neo-Nazi guest's sister (and wife) to "COVER UP FO' I THROW UP!", this article may or may not have been planted by...
Go ahead, guess!
...by Fox. Yes, freaking Fox. They're at it again.
According to one article on OriginalSpin.com, Rupert Murdoch (or a close associate of his, at the least) copy-pasted the most questionable lines from Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother into the Wall Street Journal article, resulting in...well, that clusterfuck of parenting literature I just copy-pasted above. Now this is probably just hearsay, but the source of the article's source's source says that this whole monstrous affair can be traced to "the very top" of the hierarchy of News Corp, which owns both the Journal and the New York Post.
Granted, Occam's Razor states that there is no substitute for human stupidity, nor is there a more likely alternative than someone from another country--or at least presumably a second or third-generation immigrant--failing to appreciate the cultural nuances of child-rearing, or make note of a simple thing like child abuse rubbing us dumb Americans the wrong way.
Unless, of course, we simply go by the old adage that Fox is evil. And, by the transitive property, so is its owner.
Note: The opinions of the Brewsky do not represent those of Fox News or its affiliates. And, frankly, neither does the prospect of a 16-year-old girl writing a letter to her mother in the New York Times. Seriously, who does that?
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