Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior

[Starkipraggy]

Originally Posted by Synester

You people ever have a black mother? Thats just scary...trust me, I have one

Most probably comparable to real Chinese mothers.

Nope, they won't hesitate to beat the living snot out of you. Apparently the old standard for beatings was to hit the kid with a rattan cane until the cane mark stayed so the kid would go to school utterly humiliated and hurting. Violent or extremely angry parents hit the kid until the cane drew blood.

[Masami]

Yes this right, my mom didnt give a damn, and grades suffer because of it. So College suffers, hence, University, suffers.

[Larvinator]

I've heard Japanese scientists were at one point studying why American youth generally have higher self-esteem than their Asian equivalents. After reading this article, I can only say: duuuh.

Incidentally, I'd like to know whether this attitude is due to China's massive population; just being good doesn't stand out in such a huge crowd, so the mothers are inclined to push their children to be the absolute best...

[Kenny_C.002]

Originally Posted by Larvinator

I've heard Japanese scientists were at one point studying why American youth generally have higher self-esteem than their Asian equivalents. After reading this article, I can only say: duuuh.

Incidentally, I'd like to know whether this attitude is due to China's massive population; just being good doesn't stand out in such a huge crowd, so the mothers are inclined to push their children to be the absolute best...

No, it's just a cultural thing.

[Teddiursa of the Sky]

Honestly? Forcing a child to continue to play an instrument will not make him enjoy it, neither will it make him do it his entire life. It simply shows that if the child does not like it, he will grow up spending all his life on the one subject, that he will have to do it for the rest of his life, for it would be too late for him to change his career.

Now, on a more official view. Yes and no.
Would a child that you push really be smart? Yes. Yes he/she would. However, they would not be able to relate the knowledge the gain at their school to the real world. If you are unable to communicate with other human beings that are less "bright" or more ignorant, they will not know how to react. The knowledge they learn would be useless.

Say a dictator of China spent his entire life in the top schools with the top teachers, and had very impressive knowledge, but had no contact with the average person. He would not be able to strike a deal with a foreign land, negotiate a treaty, or make any decision based on what the people think is morally right.

As Kenny_C.002 pointed out, book-smart, but not "street smart." In other words, or to put it plainly. Wisdom is different from knowledge. It sounds funny to say that American children have more wisdom than a Chinese child, but wisdom is not based on age, but on experience.

America is often referred to as the dumbest country in the world, when that is quite frankly, untrue. What statistics do they look at? Not official, most likely. But second-hand sites and the UN (not reliable either.) Are we looking at a small minority they took, or are we looking at the IQ level of every single American citizen on in the Solar System (cool I can say that now, huh)?

I do admire China. They have made great strides, and may very well be the thing we need to get the world united. However, as all things, I must be skeptical still, and wait until they prove that they will make a change with all that "knowledge" they may have.

Kenny_C.002, you are absolutely right, and I doubt any person here could disagree.

Yes this right, my mom didnt give a damn, and grades suffer because of it. So College suffers, hence, University, suffers.

Do not try to pass it off on your mother. It was your decision on whether or not you wanted to do well in school.

[Synester]

After actually reading the article, it just seems like she took away the fun aspects of being a child.

[Neo Emolga]

It's more of a cultural related issue. Sure, Chinese mothers may believe their children are better, but better in what precisely? To me, this is all quite honestly a biased, stereotypical, and quite frankly arrogant claim.

In my opinion, duress is not as strong of a motivator as passion is. Threatening someone with "you'd better do this now or I'll..." will ever forge as good of a display of talent as someone who loves, feels, and is deeply inspired to do something because their heart and mind tell them to. Simply put, what kind of player do you think would be better, the piano player who was forced under threats, beating, and duress to play, or the piano player that has an absolute, heartfelt love for music and the instrument, and is self-motivated by choice to become the best they can? My money would be on the later.

Lastly, in terms of book smarts, academically speaking, grades are essentially a reflection of how well the student learned the material within the context of the course. Never once was it mentioned that what was learned is essentially useless if the student never actually uses and applies what was learned outside of that context. Simply turning one's brain into a warehouse of facts really won't help too much unless you're on a game show. Not unless you're applying it actively for a constructive purpose.

[Assaundrell Yumerai]

Yeah, even my grandma, she still applies the traditions she experiences in China. She was way strict at first, but then I realized that everything she does made me grew well-disciplined.

[Doodlebop]

Originally Posted by TitaniumAnimations

Honestly? Forcing a child to continue to play an instrument will not make him enjoy it, neither will it make him do it his entire life. It simply shows that if the child does not like it, he will grow up spending all his life on the one subject, that he will have to do it for the rest of his life, for it would be too late for him to change his career.

I would like to argue this point. My parents 'force' me to play the cello. They don't beat me if I don't practice or anything like this, but they want me to be well rounded. they just want me to see all my available possibilities, and they're not going to make me be a music major. And while I used to hate playing, I now enjoy playing. Granted, I'm still not too fond of practicing, but yeah. xD

Originally Posted by TitaniumAnimations

America is often referred to as the dumbest country in the world, when that is quite frankly, untrue. What statistics do they look at? Not official, most likely. But second-hand sites and the UN (not reliable either.) Are we looking at a small minority they took, or are we looking at the IQ level of every single American citizen on in the Solar System (cool I can say that now, huh)?

Here's what I think it is. Most countries split up their kids at a fairly young age. If you're smart you get a good education, high grades, and so on and so forth. If not, you're probably going to end up doing manual labor. Their percentile is only the smart kids. Our percentile is EVERYBODY.

And while discipline and academics is important, this is seriously overblown.

[Giratina]

You know, thinking over it again, I think the whole thing seems very self-centered - not to mention ignorant. Whoop-dee-doo, your child has successfully played a piano piece correctly (using an example from the article). Note how the author didn't mention anything about how proud the kid was of herself for succeeding (I'll get to that later), but how the majority of it was the author gushing about how all the other mommies flocked over and showered her with praise. Mmmhm. And the desire to get your kids good grades at any cost - while they do clearly love their kids, it's apparently still alright to harass them through dinner and into the wee hours of the morning so they can do it correctly.

And guess what, lady: when your little girl turned around and said, "Look, Mommy! I did it!" Oh, she seemed so happy... Newsflash - she probably didn't feel any pride in her own abilities at all. She was more likely celebrating that you have no further reason to complain of what a disgrace she is.

[Lord Fedora]

The correct answer is that both sides are completely idiotic. The laid back "learning is fun, don't worry about grades" approach and the "GET THE F#CK BACK TO WORK" approach both fail. They are extremes. Extremes are always the worst choice.

The right approach to raising a child is a mix of strictness and laxness. Apply light pressure when necessary, to make sure that your kid is doing all their homework and studying for an hour a night. Likewise, encourage them to pursue a wide range of study to become well rounded, as Doodlebob mentioned. But don't push them too hard or too far. Learning does need to be enjoyable. It helps for a child to pay attention, stimulate the mind, and understand the information. And it's just as rounding to have them play sports as it is to have them play cello (sidebar: I hated the cello), plus if they're able to go out and experience the world, it will give them a far greater depth of ability than to sit at a desk studying half their life.

Once again, moderation>you.

[Winter]

Ugh, I had to read this and do an assignment for lit class, and I have to wonder--yeah, the kids might be brainiacs but how is this affecting thier social skills and creativity, and why do I foresee this leading to either hermits or being one of those kids that even at thirty they still have to phone their mom and tell her everything they're doing and make sure mommy approves?

[Teddiursa of the Sky]

Forcing a child to play said instrument does not make the child want to learn it, which means that they won't learn well or willingly. Children who are mathematically dull for instance, may never be able to do even the simplest of algebra. However, they are probably able to direct the most popular movie of all time. Watch the movie Karate Kid (2010 film) and it shows what I am talking about. I know that movie may not be completely accurate, but ir portrays Chinese curture quire werr.

I study Chinese culture and my father was a Chinese linguist. I think Giratina, Doodlepop, Neo Pikachu, and Kenny_C.002 all sum it up quite well.



-The People of Han are cool and all, but this is just too much.