Headline, August22, 2013

''' !!! THE BATTLE CRY -OF- 

THE TIGER MOTHER !!! '''

In a recent International Study of 65 countries, ''Shanghai Students'' came out on top in reading, maths and science. Nicholas Kristof cited the study in a New York Times column titled : China's Winning Schools? and attributed the achievement to the legacy of Confucius, who lived circa 500 B.C. And so begins this tale of how one author sees it:

The controversy Amy Chua ignited with her new book, Battle Hymn Of the Tiger Mother, has since gone global, sparking debates from Hong Kong to New York about the -''ultrastrict''- mothering. Chua's revelations about the harsh measures she employed to force her daughters to master musical compositions have raised hackles, not least because she identifies the approach as a kind of archetypal Chinese-mother syndrome.

In the West the preponderant reaction has been to stress the cruelty and deprivation of such an unpbringing, mixed with a modicum of awe and even fear at the impending competition. But those who conflate Chua's ''Tiger Mothering'' with Kristof's  ''Confucian reverence for education'' should consider that the two principles contradict each other.

The Confucian system was nothing if not patriarchal, ultimately producing foot binding and female infanticide. In what fatherless universe did the Tiger mother's matrilineal discipline evolve?! It's notable that neither in Chua's thesis nor in the sprawling debate that continues is there much mention of the father's role. You cannot have a Chinese mother syndrome of stifling control over the children unless the father acquiesces. Where is the father in this purported formula for assured success?!

If he's out working, he must making enough for the mother to be a stay-at-home martinet, which suggests a particular income bracket. At any rate, he would have to be overworking. The implicit narrative seems neither desirable nor indeed representative of the two-income family developed world to which most Asians evidently aspire. 

Seen in context, Chua's Tiger Mother theory looks like an exercise in mythmaking, an attempt to craft a timeless archetype out of a temporary historical accident. Hyperachievement in conformist traditions can be a toxic combination when the system itself is a rotten one. This may console more liberal parents who equate freer children with greater intellectual achievement in liberalized societies, and, conversely, failed societies with over-tough parenting.

The evidence, however, often suggests the reverse: the West itself has been through its own historical phase of success through borderline-cruel education methods. The Victorian era's Dickensian schools produced the likes of Darwin and John Stuart Mill. The muscular austerity of traditional British boarding schools spawned a kind of lament genre in the memoirs of 20th century authors such as George Orwell, Evelyn Waugh, and Graham Greene. In their days the system was not designed to generate a happy or comfortable student experience. But it coincided with a world class flowering of literary and scientific standards in that country.

This may be an equation that the liberal-minded Western world may no longer wish to acknowledge, and from the 1960s until very recently didn't need to. As the economically dominant power in the world, it could reward under achievers and dilatory and eccentric routes to success. In short, it treated the pursuit of happiness not as a race to the finish but as a kind of lifestyle choice. Things may change now that Asia can compete on equal terms academically and economically.

In order to get to such a position, it's no surprise that places like Singapore and South Korea -the other top achievers in the multination schools study  -still don't reward their children with freewheeling teenage indulgences as the West does. As in the Britain of yore, childhood is largely a time of preparing for the hardships to come in order to prevail over them.

There is no doubt that some Asian societies currently educate their children more effectively than much of the West. They have learned their lessons. The West could profit from relearning its own virtues from Asia's example, but to seek them in ancient or newly minted myths seems like a fool's errand!!

So When Strict Means Successful!!?

With respectful and loving dedication to all the Little Angels in the World!! With hugs and kisses for Mayna & Haaniya Khan.  

With Greater Dedication to all the Moms in the World!! See ya all on the World Students Society Computers-Internet-Wireless : ''For Every Care''

Good Night & God Bless!

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless