Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother

[Anonymous]

Some mothers in China may be singing another "battle hymn" of their aspirations for their children, according to the LA Times this morning, "Blaming the victims" by Mei Fong. She writes that 160,000 Chinese students have come a year to study in US colleges. But with the tragic, recent murder of the couple near the USC campus this month, and along with other factors, Chinese parents may be putting the brakes on this education-abroad trend. Returning Chinese students are finding it difficult to land jobs, some may not be acquiring fluent English skills having socialized almost exclusively with fellow Chinese students, and they may be returning with liberal arts degrees vs. technology/science, and have unrealistic salary expectations. The author validates the student-abroad program as "an exercise of informal diplomacy" but notes that the news of the USC couple's death fostered a "they deserved to die" sentiment among some Chinese internet bloggers, stemming from anti-American and "haves vs. have-nots sentiment.

[Rob_Hugo@PortNW]

I read this book recently and loved it! For those of you that don't know, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, by Amy Chua, is the story of a 1st generation Chinese-American mother raising her 2nd generation mixed-race (Caucasian) daughters in the United States. The mother is determined to raise her daughters the way she was raised, with her children doing exactly what she asks of them, and never questioning or challenging her authority. Her older daughter ends-up thriving under her mother's parenting regiment, but her younger daughter, from a very young age, fights and rebels against it. In the end, the two, mother and younger daughter, reach a compromise, thus preserving the happiness of everyone in the family.
For anyone interested in learning more about some of the inner-workings of the Chinese-American family dynamic, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother is a must read!

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