Joe Hunt

Mr. McKeever
Honors Online English
03/31/2014
Evaluating an Argument

Amy Chua, a professor at Yale Law School and the author of Battle Hymm of the Tiger Mother
(2011) has an interesting approach on parenting. She argues the effectiveness of being a strict
mother, oftentimes called a Tiger Mother against a less strict parenting method. She claims that
Chinese mothers are superior to Western mothers because they raise successful children. She
explains this to be possible only being a tiger mom. Born and raised in America by strict Chinese
parents, Amy Chua vowed to raise her kids this way, even if she lived in a Western society. In
this evaluation I will review Amy Chuas beliefs and argue against her statement that Chinese
mothers are superior.

Amy Chua starts by comparing how most Chinese parents raise their kids and how Western
parents raise their kids. She points out how most Western parents are not very strict at all, even
less so when compared to tiger mothers, which she claims to be all Chinese parents. Amy points
out in a recent study how much the two parenting methods differ. Most Western parents agreed
that stressing academic success is not good for children and, that they need to make learning fun,
while none of the Chinese parents felt the same way. They said that they believed their children
could be the best and no less. They strongly believed that academic success gauged how the
parents are raising the child.

Amy Chua states that children, on their own never want to work. That is a fallacy and it is called
Dicto Simpliciter. It basically means that one cannot over generalize something. One must
qualify the generalization. It simply isnt true to claim that children on their own never want to
work. There are some children who seem to be born with a work ethic and they would readily do
work on their own. Even the most stubborn child can want to work at times, especially if there is
a reward. Amy is wrong to believe that every child must be pushed.

Amy cannot claim that all children must be pushed beyond their limit. Even if the child resists to
the harshest degree the parent must be harsher. She claims that all Chinese parents force their
kids to do stuff that they do not like. If they resist they are scolded harshly. It has been proven be
neuroscientists that such negative feedback can be harmful to children.

While Amy Chua is correct to claim that Chinese mothers are correct to push their child. She is
incorrect in claiming that being a tiger mom in specific is the reason for good success. I agree if a
child is pushed to do something they believed they could not do, but then succeeds at it that they
will benefit from that experience. American parents that do not enforce such strict rules raise
successful kids as well. They are more conscientious of the childs feelings and allow them to
have more freedom in their choices.

Both methods have proven to be effective. It cannot be claimed that Chinese mothers are
superior because they are stricter. Some kids require such parenting but not every child,
sometimes they need to explore all the options they are given. There needs to be a balance of
strict parenting when necessary but allowing them to do what they want.