Students discuss 'tiger mom' debate

The national debate on Asian parenting, stirred by Yale Law School professor and self-proclaimed “tiger mom” Amy Chua, has trickled down to Penn.

On Tuesday, about 50 students gathered to discuss “Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior,” an excerpt from Chua’s memoir that was printed in the The Wall Street Journal on Jan. 8.

The event was organized by the Chinese Students’ Association and Penn Sangam — a Pan-Asian American discussion group — to let students express their views on an article that “has touched a lot of nerves on campus,” according to College junior and CSA Political Chairwoman Terry Ye.

“What Chinese parents understand is that nothing is fun until you’re good at it,” Chua wrote in her book. “To get good at anything you have to work.”

The parenting tactics she employed to raise her two daughters included never letting them attend sleepovers, watch TV or get any grade other than an A.

Chua also called her children “garbage” to their faces and threatened her youngest daughter with no food until she perfected a passage on the piano.

Many students at Tuesday’s meeting believed that Chua’s rhetoric was purposely exaggerated as a marketing strategy to promote sales of her book.

“She sold us out,” College senior Eugene Sung said. “I don’t believe that’s really what she thinks.”

At the event, students with Asian backgrounds reflected on their childhoods when responding to Chua.

Since Asian-American students at Penn come from diverse backgrounds, not everyone related to Chua, Ye said, adding that some believed Chua reinforces a negative stereotype about Asian parents.

Chua presents the Chinese culture as superior to others while characterizing herself as a powerful “dragon lady,” which is a negative stereotype for Asian women,” said English and Asian-American Studies professor Josephine Park.

Park added that she does not believe that Chua’s parenting style makes a significant difference in the success of students at Penn.

Wharton freshman Karen Li had discussed Chua’s excerpt in her Chinese class.

“I will never say the way I was raised made me a better student … there are thousands of people who I walk down Locust with every day who are equally if not more capable than I am, and many of them came to be this successful from a completely different route,” Li asserted.

Engineering freshman Torrie Meliska said that in some respects, her Jewish mother employed many of the same parenting techniques as Chua. Meliska was expected to earn all A’s, and she attributes her drive to succeed to her mother.

“At college, my mom is not here all the time to push me, but I still beat myself over for not getting a stellar grade if I know I didn’t do the best that I could,” she said. “[My mom] has given me a competitive edge to be competitive with myself to do my best.”

Note: This article was updated from its original version to reflect that the event was co-organized by Penn Sangam, a Pan-Asian American discussion group, not Penn Sargam, an Indian classical music group.

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