Sun, 09 Jan 2011

Compare and Contrast

This article

Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior

A lot of people wonder how Chinese parents raise such stereotypically successful kids. They wonder what these parents do to produce so many math whizzes and music prodigies, what it's like inside the family, and whether they could do it too.

(link) [Wall Street Journal]

with this one.

Effort to Restore Children's Play Gains Momentum

Ms. [Sharon] Wilson lives in Stroudsburg, Pa., a small town in the Poconos. Many days, her home is strewn with dress-up clothes, art supplies and other artifacts from playtime with her two small children, Benjamin, 6, and Laura, 3. “I let them get it messy because that’s what it’s here for,” she said.

(link) [New York Times]

Which way do we (as a culture) want our kids to turn out?

Nick Kristoff wants us to be more "Chinese".

The Gothamist doesn't.

Update: Apparently, neither do the Chinese.

I think this is one area where we're starting to get it right, and the "Chinese" among us (using the term like Ms. Chua, and not in an ethnic sense) are getting it profoundly wrong. The one thing I've noticed about folks raised by "Chinese" mothers is that, to the extent the "Chinese" mothering was successful they tend to be uniformly brilliant, somewhat emotionally stunted, socially awkward, unable to innovate and profoundly unhappy.

Is this to be our cultural definition of "success"?

I for one certainly hope not.

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