Response To Chinese Mothers

People tend to agree with the statement that Chinese Mothers tend to push their children to the limits and beyond when it comes to academics and education, but this article about how Chinese Mothers are superior to other mothers really just strikes me. This paragraph especially strikes me.

Despite our squeamishness about cultural stereotypes, there are tons of studies out there showing marked and quantifiable differences between Chinese and Westerners when it comes to parenting. In one study of 50 Western American mothers and 48 Chinese immigrant mothers, almost 70% of the Western mothers said either that "stressing academic success is not good for children" or that "parents need to foster the idea that learning is fun." By contrast, roughly 0% of the Chinese mothers felt the same way. Instead, the vast majority of the Chinese mothers said that they believe their children can be "the best" students, that "academic achievement reflects successful parenting," and that if children did not excel at school then there was "a problem" and parents "were not doing their job." Other studies indicate that compared to Western parents, Chinese parents spend approximately 10 times as long every day drilling academic activities with their children. By contrast, Western kids are more likely to participate in sports teams.

I do not find it surprising that seventy percent of western mothers do not stress education a lot to their children because they believe it hurts their child. I can just see that number to be mostly true, but I was shocked when I saw that zero percent of the Chinese mothers interviewed stressed education a lot and believed that it did not harm their children in any way what so ever. Now that I think about it I do not believe that these numbers are accurate because so few people were interviewed. I would have to like to have seen a larger group of people being interviewed.

This article makes it seem as if Western Mothers do not give a damn about education and it is kind of sad because that is not the case. For example, my mother is not Asian, she is Latina, Colombian to be exact, and she stresses education just about as any other Chinese Mother that I know. I also know many kids who have mothers who are not Chinese and yet they still stress education like crazy.

OK I do agree that westerners will tend to play more in sports, but still, that does not always take away from their education at all. I also know Chinese and Asian kids who play and enjoy sports. Sure they may not be on a team, but they still participate  in sports. I do not believe that if a student fails at academics then it necessarily the parents. A lot of times it is the child who does not want to learn and therefore it is their fault, not the parents.