The Last of the Tiger Parents

#1

Post by ilamont » Sun, Jun 24, 2018, 11:57 PM UTC

The Last of the Tiger Parents
nytimes.com

Re: The Last of the Tiger Parents

#2

Post by sand500 » Mon, Jun 25, 2018, 1:22 AM UTC

This is something I sometimes think about. My parents were pretty strict and emphasized education but were not "tiger parent" strict. I did pretty well in school but not "straight-A valedictorian" well. I'm out of college now with a job at the big 5 but I wonder where I would be had I studied harder in school and gotten into a better college. And would I be "happier"?

Re: The Last of the Tiger Parents

#3

Post by magic_beans » Mon, Jun 25, 2018, 1:35 AM UTC

sand500 wrote: post #2

This is something I sometimes think about. My parents were pretty strict and emphasized education but were not "tiger parent" strict. I did pretty well in school but not "straight-A valedictorian" well. I'm out of college now with a job at the big 5 but I wonder where I would be had I studied harder in school and gotten into a better college. And would I be "happier"?

Welp, once you have kids you can tiger parent them if you want.

Re: The Last of the Tiger Parents

#4

Post by threatofrain » Mon, Jun 25, 2018, 1:36 AM UTC

sand500 wrote: post #2

This is something I sometimes think about. My parents were pretty strict and emphasized education but were not "tiger parent" strict. I did pretty well in school but not "straight-A valedictorian" well. I'm out of college now with a job at the big 5 but I wonder where I would be had I studied harder in school and gotten into a better college. And would I be "happier"?

Unless you're using yourself as a proxy for others, the question isn't whether you'd be happier, but whether a population engaging in a parenting style would render more desired results.

I do believe in the value of an educated populace not just for jobs, but for democratic and civic strength.

Re: The Last of the Tiger Parents

#5

Post by MrTonyD » Mon, Jun 25, 2018, 1:40 AM UTC

This seems like a pretty convincing refutation of the effectiveness of the "tiger mom" philosophy: http://sci-hub.tw/https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Re: The Last of the Tiger Parents

#6

Post by cornholio » Mon, Jun 25, 2018, 2:19 AM UTC

Coercion is irrelevant. The differentiator is valuing education and viewing it as the sole way for social mobility. Once a child internalizes this world view as fair and implacable, she will chose to do well in school, just as easily as she will breathe. The endlessly adaptable blank mind of the young Homo Sapiens will have latched on to the rules of the tribe in which they have been born, and remain set for life.

Re: The Last of the Tiger Parents

#7

Post by seanmcdirmid » Mon, Jun 25, 2018, 2:29 AM UTC

sand500 wrote: post #2

This is something I sometimes think about. My parents were pretty strict and emphasized education but were not "tiger parent" strict. I did pretty well in school but not "straight-A valedictorian" well. I'm out of college now with a job at the big 5 but I wonder where I would be had I studied harder in school and gotten into a better college. And would I be "happier"?

My parents were divorced and, anyways, completely hands off when it came to my sister’s and my education. I got a PhD, worked for research labs, and so on; my sister is a waitress and a bartender.

There is some nature to consider, not just nuture, I guess.

Re: The Last of the Tiger Parents

#8

Post by asfasgasg » Mon, Jun 25, 2018, 2:35 AM UTC

cornholio wrote: post #6

Coercion is irrelevant. The differentiator is valuing education and viewing it as the sole way for social mobility. Once a child internalizes this world view as fair and implacable, she will chose to do well in school, just as easily as she will breathe. The endlessly adaptable blank mind of the young Homo Sapiens will have latched on to the rules of the tribe in which they have been born, and remain set for life.

Well . . . some kids find other reasons to do the work. Competitiveness, simple affinity, or the reasonable observation that there's no reason to not do well in school.

Re: The Last of the Tiger Parents

#9

Post by hb3b » Mon, Jun 25, 2018, 2:35 AM UTC

Offtopic but do most HN'ers have NYT subscriptions or use extensions to workaround the paywalls? Anyone else wish they could filter out paywalled links from HN?

Re: The Last of the Tiger Parents

#10

Post by Avshalom » Mon, Jun 25, 2018, 2:35 AM UTC

cornholio wrote: post #6

Coercion is irrelevant. The differentiator is valuing education and viewing it as the sole way for social mobility. Once a child internalizes this world view as fair and implacable, she will chose to do well in school, just as easily as she will breathe. The endlessly adaptable blank mind of the young Homo Sapiens will have latched on to the rules of the tribe in which they have been born, and remain set for life.

Rebellion against the status quo has an equally rich academic tradition. "Education" in the abstract doesn't prefer one view over the other.

Further education is in no way a guaranteed path to success: I have two BS degrees Physics and Geology with math and CS minors, and yet I am a stock boy at Target.

Nothing is a path to anything. We of course hear from the successful children of "tiger moms" but how many stories in the last 50 years do you remember with the headline "my mother demanded everything and I am a fork lift operator at an industrial door warehouse" and yet https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_58ff7f40e4b0c46f0782a5b6 Asian Americans are statistically poorer than most...