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The Last of the Tiger Parents

nytimes.com

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Re: The Last of the Tiger Parents

#11

Post by ams6110 »

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.

It's not quite that simple. I have three kids who were all raised with the same emphasis on the importance of education. They all have different levels of motivation at school, different interests, different passions. Most of the people I know with more than one kid say the same thing. Same with my brother and me. We were both raised by the same parents, in the same house, yet he was much more motivated to go farther with formal education than I was.

Re: The Last of the Tiger Parents

#12

Post by [deleted] »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #7
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.

[deleted]

Re: The Last of the Tiger Parents

#14

Post by glangdale »

From my experience, Tiger Parenting is a very effective way of propelling people through standardized testing and competitive exams/admissions. I think it tends to stop working once there is not a clearly delineated pathway to achievement - for example in independent research.

It's absurd to think that no-one who came up with a Tiger Parent philosophy won't be a good researcher or independently creative, but there does seem to be a rapid winnowing of people who were previously overperforming on tests and 'routine intellectual work'.

Re: The Last of the Tiger Parents

#15

Post by cornholio »

Avshalom wrote: post #10
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…

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

Before you can rebel academically, a decade of conformism is required. So few nonconformists survive that such traits are immediately valuable - but do not mistake that for neutrality, modern education is conformist above all else.

> Further education is in no way a guaranteed path to success.

Sure, and I made no such claim, the article author is concerned about educational achievement in and of itself.

Re: The Last of the Tiger Parents

#16

Post by learc83 »

Avshalom wrote: post #10
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…

>Asian Americans are statistically poorer than most...

Not only is that untrue, it's the exact opposite of the truth.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ethnic_groups_in_the...

Re: The Last of the Tiger Parents

#17

Post by Avshalom »

learc83 wrote: post #16
Avshalom wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

>Asian Americans are statistically poorer than most... Not only is that untrue, it's the exact opposite of the truth. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ethnic_groups_in_the...

Sorry "Asians Americans in the largest city in the country".

Re: The Last of the Tiger Parents

#18

Post by gsam »

glangdale wrote: post #14

From my experience, Tiger Parenting is a very effective way of propelling people through standardized testing and competitive exams/admissions. I think it tends to stop working once there is not a clearly delineated pathway to achievement - for example in independent research. It's absurd to think that no-one who came up with a Tiger Parent philosophy won't be a good researcher or independently creative, but there do…

As a counterpoint, I would like to say that a lot of research still is 'routine intellectual work'. Movers and shakers are rare and far apart. The vast majority of academia are collectively and slowly boiling over problems, rather than taking bold and independent strives.

Re: The Last of the Tiger Parents

#19

Post by learc83 »

Avshalom wrote: post #17
learc83 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Asian Americans are statistically poorer than most... Not only is that untrue, it's the exact opposite of the truth. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ethnic_groups_in_the...

Sorry "Asians Americans in the largest city in the country".

Percent living below the povery line in 1 city has more to do with the geographical distribution of immigrants from poor countries than it does with anything else.

Poor Asian immigrants are just more likely to settle in NYC.

Re: The Last of the Tiger Parents

#20

Post by Spooky23 »

glangdale wrote: post #14

From my experience, Tiger Parenting is a very effective way of propelling people through standardized testing and competitive exams/admissions. I think it tends to stop working once there is not a clearly delineated pathway to achievement - for example in independent research. It's absurd to think that no-one who came up with a Tiger Parent philosophy won't be a good researcher or independently creative, but there do…

There’s definitely downsides. I went through some experimental program in elementary school focused on skill sets that would help with standardized tests.

In many ways it, combined with my laziness as a kid made things harder. I sailed though tests and did good enough, but always had academic interests outside of school.

I turned out great, but I do wish I had treated school as something other than a ticket punching experience.

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