Raising successful children has always been a goal for most parents. Some of the responsibilities of being ideal parents are setting high standards and giving a lot of guidance for their kids. In the article "Why Chinese Mothers are Superior," Amy Chua said that it is normal for most Asian mothers to set a very high bar for their children. When Amy Chua published her article, it created a controversy. A lot of readers disagreed with her point because they believed that there was a better way to educate and shape their children. In my opinion, Chua's way of educating her children is correct to some extent. My only suggestion to Chua is that she should have let her children explore the world by giving them some freedom.
Amy Chua began the article by listing the things that her children cannot do, for example: attend a sleepover, be in a school play, and many more things. She also stated a really strong and provoking argument, ". . . when Western parents think they are being strict, they usually don't come close to being Chinese mothers." She supported that statement by giving an illustration of Western parents allowing their kids to stop after an hour of practicing an instrument. According to Chua, Chinese parents take the first hour of practice as warm-up, and then they force their kids to practice for at least two more hours (Chua 261). Seventy percent of Western parents agreed that stressing academic success is not good for children, but that learning should be engaging and fun instead. That was not the case for Chinese parents when they were asked the same question. Almost all Chinese parents agreed that stressing high academic performance is a good thing if it will help their children achieve success. Chinese parents believed this because they feel that good academic achievement reflects successful parenting (Chua 262). .
Chua also highlighted the fact that kids usually do not like things that are challenging.