"Tiger" Parenting.

Note: You don't define what's right. You feel what's right and therefore do what you think is right. Remember that the majority of the world's conflicts started with a disagreement/conflict of interests/conflicting views.

Parents have a great deal more power than their children have (obviously!) until the child is old enough to handle that power. We can only watch others, but not interfere. The most we can do is learn from their mistakes, and avoid future ones.

And nobody said that the right thing to do is the best thing to do. Again a conflict of interest - the greater good or the right thing to do, and all these in whose PoV? Therefore, I can understand where you are coming from but I cannot agree with you.

*edit* Just musing that in school we've beaten this topic to the 18th level of hell... I know almost every side of the argument, but I don't necessarily agree with them all. I prefer being neutral. *edit*

Hadriel

I'm sorry, but I cannot let this go at just that. You honestly believe it's right that a parent impose their will on a child? This assumes that parents are good, well informed people who will always do the right thing. News flash son, they don't. Now, I believe in keeping a kid safe until they are capable of doing it for themselves, I believe that when they are really young you must impose some on them, however you must also let them know that this is because there are dangers they need to be aware of. That said, NO PARENT has the right, nor the privelege to decide the fate of another human being, not even their own child. What if you were being forced into college to become a doctor, and yet you had a love and a talent for writing. You could have become one of the most inspiring writers in the world. The stupid, selfish, pathetic choices of your parents may have deprived you, and all who would have loved your pieces of a great artist. All for their own petty honor. So you can see why I might get a bit pissed when I know millions of asian children are ignoring natural talent and dreams so that they can do what Mom and Dad tell them is best, as if they really know.

My parents did this for me, but not on such an extreme scale. My parents don't believe in the "American" way of raising kids in an uncontrolled light hearted "it's okay kid you can do whatever you want because we want you to be an imaginative open minded free frolicking individual". My parents believe that this just makes kids extremely lazy and disrespectful. What i believe the Tiger parenting style encourages is the basic principles of many asian cultural traditions. Basically you earn your respect, you earn what you want in life, you earn your way into the world because no one is going too give it to you. Many asian cultures believe the best way to earn this respect is through the education system, which is why it's so heavily emphasized; which is why "u need tha A+ !"

My parents did teach me all these things and more. As a parent you encourage the free thinking that the American culture thinks of, but also need to bring a little discipline (because who likes spoiled little brats that run up and down over their parents?) It's really up to the parents how they want to raise their kids, but i don't think you need to be such an extreme with the extent that Chua did. I mean cutting off food and water is TOO drastic, ridiculous even.

Eh, First I'd like to start with the fact that this is NOT the american idea of raising a child. In fact I've noticed that American's I've met tend to still have stricter parents, focusing on respect through dominance and etc. I want to be clear i'm not directly making a stab at your parents here. However my parent's allowed me to become an open-minded individual such as you describe, and I did become slightly lazy and disrespectful, but it depends on the point of view. What have your parents done to earn the respect you give them? You talk about earning respect, why should you automatically respect them, but work your entire life to earn theirs? When I look at someone with those A+'s, vs someone with D-'s, I view them the same. Why? It says nothing about character, it will usually say a lot about their upbringing, and nothing more. The problem seems to be that your parents, and apparently you in their footsteps are so fixated on that being the way life is SUPPOSED to be. Stuck in the ways of past.

Let me state that I have no reason to disrespect you both, and I'm not trying to, but I must be clear on how selfish parents can be, especially Asian parents.

Edit @ Smooth Criminal: If there was a like button or a thanks button, I would have made at least 3 more accounts just to keep hitting it for that post. We need more leaders, more revolutionaries. People who can see beyond their own ambitions to the betterment of this world. Tiger parenting is NOT helping that.