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Essay #1Professor PunwaniShermans response to Why Chinese mothers are superior, presents an accurate assessment of Chuas definition of success because her view of success only considers the overburdening, over controlling and constantly criticizing nature of raising her children. In the article, Chua uses various references to her personal experiences, presents statistics to help the audience consider the Chinese parenting model as superior to others while ignoring the impact of such parenting techniques on the childs psyche, physical and mental health. Chua introduces the audiences to one side of the coin, eluding completely from the other side. Chuas definition of success hinges on the fact that she pushes her children to their physical and mental limits and she justifies this pressure she laces on the children by calling it success however In the article she states, For a Chinese mother, the first hour is the easy part. Its the hours two and three that get tough. Chua lays emphasis on the overburdening methods of the Chinese parents by providing us a generalist example of how a Chinese mother forces her children to work much more on the piano, as compared to parents in other cultures who encourage and motivate their children rather than forcing them. Forcing the child does not necessarily guarantee the childs success, which is why Sherman points it out in his comment on a, limited definition of success. She also provides her own personal experience as, Lulu couldnt do it. We worked on it nonstop for a week, drilling each of her hands separately, over and over. Since Chuas daughter is not able to play the piano perfectly, she focuses on making her daughter practice the piece over and over. Over practicing the piano piece with Lulu gets her into being emotionally unstable and producing tantrums. Although Chuas parenting can lead to high achieving children, she does not keep in mind the effect the pressure has on the psyche of the young children as is visible in the article when her child displays violent tantrums in response to Chuas expectations. Even though the children obey the rules laid out by the parents and eventually become, successful, what Chua does not realize is that she is hindering their social growth. In the beginning of the article Chua mentions, Here are some things my daughters, Sophia and Louisa, were never allowed to do: be in a school play, complain about not being in a school play. Chua focuses on the fact that she hindered her children to take individual actions, she suggests to the audience anything other than excelling in academics is not an acceptable state for her. In another example she mentions that, Chinese parents believe that they know what is best for their children and therefore override all of the childrens own desires and preferences. Chua feels that the objective of having fun is overrated and that one can only have fun when they excel at it. What Chua does not realize is that she may be producing academically strong children but she is also making them socially weak, incable of feelings. Some of these children may grow up to be anti-social. It can be assumed that Chua treats her children like machines rather than human beings, which is also evident from the use of her language in the article like, overriding preferences and Chinese strategy produces. This displays that the parents are making products rather than raising children. The children are supposed to blindly follow the rules laid down by the parents and not question why they are doing what they are doing as evident in example above. The children miss the importance of social interaction when they are subjected to such over controlling environment. They are hindered in experiencing and knowing their true calling. What if the child wanted to become an actor?Furthermore, Chuas argument seems to be hinging on a limited definition of success since she uses examples of Chinese parents using negative criticism as an effective tool and displaying it as having a positive impact on the success of children. In the article she mentions, Chinese mother can say to their daughter, hey fatty lose some weight, and, you are lazy, all the other students in the class are getting ahead of you. Chua feels that because she knows a few people in different communities like Indian, Korean etc, she feels that negative criticism is the most important entity for the children to out perform. In a way she wants to avoid children ever feeling frail and she feels that the use of negative criticism by other parents justifies the success of the children who are used to harsh environment and are ready to take on any situation life throws at them. She however does not portray the negative outcome the criticism can have on the children by making them introvert, keeping ideas and thoughts to themselves and eventually become anti-social and anti-societal while trying to out perform themselves keeping in mind the expectations they are to fulfill of their parents.Shermans response to the article is justified, since Chua does not explicitly make the audience understand the effects such parenting measures. She does not reach the flipside of the argument and only focuses her undivided attention on how the Chinese method of parenting has lead to stereotypically successful children while not explaining how the same method can also lead to the creation of sociopaths and psychopaths. Since past is the predictor of future performance, these children will grow up to be exactly like their parents and follow the same ground rules laid out by there parents, not knowing or feeling the effect this methodology had on them.

focus on imparting the least possible physical stress on their