There's been a lot of discussion regarding this article by Yale law professor Amy Chua, in which she advocates an autocratic, psychotically controlling style of parenting as being the proper way to prepare your children for the world. The article is excerpted from Chua's new book, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, in which she details the methods she used to raise her two daughters, Sophia and Lulu. While Chua sees this as tough love parenting, many critics view her tactics as little more than child abuse, with one incident in particular (denying a 7-year-old girl water and bathroom usage for hours until she played a piano piece correctly) being in pretty blatant violation of Article I of the UN Convention Against Torture (emphasis mine):
"...Torture means any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person..."
The incidents described in the book have been discussed at great length by web commenters, news organizations, and bloggers, but there's a huge issue here that no one else seems to be discussing, and I'm a little appalled.
Ms. Chua, self-proclaimed "Tiger Mother," is a charlatan. She is attempting to deceive the American public for personal gain, and we're letting her do it.
How, you ask?
Well, for starters, the "battle hymn" of a true Tiger Mother would be something along the lines of RRREEAAAOOWWWWWWRRRR, yet Ms. Chua presents her memoir in something which experts have confirmed is actually the English language. This is the first red flag, and a pretty damn big one at that. In the past, books written by tigers have been more or less limited to a half-shredded sheet of paper with a bloody paw-print, but Battle Hymn clocks in at a whopping 256 pages.
WHY DOES NO ONE ELSE THINK THIS IS SUSPICIOUS.
Seriously, people, use your brains. Look at her picture, for God's sake. Bitch don't got no stripes.
Now, this isn't completely damning evidence in and of itself. I would be willing to accept Ms. Chua as an honorary Tiger Mother if she had been raised by some feral feline equivalent of the Lupa Capitolina and went on to raise her own kids in the same fashion. After all, people have been raised by animals before; there's no reason this couldn't have happened to her.
Try as I might, however, I couldn't find any evidence that she had raised her children in the true tiger fashion. For all her talk of wanting her children to excel, Ms. Chua's parenting seems to have been incredibly lax in the hunting department. Both Sophia and Lulu should have been capable hunters by the time they reached 18 months, able to fell wild beasts with their claws and teeth. Hell, considering their mother's push for excellence in every other area, I would have expected them to reach that point earlier than everyone else. However, I couldn't find any indication that the Chua girls had ever killed anything.
These children have never tasted the hot, gushing life-blood of a vanquished deer, and their mother dares to call herself a tiger. It's sickening.
Furthermore, Sophia and Lulu are both teenagers and still living at home. A real Tiger Mother chases away her offspring when they reach 30 months or so, in order to raise her next litter. Ms. Chua, on the other hand, has seen fit to coddle her children in the protective cocoon of the family home until their late teens.
For shame, Amy. What will these poor girls do when they get out into the harsh world? For all your talk of preparation and strength, you seem to be leaving them helpless.
Ms. Chua has absolutely no claim to the title which she has seen fit to give herself. I demand that the title of her book be changed immediately to something more appropriate, such as Battle Hymn of the Psychotic Asian-American Mother or Battle Hymn of a Confucian Nutcase.
Amid all this controversy, however, it can be easy to overlook the feelings of the tiger community. How do they feel about this? Are they comfortable with being associated with this woman? I think Shere Khan from The Jungle Book puts it best: "GRRRRAAOWWRR."
Grrrraaowwrr indeed, Shere Khan. Grrrraaowwrr indeed.
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