Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior By William Sass (2k23) The analysed text is an article called Why Chinese

Mothers Are Superior by Amy Chua, a law school professor at Yale, and a mother of two it was published in the Wall Street Journal in January 2011, and the main theme of the text is how the Western parents could learn something from the Chinese way of parenting. Moving on to the characteristics of the text, the argumentation used by the author is open it tries to enlighten the Western public on how Chinese parenting works, and what the differences are between that and the Western way of raising a child, so having hidden messages would be of no use in this case, especially when trying to convince someone about a subject as controversial as parenting most parents would take it as a massive insult, were they questioned about their way of raising their children. Inside the article there is a picture of the author surrounded by her two kids, one playing the piano, another one playing the violin. This sets the tone for the article, and as soon as you see it, your mind is immediately set on the topic of the article the Chinese way of raising children. But what really sparks the attention of the reader is the fact that Amy Chua has put a list of what her own daughters are not allowed to do upon reading it, the Westerner inside you is screaming for injustice. How can she treat her children like that? is what you think as a reader, while looking for the nearest humans right organization to call. The purpose of the list, however, works as intended. It catches the readers attention, and endorses you to read the rest of the article. It is a very brave decision by the author, though, as the audience is solely Western. By publishing the list she already turns the tide against her, so her argumentation will have to be good, if she is to gain sympathy from the public. Generally, the style of writing used in the text is neutral this fits the audience that it is aimed for, the average reader of a newspaper. it has quite an informal undertone, however, but it serves the purpose of the article very well.

One could argue that the overall message to Western parents is to sometimes cut the crap and not be afraid of saying the (at times) brutal truth, and the fact that the article features direct speech with words such as stupid and worthless really backs that up. As for the composition of the text, it has quite a clear introduction. Here, she really outlines what a Chinese mother is, and talks about the differences between Western parenting and Chinese parenting. She proceeds to talk about how Western parents are afraid of telling the honest truth to their children, because they fear hurting the self esteem or confidence of their children, something where Chinese parents just say things the way the are, or the way they think they should be if it includes saying youre fat, lose some weight to your daughter, so be it. Those ethical differences are the topic of the middle part of the text she describes (amongst other things) how Chinese parents believe that their children owe them everything, as opposed to her Western husband, who believes that the children owe nothing at all, as they did not decide to get born themselves. The final part is a real story she experienced with her own daughter. The daughter could not catch the rhythm of a piano piece, but Amy Chua forced her to keep going and going, insulting her to try and motivate her every time she failed. Although her husband strongly opposed it, Chua kept making the daughter play the piece over and over, and at last she got it. That meant that the daughter became extremely happy and proud, and she ended up thanking her mother for making her practice the play until she played it to perfection. After that success story, she rounds the article off by saying that where Western parents try to respect the individuality of their children, Chinese parents instead try to prepare their children for the future, by equipping them with a set of skills and work habits no one can ever take away from them. The article does not really utilise different linguistic tools a lot, apart from ethos, which is used throughout. It includes no facts, no experts on the

subject, no sweet-talk to try and seduce you into gaining sympathy for the author just the rough truth; a bit like Chinese parenting, when you think about it. After reading the article you are left with no doubt as to what the overall message of is, as well as the theme just the title gives you a very strong indication of what the overall message and theme might be: Chinese parenting is a successful model, and in a day and age where Western parents are taught to treat and respect children as individuals, Chinese parenting gives an alternative option. It might not be the most sensitive way to do it, but reading about the educational success of Amy Chua and her children, it is hard to deny its effectiveness. But what about the article itself is it successful in delivering its message? The criteria is a bit of a loose one, when defining success I would argue this; it depends on what the author is striving to achieve. If Amy Chua tried to instil Chinese parenting as the usual way of raising a child in the Western world, I would argue that she definitely failed. The Western people already have an inherited way of parenting, which has slowly, but surely evolved over the last 50 years. Moving to the Chinese way of parenting would to them be seen as taking a step back in time, as it represents less personal freedom, and less individuality two things of extreme value in the Western World. But if she tried to put across the message that sometimes you have to cut through to get to your children, and sometimes you have to make them work hard before rewarding them, she might have succeeded. Especially the story of the daughter and the piano is something a lot of people can relate to. I, myself, had a similar experience with math, something, which has never been my strong side, but I forced myself to go through it 3 hours a day for a week, and eventually, when the exam came, it went much better than expected.

Stories like that seem to occur a bit too rarely in the Western world, and sure respect of the individual and personal freedom is important, but so is hard work. Just take a look at how China as a country is storming forward. At the same time it looks like it will only get better for them, as they have a generation of educated, young people about to step into the world. How, you say? Chinese mothers, of course they might be strict and freedom depriving, but effective? Oh yes.