"Tiger Mother" or "Insane"?

          After reading the article on Slate.com by Ann Hulbert, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, I have deducted that Chua is taking over the natural cycle of Social Darwinism and replacing it with a nurturing cycle of control. Chua believes that taking control away from nature will enable her children to become productive members of society. Unfortunately for her children, they're going to become the victims of nature when there mother is no longer telling them what they can and cannot do. Society will step in and assert it's power and control over her children. Her children have no social lives, just complete and utter devotion to their work. Chua is hiding her children from society and taking away the control of her children to choose for themselves when she says that "her girls "were never allowed … not to be the #1 student in every subject except gym and drama" and also never allowed not to play the piano or violin." Chua has not allowed her children to experience much in the way of  being social.
           The reasons for this upbringing of her children are very apparent. Parents like Chua really have their own agendas. When Hulbert states "They are stellar students with far-beyond-amateur extracurricular accomplishments—shoo-ins when it comes to that holy grail of hyper-parenting: Ivy League admission." we see that controlling and facilitating her power over her children was for one purpose, an Ivy League admission. Chua may want the best for her children, but what about her children experiencing life for themselves. Chua stole from her children the ability to experience their childhood, to see friends, sleepovers, to go the park, to have a dog. In a seperate but similar story in the article, we see another instance of tough child rearing with Norbot Weiner, the founder of cybernetics. Hulbert gives evidence of the dangers involved with imposing parenting when she says "Norbert Wiener, who battled depression to become the future founder of the field of cybernetics, was devastated as a teenager when, browsing in a magazine, he learned that his father, Leo, had claimed his son's successes as his own, while blaming failures on the boy." Hulbert is correct in stating that "Proselytizing and prodigy-raising are a fraught mix". Parents like Chua should be more observant and careful before breaking the balance of growth and development in their children. In the war of nature and nurture; nature always wins.



Works Cited
Hulbert, Ann. "Amy Chua's Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother: Her New Book Will Make Readers Gasp. - By Ann Hulbert." Slate Magazine. 11 Jan. 2011. Web. 29 Jan. 2011. <http://www.slate.com/id/2280712/pagenum/2>.

Lowe Article Response

               The Lowe article speaks about the plight of Asian American citizenship and social inclusion in the American political sphere. I enjoyed learning that the Vietnam Memorial in Washington D.C. was designed by a Chinese American Maya Ying Lin. Ms. Ying Lin helped to create one of the most standout memorials in U.S. History. However, Ms. Ying Lin encountered some stiff resistance from Veterans and Veteran's organizations. Lowe goes on to prove that the interaction from white dominated American society and America's historical exclusion of Asians from the discourse of American society has impacted positively on the Asian American community and negatively impacted the relationship of American interests in the Asian hemisphere. The reading reminds me of a topic of much discussion in my Sociology class at Santiago Canyon College. The topic it reminds me of, is that regarding the U.S. treatment of African Americans up through the colonization of the North American continent. The use of African American labor without the inclusion into American society or citizenship including harsh treatment is considered slavery. The treatment of Asian Americans through much of the developmental period of American history includes many of the same injustices.

                  This treatment of Asian immigrants by the United States is best described by Karl Marx in the 1860s:

"Theoretically, in a racially homogeneous nation, the needs of capital and the needs of the state complement each other. Yet in a racially differentiated nation such as the United States, capital and state imperatives may be contradictory: capital, with its supposed needs for "abstract labor," is said by Marx to be unconcerned by the "origins" of its labor force, whereas the nation-state, with its need for "abstract citizens" formed by a unified culture to participate in the political sphere, is precisely concerned to maintain a national citizenry bound by race, language, and culture" (Lowe 13). 

This says to us that the United States being a racially, ethnically, culturally diversified nation is at odds with the needs of the economic, political and societal systems. Marx mentions "capital: with its supposed needs for "abstract labor" is unconcerned for the "origins" of its labor force."(Lowe 13). Such abstract labor could be found in the abundance of immigrant workers. However, capital's need for abstract labor includes ethnically, culturally, and socially diverse people. Capital or the economic system becomes at odds with the society which in turn lends it support and control over the political system. Marx says "the nation-state, with its need for "abstract citizens" formed by a unified culture to participate in the political sphere, is precisely concerned to maintain a national citizenry bound by race, language, and culture"(Lowe 13). This definition lends itself quite well to the United States secular political system. The national citizenry controls and participates in the national political system which in turn looks to maintain a national identity encompassing race, language and culture. This is but the tip of the iceberg regarding the treatment of subjugated races and ethnicities in American history, but I believe that this explanation may shed some light regarding the American treatment of Asian Americans.

Works Cited:

Lowe, Lisa. Immigrant Acts: on Asian American Cultural Politics. Durham: Duke UP, 1996. LMU Eres. Web. 21 Jan. 2011.

Biography

My name is Dane and I am 20 years old. I am a History Major at Loyola Marymount University. I just transferred from Santiago Canyon College/ Santa Ana College where I was a studying to go into the fire service. In that process I earned my EMT certification.