Eye of the Tiger Mother

In a recent post, FBB detailed a somewhat chaotic scene at the security line at Miami International Airport, involving an Asian woman who was unable to understand the security agents' directions, and the extra attention she received.

Upon reflection, I believe that this situation was less about a communication problem, and more of a reaction to Amy Chua's controversial new book, "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother." After all, the last thing we need is to have some Asian woman hijacking a plane and forcing everyone to practice the cello for three hours before being released.

In a nutshell, Chua's book states that the "success" of Chinese children is due primarily to their mothers, and their strict, authoritarian child-rearing style. She contrasts this with the indulgent, permissive Western parents, whose inadequate parenting method explains their offspring's relative lack of "success."

Without getting into the specifics of the relative merits - or lack thereof - of the different parenting styles, I'd like to look at the issue from another perspective.

A book like this one would have hardly gained any attention just a few years ago. The reason why it resonates with people now is that we've generally bought into the "Chinese hype" with which we're currently being inundated.

The Chinese economy is growing at a feverish pace, to the point where they've now become the world's 2nd largest economy, after the United States. The Chinese also own an increasing proportion of the U.S.'s foreign debt, giving rise to the fear that they will eventually "own the United States."

This is not the first time we've been faced with this type of unnecessary fear and hand-wringing. As an example, look at Japan, from whom the Chinese recently took the #2 world economy ranking. Back in the 1980s and early 1990s, people in this country were certain that the Japanese were going to take over the world, the U.S. included. I can recall a certain business school professor of mine who was such a Japophile that he was convinced that the entire U.S. economic system was destined for collapse unless we adopted Japanese corporate methods. One decade-long Japanese recession later, and this professor's warnings seem a bit less prescient. In fact, as some of you might know, for the past two years, I've been working for a large Japanese company. As I've grown accustomed to their ways, I've found myself asking the same question I asked when I traveled to Russia a few years ago: "We were actually afraid of these people?!"

While there's certainly some admirable organizational and management skills in their culture, the level of groupthink and aversion to diverging from the almighty "process" is so strong and pervasive that it is difficult for most companies to address challenges by changing course. I suspect that the same is true for Chinese companies. After all, communist societies aren't exactly renowned for their promotion of individuality.

In my opinion, the larger issue here is that economically and culturally, many Americans seem to harbor a deeply-seated inferiority complex. I'm not sure why this is the case. Perhaps it's because our leadership is too busy being politically correct, instead of rallying us all around a patriotic American cause. In other words, this generation needs its Ronald Reagan.

The lack of strong leadership has also manifested itself in our popular culture. Back in the 1980s, if someone was giving us a hard time, we'd send Sylvester Stallone or Arnold Schwarzenegger in with a bunch of guns and grenades, and they'd set things right. Or, Chuck Norris would show up, execute a couple of flying kicks, bite the head off a rat, and America's place in the world would be secure. Nowadays, you're more likely to get some sensitive "hero" driving around in a Prius, taking on an enemy with an impossibly vague accent.

Clearly, the Chinese have accomplished a great deal, and they're poised to remain a major factor in the global economic landscape for a long time. (I do wonder whether or not they will ultimately be tripped up by their extremely low birth rates, a factor which has proven to be the downfall of many "developed" nations). I'll let you decide whether or not you want to lose any sleep over it, or if you want to adopt any of the "tiger mother's" child-rearing methods.

I'll conclude with a riddle:


Q: What do you say to a former Chinese child prodigy?



A: "Could I get that with brown rice instead of white rice?"