Amy Chua, Tiger Mother and John M. Duff Professor of Law at Yale, was born in the Chinese year of the tiger, and a tiger, she says, ‘the living symbol of strength and power, generally inspires fear and respect’. She describes her own personality: ‘Hot- tempered, viper-tongued, fast-forgiving’. I missed the last quality in this disturbing book; she should have written ‘monomaniacal’. Here is what she says were
some things my daughters were never allowed to do: attend a sleepover; have a playdate [whatever that is]; be in a school play; complain about not being in a school play; watch TV or play computer games; choose their own extracurricular activities; get any grade less than an A; not be the No. 1 student in every subject except gym and drama; play any instrument other than the piano or violin; not play the piano or violin.
Fascinated by what I supposed could be a parody, or the confession of someone writing from a prison for child-abusers, I read on to find that Chua claims — falsely — that all Chinese mothers insist
your children must be two years ahead of their classmates in math. The only activities your children should be permitted to do are those in which they eventually win a medal, and that medal must be gold.
Born in America of Chinese parents, Chua was brought up to understand, as Confucius stipulated some 2,500 years ago, that everything must be done to honour one’s parents, a code she was to bash into her own children. American-style self-expression, fun, and doing OK were out. Chua could never sleep at friends’ houses, get less than an A, and when she got second prize in a history contest, her father said, ‘Never, never disgrace me like that again.’
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