Tiger Mom Vindicated! Daughter Gets Into Harvard, Proving Chinese Mothers Are…Superior?
- Posted on April 1, 2011 at 10:33pm by
Emily Esfahani Smith
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Via Business Insider:
Amy Chua, the Yale law professor who enraged parents and morning show viewers everywhere when she published her parenting book Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, must be feeling somewhat vindicated today.
Chua’s eldest daughter was just accepted to Harvard.
Chua, better known as Tiger Mom, made headlines earlier this year for preaching the benefits of ultra strict parenting practices — rooted in her own Chinese upbringing.
The WSJ article that accompanied the release of her book was called “Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior” and preached a childhood free of video games, playdates, and TV and listed all the ways in which Western parents are failures.
Some readers went so far as to call her abusive.
You can read Chua’s provocative WSJ article, “Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior,” here.
Chua’s militant parenting style has been met with a great deal of harsh criticism. But Above the Law observes that you can’t argue with success:
You can criticize all you want, but you can’t argue with success. Above the Law has confirmed that Sophia Chua-Rubenfeld, the oldest daughter of Amy Chua and fellow YLS [Yale Law School] professor Jed Rubenfeld, received her Harvard acceptance earlier this week. Sophia has already made up her mind that Harvard is where she’ll attend college. (Can you blame her for wanting to trade New Haven for Cambridge?)
Harvard is a pretty selective school, no doubt, but Sophia Chua-Rubenfeld is one hot applicant:
She’s not only beautiful and brilliant — in Amy Chua’s memoir, she alludes to her daughter’s academic prowess — but she’s also extremely talented. As we all know by now, Sophia made her Carnegie Hall piano debut at the tender age of 14. That’s extremely impressive, even by Harvard standards.
Sophia’s also a superb writer. The defense of her mother that she wrote for the New York Post is impressive — smart yet conversational, as well as thoughtful and funny. But Sophia’s essay about her Carnegie Hall performance, excerpted in Tiger Mother, puts the Post piece to shame. It possesses eloquence and elegance not often found in the writing of people twice or three times Sophia’s age.
Finally, Sophia Chua-Rubenfeld had one other significant factor in her favor with respect to Harvard: legacy status, as the daughter of two Harvard-educated parents. Amy Chua graduated from Harvard College in 1984 and Harvard Law School in 1987, and Jed Rubenfeld graduated from Harvard Law School in 1986. (He went to Princeton for undergrad.)
Here’s the brilliant family:






















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Comments (141)
doublezero12
Posted on April 2, 2011 at 2:50amTiger Mom made me into a raging alcoholic. What’s so effing great about them. The destroy more lives than they make wunderkinds. I think they’re evil. I wish my liver on them!
Report Post »JERRIO
Posted on April 2, 2011 at 2:24amI’m sure all of the recent publicity and the mother who is a YALE law school prof. had nothing to do with it. I’m just saying.
Report Post »Clive
Posted on April 2, 2011 at 3:55pmher kid was a genius, perfect grades, and she played at Carnegie hall when she was 14. i’m pretty sure she is uniquely qualified. But cheers to your sour grapes.
Report Post »CobiusMaximus
Posted on April 2, 2011 at 9:03pmNot sour grapes. When the admissions people spoke to us during the first week at my Ivy League school, they said that they chose people in this order:
Report Post »legacies
athletes
geniuses/very talented
everybody else
Being a tiger mom had nothing to do with her daughter getting into Harvard. The daughter was accepted before she was even born.
Patriotic_Mercenary
Posted on April 2, 2011 at 2:10amMy wife and I are very into our kids’ education (K & 2nd). Prior to their coming back stateside, they were in a private school. They constantly had homework that would require them to give up some of their weekend. Since moving back, there is not nearly as much. They were behind a bit because they’d been practicing in Spanish, rather than English, though the latter is their primary.
Frustrated with the lack of education we saw our children getting….or not….we began giving them homework. Since then, our 2nd grader has surpassed all of her classmates. Our K is blooming…already writing her first name in cursive.
So, parents, if you want your kids to excel, go online and look up some of that homeschooling stuff and challenge your kids. We intend to have our kids graduated no later than what would be the end of their Sophmore year….earlier if feasible.
Report Post »jharper
Posted on April 2, 2011 at 1:16pmGood for you! Now that is parenting!!! You are actually taking responsibility for your children’s education.
Report Post »theBigToe
Posted on April 2, 2011 at 1:38amI keep hearing about this Tiger mom, well what about the Dad? He isn’t Asian, he’s Jewish as near as I can tell (Jed Rubenfeld), didn’t he contribute something? I’m more angry at the way fathers contributions to the upbringing and success of their children are completely dismissed. And of course with two legacy parents Sophia had a huge advantage before she even applied.
I had neighbors who were Chinese-Americans and though a wonderful family, the kids weren’t THAT bright. The youngest was going to drive back to college one day in the winter after Christmas break and she asked me to help her put oil in her car (no one was home when she was leaving). She was about to put a quart of oil into her radiator and drive in a snow storm from Long Island to Boston. After I showed her the right place to put the oil we were chatting a bit and I asked her where she was going to school in Boston. “M.I.T.“ she said ”I’m majoring in engineering”. So just because you can get a perfect SAT score doesn’t mean know were to add oil to your car…sheesh.
Report Post »SCARY
Posted on April 2, 2011 at 1:24amI got my GED when I was 16…I was pretty advanced.
Then I got that job at burger king where I got fired for bringing food home instead of to the dumpsterlike I was sposed to ….
Report Post »jharper
Posted on April 2, 2011 at 1:08pmI know you are quite “advanced” but you spelled SUPPOSE incorrectly. Just saying.
Report Post »Nemo13
Posted on April 2, 2011 at 1:23amStudy, study, study, go to school, go to college, get a job, have kids, die. The cookie-cutter life to me is unattractive. Also, what is the real need for college? Your career you may or may not use your education. With the advent of the internet, where you have access to most anything, college seems obsolete. What book or knowledge do you not have access to? Most jobs can be done just as well through apprenticeship. You have to learn the ropes anyway. It is just there to make you pay. If they are going to fleece you, why not just give the option to take the tests right away for your golden little diploma instead of waiting around for 4 years of fluff to get it? It’s all just a money grab. Most people only retain their education just long enough to get through, then they revert back. Harvard is just designer jeans, you pay more for the status. Who cares.
Report Post »BecksADweeb
Posted on April 2, 2011 at 8:49pmOk, you’re just plain stupid and ignorant.
Report Post »green_manalishi
Posted on April 2, 2011 at 1:02amWho is the white guy in the picture and why is he relevant to the story, is he trying to steal the Asian ladies Tigermomitude. Typical inferior non diverse person.
Report Post »Slayer
Posted on April 2, 2011 at 12:57amI understand the whole ‘it’s hard to get into Harvard‘ thing but I have to go out on a limb here and guess that a lot of people are going to agree with me that I wouldn’t be too happy sending my kid to an Ivy League school today. They’re hotbeds of the most Radical Leftist agenda the world has ever seen. Many of the people running our country are Ivy League grads and… well just look at how far we’ve fallen.
Report Post »green_manalishi
Posted on April 2, 2011 at 12:55amHardwork and self accomplishment are code words for racism and teaparty, everybody knows that.Tigermom is a codeword for “target president Obama who is historic black incompetent” Ask Malik Shaby Zulu Shabazzz
Report Post »RockstarRepublic
Posted on April 2, 2011 at 12:45amAt the cost of what? A good childhood? I think there needs to be balance between the two, play for example is a form of learning. Video games have the opacity to teach more so than any other form of media and shouldnt be demonized in its entirety. I do agree though that more americans could learn from the asian upbringing and education.
Report Post »matinva
Posted on April 2, 2011 at 12:32amShe will be who she will be. Her mother did the right thing by keeping her from influences to either extreme. Her common sense will direct her…if she has any.
Report Post »fedlibertarian
Posted on April 2, 2011 at 12:29amWhat would be actually commendable is if she joined the military. Who gives a crap about another elitist going to ivy?
Report Post »jharper
Posted on April 2, 2011 at 1:04pmBut the military has our military women in the middle east giving up their helmets and replacing therm with an Islamic scarf. I wouldn‘t let my daughter be a part of a military that deliberatly put her in harm’s way while fretting about making sure that gays are protected.
Report Post »jim
Posted on April 1, 2011 at 11:59pmYou give your kid the knuckle shots and belt messages every day, they’ll end up like either Mozart or Josef Mengele… both would’ve gotten into Harvard. It‘s a roll a’ the dice.
Report Post »ThoreauHD
Posted on April 1, 2011 at 11:48pmAsian white hybrids are hot. Hotter than the hottest hotness.. What is this article about?
Report Post »peteto1
Posted on April 1, 2011 at 11:40pmThe odds of a straight “A”, asian, female, musically gifted, daughter of a Yale law school professor NOT getting into Harvard is 1,000,000,000,000,000 to 1 !!……………………….
Report Post »Its Gonna Getcha
Posted on April 1, 2011 at 11:38pmNothing is more annoying than someone trying to teach an infant to worry about something that won’t be significant until they are 10 years old.
Report Post »Rosemary Woodhouse
Posted on April 1, 2011 at 11:33pmjzs
Posted on April 1, 2011 at 10:59pm
A little bit of sarcasm there in the lead. No one is biting so far and hope they don’t. I believe it’s a fact that Asians perform disproptionately well in American schools. Something to think about.
==========================================================================
I completely agree. This isn’t addressing Chinese politics vs. American politics. It’s cultural. America also used to encourage high achievement, allowed parents to *parent“ and used to encourage the non achievers to achieve rather than culturally drag us all down to the lowest common denominator in the name of ”fairness”!
Report Post »sWampy
Posted on April 2, 2011 at 10:35amUsed to encourage parents to parent, now all the liberal programs the government has created encourage parents to not even be in their kids lives.
Report Post »TheWatcher
Posted on April 1, 2011 at 11:31pmPeople who are willing to establish standards for their children are a blessing to this nation. We can not let our children raise themselves or let their culture set their values.
Report Post »=========================
Buck
http://www.***************
Heirloom Seeds, “How God plants His garden.”
MatthewChapter24
Posted on April 1, 2011 at 11:10pmIt all depends on how you define success.
For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?–Mark 8:36
Report Post »Melanie
Posted on April 1, 2011 at 11:26pmThat’s what I was thinking. There’s more to success than admittance to Harvard, or the rest of this young lady’s long list of accomplishments. :-)
Report Post »Love glenn protect glenn
Posted on April 2, 2011 at 4:28amWhen kids have been too sheltered, they are ill prepared for the real world. Some are even not ready to leave home, for college, especially the kind of kids whose parents have been dictating their every move.
Report Post »CobiusMaximus
Posted on April 2, 2011 at 8:49pmSomething the tiger mom did not teach her child well enough: in this world, who you know is more important that what you know. It does not matter if you are a genius; people will not work with you if you lack interpersonal skills. Such skills cannot be learned in books. Only experience
Report Post »CaptainSpaulding
Posted on April 1, 2011 at 10:57pmWow!
You mean a rich, privileged kid with a well connected family got into an Ivy League school?
That’s just shocking.
/sarc
I’d be much more impressed if this was a middle class white male from the midwest with a family that has no connections.
Report Post »poverty.sucks
Posted on April 1, 2011 at 11:17pmObama’s race to the top, hope he doesn’t try to get credit for Lady Sophia.
Report Post »fedlibertarian
Posted on April 1, 2011 at 11:51pmBINGO. Notice they didn’t list her grades and academic accomplishments… A ton of kids play at Carnegie, write articles, and/or have perfect grades. I’ve met some serious duds from ivy league, who likely got in through being able to pay full price or a large donation. Means nothing. Ivy leagers ruined this country; still ruining it.
Report Post »CaptainSpaulding
Posted on April 2, 2011 at 12:10amWe’ve got a bunch of privileged Ivy Leaguers running this country right now….
Report Post »BecksADweeb
Posted on April 2, 2011 at 8:47pmThere are lots of them at all the great American Universities and Colleges. You’re just not one of them.
Report Post »BlazingBlonde
Posted on April 1, 2011 at 10:55pmI respect this lady so much. In fact, when i heard of her, it came to mind that we should start giving out mom awards called “the Tiger Mom/ Sarah Connor Award” to those moms who are raising their kids to survive with grace and expect excellence from their kids. Its an amazing concept and most of the parents I see today are rasing a bunch of whining basement dwellers. Its beyond sad.
Report Post »celestialfire
Posted on April 2, 2011 at 4:42amAsian values are all about loyalty, respect and honor to elders, family, teachers, business associates, friends and yourself. Education and betterment is expected. Congratulations to Tiger Mom for raising a balanced and beautiful family.
Report Post »5kidsnadog
Posted on April 2, 2011 at 9:34amDid you read the book? I don’t know about you, but their lives sound like a living hell that they all got used to. The academic success of her children is undeniable, but the screaming, crying, and yelling in the house does not sound like something ANYONE should have to live through.
Report Post »sleazyhippo
Posted on April 1, 2011 at 10:47pmTotally unremarkable story (smile) – but, watch the Blaze turn this into a 500 comment item! Probably to include the “inferiority” of one or more races…and the Taxed Enough Already party will not support Asian causes….(Grin)
Report Post »BetterDays
Posted on April 1, 2011 at 10:49pmWhy I outa………oh never mind…lol
Report Post »My money’s on you hipp!
Gonzo
Posted on April 2, 2011 at 8:46amOnly 499 comments before you chimed in Hippo, thanks.
Report Post »Conserving Ink
Posted on April 1, 2011 at 10:45pmI find the Tiger Mom’s success impressive but I want my kids to have a childhood too. I think there must be a happy medium between the two.
Report Post »mill
Posted on April 1, 2011 at 11:25pmAmericans do not seem to be hiting a happy medium…
it‘s teachers fault johnny can’t read or anything else constructive. that is why the USA is so far down the list on grades etc.
we need to realize that it takes more than soccer, feel good teaching, latch key kids (voluntary because mom wants that new car, not the mom has to work to survive)
parents and teachers need to be held to higher standards. The tiger mom is rigid, and i could never do it. But there has to be a middle ground..we as a nation have youth that is falling waaaaaaaaaaaay behind.
Report Post »Nobamazone
Posted on April 2, 2011 at 6:42amI totally agree, there has to be a middle ground.
Report Post »The test of the tiger moms success is not that her daughter got into a “good” school, the real test comes when the girl becomes a wife and mother herself.
5kidsnadog
Posted on April 2, 2011 at 9:31amExactly. We just read her book in our book club and I was struck by a couple of things:
1) Her children did seem to achieve a high level of success in multiple areas.
2) The success of the tiger mother’s methods came at the cost of childhood freedom.
3) The cycle of pushing the child to succeed followed by an adulthood of pushing the next generation to succeed led to a lifetime without a lot of pleasure.
I think there has to be a happy medium here somewhere.
That said, I just volunteered in my youngest son’s first grade classroom about a week ago for math games. I brought small groups of children into another room for fifteen minutes of games. In one group, two of the children both commented that they are both of Chinese heritage. During the game, the one Chinese boy (David) turned to the Chinese girl (Emily) next to him and said “What’s 6*1″? She turned to him and laughed and said “SIX”. The first graders often use easy examples like this, so I joined in and said “What’s 256*2″?. Little Emily promptly started figuring the answer out in the air in front of her. As I watched her carried the 1, I realized she really DID know multiplication, and she gave me the correct answer. Not to be outdone, David asked for a problem, which he also answered correctly. All this, as the rest of the group was struggling to add the values on two dice without counting the spots. I asked David and Emily how they knew how to do multiplication, and David told me that he does pages and pages of rote math every day after school, and that, furthermore, multiplication was what he did in kindergarten and he was on to bigger things now.
All I can say is that they must be soooooooo bored in first grade.
Report Post »Kinnison
Posted on April 2, 2011 at 6:27pmI taught high school AP U.S. History in a small university town. My class was self-selecting and the demands for homework and writing under pressure were difficult. I had a good number of Asian-American students, most of them female, and they were without exception at the top of their respective classes. Nor were they academic grinds, although they always got their homework done; they were well-liked, had social lives, and participated in extracurricular activities. They also, almost without exception, got admitted to top-of-the-line universities like Stanford, the University of Chicago, Penn and Yale. They were bright, organized, cheerful, and they worked very hard.
Report Post »9thCommandment
Posted on April 1, 2011 at 10:40pmNow if there Kid can just get brainwashed into Harvard thinking we will have another H. Clinton, except better looking.
Report Post »Anonymous T. Irrelevant
Posted on April 1, 2011 at 10:50pmHere’s hoping Sophia knows the difference between a blowhard socialist professor and a common sense smart professor, and has the grace and knowledge to put the blowhard in his place AND that the socialists won’t get their crusty hooks into her.
Report Post »Dale
Posted on April 1, 2011 at 10:59pmThere are conservatives at Harvard, some even populate the faculty. Before you jump all over me, I know there numbers are small.
Report Post »CowboyExpat
Posted on April 2, 2011 at 5:40amAny story about children of Harvard grads getting accepted to Harvard is a non-starter. Congrats on your acceptance…can you imagine the HELL you‘d be put through if you didn’t make it? Now that would be a story.
Report Post »Principlex
Posted on April 2, 2011 at 9:25amFrankly, I think getting into Harvard is the booby prize. I think of it more a prize for social climbers, not great thinkers or those that would work to be great thinkers.
Report Post »redneck
Posted on April 1, 2011 at 10:39pmI’d lilke to read her thoughts on NASCAR
Report Post »Robert-CA
Posted on April 1, 2011 at 10:49pmNASCAR people are Patriots .
Report Post »grandmaof5
Posted on April 1, 2011 at 10:49pmI guess if you believe Harvard is the brass ring, hurrah for you. Personally, I think there are other schools that equal the education but don’t shove a liberal agenda down your throat. Best of luck.
Report Post »sleazyhippo
Posted on April 1, 2011 at 10:50pmHey NASCAR now sponsors PEI WEI bistro – trolls the blaze run at 329 miles per hour! (sweet)
Report Post »banjarmon
Posted on April 1, 2011 at 10:51pmTiger mom needs to teach teachers how to teach.
Report Post »jzs
Posted on April 1, 2011 at 10:59pmA little bit of sarcasm there in the lead. No one is biting so far and hope they don’t. I believe it’s a fact that Asians perform disproptionately well in American schools. Something to think about.
Report Post »restorehope
Posted on April 1, 2011 at 11:09pmHaving parents who are alumni sure didn’t hurt her chances for getting in. Besides, it would have been just darn un-PC if Haaaavard didn’t welcome her with open arms. You don’t say no to minorities when everyone is watching you….including one particular alumn (at least he says he is but won’t prove it).
Report Post »sooner12
Posted on April 1, 2011 at 11:10pmBANJARMON……Do you have to have a teaching cert. at HAAAVAD to teach there. I think the only qualification you must have is to be a Leftist.
Report Post »cheezwhiz
Posted on April 1, 2011 at 11:17pmEven Barack Hussain Barry Sotero Dunham Obama could get into Harvard.
Report Post »Big deal .
GONESURFING
Posted on April 1, 2011 at 11:43pmI like the Chinese moms style. Bet there were no time outs in her house. As for teaching, she could show our teachers a thing or two for sure. The PC crowd hates her, so she must be great.
Report Post »marhee9
Posted on April 1, 2011 at 11:44pmNascar rocks, i‘d bet she’s not a fan though. This is one tough lady, I can’t imagine there is much fun in her house. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=619wI12Ky20
Report Post »home_of_the_brave
Posted on April 2, 2011 at 1:03amHmm… any relation to tiger blood?
Report Post »OHTAY
Posted on April 2, 2011 at 3:05amI wouldn’t get too excited about her daughter getting into Harvard. Most schools, Ivy League ones especially allow lower standards for Alum’s children. Basically, they only need a C average to get into an Ivy League school if they have parents who also went to that school..or have connections, other Alum who write a nice recommendation. George Bush Jr, got into Yale that way and many other so called intelligent people. And to make matters worse…you can’t fail once you get in these schools..they let you re-take the classes over to get a better grade. I could go on about how unfair this stuff is..but I know no one will read this…
Report Post »Mannax
Posted on April 2, 2011 at 4:33am@JZS
Posted on April 1, 2011 at 10:59pm
A little bit of sarcasm there in the lead. No one is biting so far and hope they don’t. I believe it’s a fact that Asians perform disproptionately well in American schools. Something to think about.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I think that this is the first time I have ever agreed with something you posted.
Report Post »avenger
Posted on April 2, 2011 at 8:21amI would like to read her thoughts up close and personal….
Report Post »G.W. Dobbs
Posted on April 2, 2011 at 8:47amThis young lady is obviously qualified and deserving; but how many females and minorities are admitted to Liberal Indoctrinating Ivy League Schools in order to meet QUOTAS?
Too, these are are MOTHERS of tomorrow. “Raise up a child in the Way he is to go and he will not depart from it” (paraphraed from the Bible). Little wonder our Nation has become to quaigmire it now is; the LIBERALS were successful. Where are the Conservative, God Loving Schools? They USED to be the
Report Post »Ivy League Schools until taken over by the Liberal Atheists and God Expelled.
sWampy
Posted on April 2, 2011 at 10:32amOur president with his 87 iq got into Harvard, big deal.
Report Post »Anti_Spock
Posted on April 2, 2011 at 11:45amGood for her. This only proves Tiger Moms teach their kids how to be a better Tiger. Whereas liberal moms either abort their kids or protests for better prison conditions.
Report Post »ManThong
Posted on April 2, 2011 at 12:18pmNice story but I wouldn’t trade a pile of warm dog poop for Harvard.
When I look at a Federal Reserve Note, I think this what Harvard education and the like has produced.
This perspective will be more appreciated in the not too distant future.
Report Post »taskmaster78
Posted on April 2, 2011 at 6:00pmThis seems like the usual excrement coming out of Glenn’s site, this has been what I’m expecting from the “news” he’d post. This is no better news then the NJ women losing their jobs for not “being sexy” enough or even the “Christian Poll” dancer. This is about what an “elite” family who are what? Surprised she was accepted at Harvard. Give me a break, this like many posted stories taken from Fox, CBN, Before it‘s New’s, are just what I see a waist of man power. Glenn should wake up and do as he said, “remove those things ‘they’ can get you on” this site is becoming a degree of light sexual porn for the mind. Sell it to someone who needs a quick thrill. Stay with what is going on with the total destruction of this nation. Thousands of stories each day are published that most readers never are exposed too. Stay with what is important not this waist.
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