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China Is Doing Lots Of Things Right. It's Investing In Education And R&d, It's Opening Up, It's More Cosmopolitan Than It's Ever Been. I Think It's Very Likely That China Will Continue To Explode Economically And Certainly Become A Superpower.

-Amy Chua

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China Is Doing Lots

Amy Chua

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China Is Doing Lots Of Things Right. It's Investing In Education And R&d, It's Opening Up, It's More Cosmopolitan Than It's Ever Been. I Think It's Very Likely That China Will Continue To Explode Economically And Certainly Become A Superpower.

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The Chinese Model Calls For Giving Your Kids Very Little Choice - And I've Come To See That You Can Go Too Far With That. On The Other Hand, I Also Believe That Western Parents Sometimes Give Their Young Kids Too Much Choice.

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The Truth Is I'm Not Good At Enjoying Life.

Once You Get To The Enlightenment, The Way That Powers Get To Be Hyperpowers Isn't Just By Conquest. It's Through Commerce And Innovation. Societies Like The Dutch Republic And The United States Used Tolerance To Become A Magnet For Enterprising Immigrants.

China Is Doing Lots Of Things Right. It's Investing In Education And R&d, It's Opening Up, It's More Cosmopolitan Than It's Ever Been. I Think It's Very Likely That China Will Continue To Explode Economically And Certainly Become A Superpower.

I Do Believe That When Your Child Does Poorly On A Test, Your First Step Should Not Necessarily Be To Attack The Teacher Or The School's Curriculum. It Should Be To Look At The Idea That, Maybe, The Child Didn't Work Hard Enough.

Genghis Khan Decreed Religious Tolerance For All Of His Conquered Peoples. So I Think He Definitely Would Approve Of Our Constitutional Protections Of Freedom Of Religion. I Think He Would Also Approve Of The Way The U.s. Has Been Able To Attract Talented People From All Over The World.

All Decent Parents Want To Do What's Best For Their Children. The Chinese Just Have A Totally Different Idea Of How To Do That.

The Fact Is That Chinese Parents Can Do Things That Would Seem Unimaginable-even Legally Actionable-to Westerners. Chinese Mothers Can Say To Their Daughters, "hey Fatty-lose Some Weight." By Contrast, Western Parents Have To Tiptoe Around The Issue, Talking In Terms Of "health" And Never Ever Mentioning The F-word, And Their Kids Still End Up In Therapy For Eating Disorders And Negative Self Image.

As A Purely Mathematical Fact, People Who Sleep Less Live More.

My Goal As A Parent Is To Prepare You For The Future, Not To Make You Like Me.

Westerners Often Laud Their Children As 'talented' Or 'gifted', While Asian Parents Highlight The Importance Of Hard Work. And In Fact, Research Performed By Stanford Psychologist Carol Dweck Has Found That The Way Parents Offer Approval Affects The Way Children Perform, Even The Way They Feel About Themselves.

Parenting Cannot Just Be One Size Fits All.

There Are All Kinds Of Psychological Disorders In The West That Don't Exist In Asia.

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I Think The Biggest Difference Is That I've Noticed Western Parents Seem Much More Concerned About Their Children's Psyches, Their Self-esteem, Whereas Tough Immigrant Parents Assume Strength Rather Than Fragility In Their Children And Therefore Behave Completely Differently.

To Be Honest, I Know That A Lot Of Asian Parents Are Secretly Shocked And Horrified By Many Aspects Of Western Parenting.

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Unlike Western Parents, Reminding My Child Of Lord Voldemort Didn't Bother Me.

I'm A Slave To My Dogs And Go Out With Them Almost Every Day. They Are Poorly Behaved If They Don't Run. They Really Act Up.

There Are All These New Books Out There Portraying Asian Mothers As Scheming, Callous, Overdriven People Indifferent To Their Kids' True Interests. For Their Part, Many Chinese Secretly Believe That They Care More About Their Children And Are Willing To Sacrifice Much More For Them Than Westerners, Who Seem Perfectly Content To Let Their Children Turn Out Badly. I Think It's A Misunderstanding On Both Sides. All Decent Parents Want To Do What's Best For Their Children. The Chinese Just Have A Totally Different Idea Of How To Do That.

Tenacious Practice, Practice, Practice Is Crucial For Excellence; Rote Repetition Is Underrated In America.

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Never Complain Or Make Excuses. If Something Seems Unfair, Just Prove Yourself By Working Twice As Hard And Being Twice As Good.

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I Do Play Tennis, But I Don't Really Like Competition. I'm Supposed To Be So Intense, But I Hate Competition.

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I Once Won A Second Prize In A History Concert. My Parents Came To The Ceremony. Somebody Else Had Won The Prize For Best All-around Student. Afterwards My Father Said To Me, 'never, Ever Disgrace Me Like That Again.' When I Tell My Western Friends, They Are Aghast. But I Adore My Father. It Didn't Knock My Self-esteem At All.

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