Alexis


 * “Tiger Mom Paper” **


 * Is the Chinese parenting way better than Western? In __Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother,__ Amy Chua talks about her rigid parenting skills she used on her two daughters. She also comments on how the western mom raises their child to fail. In this research paper I’m going to talk about Amy Chua’s opinion, the various critics, and my own opinion.**
 * In the “Wall Street Journal” Amy Chua talks about how Chinese parents raise such successful kids: like math whizzes, and music prodigies. She even talks about what she didn’t let her two daughter do; attend sleepovers, have play dates, be in the school play, watch TV, get any grades lower than an “A.” Using the “Chinese Mother” loosely she criticizes the way western mom’s raise there kids. Many parents were in awe after hearing what Amy Chua would do to her kids. She wouldn’t let her younger daughter go to the restroom or take a break is she didn’t play a piece perfectly form “The Little White Donkey.”**
 * In “Amy Chua’s A Wimp” by David Brooks he mentions how she’s pushing her kids way to hard and demanding they get straight “A’s.” Basically what David is trying to say is yea Chua’s kids are intelligent, have won many music competitions and are considered music prodigies. In my opinion Chua’s kids don’t have a life of there own, David says “Chua is sheltering her kid from the outside world like school activities, and friends. No kid should have to go threw something like that, yea you should push and motivate your kids to succeed, but not demand them for hours an hours.**
 * __In Defense of the Guilty Ambivalent, Preoccupied Western Mom__ by Ayelet Waldman. She talks about her kids an how she’s less rigid than Amy Chua. He kids can go out, watch TV, and go do extracurricular activities. She cares for her kids but not demanding or forcing them to do something especially if they don’t even like doing it. Ayelet Waldman also talks about her daughter an how she has a learning disability “dyslexia.” They put her in a special class so she can learn to read, what she love to do. After every class their daughter would come out crying because it was just to difficult they would ask and beg for her daughter to quit the class, but she insisted on continuing the class. “Roaring like a tiger turns some children into pianists who debut in Carnegie Hall but only crushes other.” Unlike Amy Chua Ayelet allows her kids to fail, but not without hard words, and demanding rules. In the end if you let your kids do what they want they might make some mistake, but who in the world doesn’t? You have to believe in your kids that their going to succeed in life.**
 * In __Mother Inferior__ by Hanna Rosin she talks about her parenting ways and the “Tiger Mom” ways. Hanna mentions “In pretty much every way, I am the weak-willed, pathetic Western parent that Ms. Chua describes. She says that she lets her kids on sleepovers actually she would like her kids to go on even more, and when her kids make her cheap but loving birthday cards she doesn’t demand they make her a new one she praises it. Also why make your kids do something their not going to enjoy why not wait until there interested in something to before spending hours forcing them. Amy Chua says “Children on there own never want to work” but in Hanna’s case that isn’t so true. Many children of this generation have giant superegos and a mad drive to succeed. Why not just let your kids roam free to live and enjoy their lives.**
 * In __An Asian Father’s Gift: Permission to Fail__ by Llyon Woo actually encouraged his daughter to fail. Growing in postwar Korea was forced by his own parents to become a doctor. Tough his parents were depending on him to become a doctor, he quit medical school to become an architect. One day out of no where my father asked me “what would happen, if you failed?” In shock I murmured “I’d….get a bad grade” and then my transcript would be ruined, I would not get in college? My father replied “so what?” It’s not the end of the world. From then on I realized what my father meant its okay to fail once in awhile, because failures what drives us to succeed.**
 * There’s been a lot of conflict between “Chinese parenting, and Western parenting.” Amy Chua has been viewed as raising robot kids. Is Amy Chua wrong for demanding her kids to succeed? In my opinion all she wants is the best for her kids. With high requirements as kids to get straight “A’s” be number 1 in each of their classes. These requirements are too extreme but what parent takes huge amounts of there time just so there kids can succeed. In other words Amy Chua loves her kids very much and just wants to see them grow up and be “somebody.”**
 * Does Amy Chua push her kids too much? Has she raised her kids for success, or has she just made it worse for them when they do fail and “mommy isn’t there to help.” In my opinion Amy Chua has set her kids up for success, with these extreme parenting skills. However her parenting skills are “a bit to much,” demanding your kid to play a hard piano piece perfectly when she’s only five years old is harsh. Especially when you tell her your going to burn all her dolls if she doesn’t play it right, and not letting her go to the restroom is too much! I highly disagree with her parenting skills, but I understand all she wants is the best for her kids.**


 * Cheating **

** Is cheating really a bad thing? What should happen to you when you get caught cheating? Should you be able to get away with it or should you get a serious consequence. ** ** In my opinion you should take the consequence they give you but hope it’s not a severe one. ** ** Piper, Kansas a high school teacher Christine Pelton caught a fifth of her biology students copy and pasting of the internet. After catching her students cheating before, she expected them on doing it again on their semester projects. In response for there cheating she failed the 28 young sophomores. Both the principal and superintendent agreed what students had done was wrong an deserved a serious punishment. ** ** But after the students parents heard that their kids where going to fail they complained, the board ordered that the punishment should be made easier. Pelton quit her job as a teacher to protest what the board had done was wrong. “this kind of thing is happening everyday around the country, where people with integrity are not being backed by their organization,” said Michael Josephson, founder and president of the Josephson Institute of Ethics in Marina del Rey, California. ** ** Was the school board right in what they did to Christine Pelton? Should the students be able to pass even tough they didn’t do their own work? In my opinion the students should have been failed, and the board should not have made it easier on the kids just because parents where complaining. The students deserved what they where going to get, but mommy and daddy had to come in and save the day. **

**__ What I Know __** I know what it’s like to disappoint my parents. It was Wednesday afternoon just got done hanging out with my friends. I was heading to my house when one of my friends said lets go smoke. Me of all people of course said “yea lets go.” So I ran home to get my bud, when I went into my room and reached for my backpack were I always keep it in. I noticed that my backpack was already open; I was worried and grabbed it quickly. My heart racing I looked inside and saw my lighter and bud missing, my heart skipped a beat my stomach dropped. So I ran back outside in disbelieve and awe, I told my friend what had happen and said “Alex your screwed” like that made me feel better. I knew my mom had found it but was probably waiting for my dad to talk to me. Waiting outside my house scared to go face my mom, out of nowhere my dad pulls up and I knew what was about to happen. My dad said hi to me like always and went inside, panicked tried rushing in my room to escaper what was about to happen. When I ran into my dad I knew it was over I have finally been caught. He called me into their room and there it was 2 grams of bud with my lighter next to it. My mom crying on the bed next to it, my parents sat me down and said “Alex what’s this” I didn’t reply. Silent and nervous I said noting but once I saw my dad cry I just knew I had messed up and big this time! I couldn’t bare the sight of both my parents upset, mad, in disbelieve, basically disappointed in me. They pleaded for me to stop smoking I replied “Okay can I go now.” I know now how much that I hurt my parents and I would never do anything like that again to upset my parents.

**__ In Class Essay __** ** Failure **
 * Can a small group of people change the world? Margret Meade once said “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” Can that small group change it for good or bad? **
 * On September 11, 2001 a group of terrorists called Al Qaeda took over four airplanes. Two hit the World Trade Center, One hit the pentagon, and the last one was intended for the white house or capitol building. For 200 years the US had not been attacked, an in one day that all changed. These small Islamic group (22 men) shows us how a small group changes the world, by hijacking, killing, and frightening the whole US. **
 * However on this horrible day one group of people fought against the terrorists. Flight 93 heading form NY to San Francisco had a slight route change. Al Qaeda had also hijacked this plane, but 40 brave passengers weren’t about to let these monsters take over. They decided instead of letting them complete their mission they were going to fight back. So they agreed to storm the cockpit and take control of the plane. Once they took control their plan was to crash it in a rural area saving hundreds, but killing themselves. These brave people risked their lives to stop these terrorists changing the outcome of hundreds of more lives killed. **
 * When people look at you an say Nazi what is your first thought? Most people would answer Adolf Hitler, how much of a horrible person he was. Enslaving millions of Jews, American, and Russian soldiers. Starving, beating, and even just straight up shooting them. Hitler terrorized millions by his strong military brute force, but Hitler himself was a wimp. He would never do any of these things unless his military was right behind him backing him up. How can one man stare at these innocent human beings and say there noting but rodents. This one person changed the world not for a day not for a month but for years! **
 * So you tell me can a small group change the world? Don’t ever think you can’t change the world. Hope and Will is all you need an you can do anything. “Hope is what makes us strong. It is why we are here. It is what we fight with when all else is lost.” **
 * When you make mistakes does it lead to failure or success? Stop and think have you ever done something wrong and it ended up actually being right? However that is not always the case, sometimes a mistake is just a mistake. **
 * During World War I there where many casualties, but most didn’t die from being hit. Many soldiers died from bacteria (staphylococcus) getting in there open wounds. A man named Alexander Fleming dedicated his life to find the cure for this dangerous bacteria. One day after he left one of his Petri dishes some mold (penicillin) started to grow on it. Alexander saw this and was shocked to see the mold killing the bacteria. After finding this great discovery many soldiers were saved in battle. In this case a mistake turned out to be a huge discovery. **
 * After World War I Germany fell into a great depression paying for reparations. In 1939 Germany invaded Poland making the triple entente (France, England, Russia, and US) declare war on Germany. 1994 (D-Day) American forces invaded the beaches of Northern France. Led by Adolf Hitler Germany put up a fight, but in the end Germany was just still in debt and low on supplies to fight another world war (only 20 year break). In this case the Germans didn’t learn from losing the World War I. **
 * Are mistakes just errors or something else? Sometimes a mistake can turn out to be a world changing discovery. However this is not all ways the case, because usually its just a mistake that you can still learn from. **