I am sitting here in my dorm room on a Sunday night with absolutely nothing in my mind about politics, and I have an initial post that is due… at 9:00. WHAT SHOULD I DO!? I gave myself options: 1. Sacrifice my grade and be lazy for the night and don’t turn in any work for the assignment. 2. Get up off my butt, show initiative and think of something to write about. 3. Create a rant on how much I hate homework (even though it helps me) and make it sound political somehow 4. Type the word “politics” into Google search and see what pops up to write about, or 5. Use one of the articles that pops up on Google as my own and cheat my way through this assignment.
WAIT… what the flip!? You all are thinking… Did she really just admit to the thought of plagiarizing when she knew the teacher would read it!? Yes. I did. I have thought of plagiarizing more than once because I know that would mean someone else would do my homework for me and I could relax and watch the Walking Dead at 8:00 with my boyfriend. Because boyfriends and TV shows are WAY more important than learning. But every single time I think about this alarming act, I think to myself: My parents raised me better, and I know better. My parents would cringe if they found out that I turned in someone else’s work as my own. Partially because they know that I am perfectly capable to do the assignment if I just take the time.
Now, it is obvious I chose option number 3, if you didn’t realize by now, and here it goes. I think it is important for every child to have the opportunity to learn, but before that, I think it is more important for every child to be raised in a way that promotes a hard work ethic.
In the article, “TigerMothers: Raising Children The Chinese Way,” Maureen Corrigan writes about Amy Chua, who was raised the Chinese way married and then agreed with her husband that their child would also be raised in such a way, “in which punishingly hard work — enforced by parents — yields excellence; excellence, in turn, yields satisfaction” This is what Chua calls the “virtuous circle.”
Now, Corrigan, the author of the article, takes a look at her own life and her own daughter who had just given up on her homework and practiced her flute for 15 minutes and decided to sit down and watch TV. This is obviously an example of an American child.
It has been extremely hard for some American parents to even think of telling their child that they will burn their toys if they don’t play a piano composition perfectly, but I think some American parents can take something away from this story of Chua and her children. Chua explains, “In retrospect, these coaching suggestions seem a bit extreme, on the other hand, they were highly effective.”
Is there a way to encourage parents to promote hard work ethic and value of life beyond being perfect in everything you do and taking no time to relax? I feel like there are pros and cons to both the “Chinese” lifestyle and the “American” lifestyle. Every Asian person I have met here at UNK has proven to have a harder work ethic than I and yet they seem like they have a lot of fun as well. Why are American parents so lax in their parenting compared to the Chinese? And, second, is this why America is so scared they will become an inferior country in the future? And, third, is there a way for the government to help guide American parents of today to be more like a Chinese parent?
I think part of the reason I could not plagiarize this assignment is because my parents have raised me kind of like Chinese parents and kind of like American parents. In fact, at this age, I wish I had been raised more the Chinese way because I feel like if I had that background of getting all my work done, I wouldn’t have waited until 7:45 to start this assignment, and it would be natural for me to always get my work done. I’m not blaming my parents for my procrastination at all, but I feel like it’s harder to try and make a change now as opposed to when I had started kindergarten.
I think that the way the Chinese raise their children is all about their culture and the same goes for Americans. Asking American parents to change the way they raise their children is the same as such asking them to changer their culture. Also, more parents will get defensive right away and claim that they are doing a fine job by themselves. My mother is very hardworking person and a single parent so she didn't have time to tell us we had to be perfect students. She would never ask that of us because she knows she isn't perfect either. What she did do was tell us how proud she was when we accomplished something. This made me work that much harder at everything I did because she didn't demand excellence, but she told us when we were excellent. I feel that if she had demanded it, I would have rebelled just like most American teens. Sure more and more teens in American have no work ethic at all, but I don't necessarily blame the parents. They will never get any work ethic for themselves if they are not held accountable for their own actions.
ReplyDelete