The Pressure on Asian Children: Beyond Grades
Confessions and Realities
Confession made.
Painful truth (prize class).
DC, haven’t properly picked up.
Hear you ask, why did I drop?
Tiger parents – the pure reason why dust collects.
Why confess? Don’t want my child to be misplaced, it’s a very real issue.
Asians, our children must live life, fall on their knees, in the real world.
Fast forward to the issue, Western Female, Social Studies dominant, reluctant.
Certainly fierce competition, churning out hundreds, even in the real estate bubble, to get into the school zone.
No doubt, stress is necessary, competitive even in A-dominant environments.
It’s true, and… in the trenches. So what is the truth? To find answers.
Can academic success argue for a life past Mozart and algebra?
Common Sense and Ceilings
Common sense: A+’s, hit your head on the ceiling, as if… live life outside.
Stats {US employment} – NOT a generalization, as ABC <1% of corporate boards, only 2% of managers >1%.
Creativity, risk-taking, entrepreneurship, the ability to network, not taught in textbooks, experience not cramming.
Personal Reflections
Why was I? JT’s transition was a Yale grad. After university, I witnessed the entire non-Asian cohort.
CEO, babe, coffee was charisma, something, confidence reduced to a formula, an elusive question was born.
NO, life is beyond marks, textbooks never teach.
Real Drivers
First sight, real drivers.
Study from a journal of cross-cultural psychology, into the beliefs of US parents: 50%, by contrast…
If kids don’t succeed, parents are not doing their job. PAUSE.
Cannot continue to add fuel. Foster balance. Of course, get nervous when they don’t study.
Sports increase opportunities, sex.
In the… when we all become tired of our own, the same fierce aspirational mentality.
B on report – no dinner.
Parental Perspectives
Of course, they argue, it’s their own fault.
Put yourself in their shoes, it’s hard to think otherwise.
Because everything they do, they earn – for the future. Can’t fault them, they simply want the best.
Send a tutor, to succeed them and achieve the dreams they didn’t achieve.
However, do marks equate to success in later life?
Adults realize that they are not the sure key to success later.
Are you happy if you are forced to be a doctor? PAUSE.
Relentless study turns you into a robot. Our kids should not be programmed that ‘exams are everything’.
It has already bred a highly regimented culture in South Korea, and it will only get worse in Australia.
South Korea’s Example
Seoul, South Korea – prepare for patrol. No, not a SWAT mission, out there to find kids.
In South Korea, they turned to this, even paying social security bounties to turn in violators.
Hear you say: shift focus? They tried. Try to reduce tests/exams and stress in favor of creativity – what happened? Nothing.
After each attempt, it gets stronger. Why? Because the incentive is unchanged. Kids gorge – one reason – top university slots are too few, the retardation is too great.
A Singapore minister asked…
The Emerging Problem
So to fellow sufferers – extreme issues are emerging.
It will slowly become an illness like in Asia, where it’s embedded into the culture.
What we need are injections – life skills, creativity.
Parents need to be educated and focus on BALANCE, not BRILLIANCE.
Cause something to be done. Our children’s future.
Children have the right to live life to the fullest, it’s so precious and short.
Do we want to see our children succumb and get on par with robots?
A Child’s Plea
Come home and barely have the energy to bark out, “DAD, I WISH OUR DOG COULD ACTUALLY EAT MY HOMEWORK?”
Because I don’t, and I’m sure you don’t want that as well.
Confucius was never quoted to say life is more than just marks, but I’m sure that if he was here with us today, he would say the same.
Thank you.