Chinese Tiger Mothers

There's been a lot in the news recently about the "Tiger Mother, " Amy Chua, who has written an apology for an Asian Stereotype.

In short, she defends remorseless and aggressive parenting defined by denial of silly things like art (except violin or piano) and social activities, and pressure on preformance in school (primarily in math and science).

I'm familiar with the stereotype she represents with such gusto, but what she's been doing for western audiences has been done much better and more humorously in High Expectations Asian Father blog, where I got the screen grab on Jan 29th, 2011.

Hasn't anyone read, or at least seen, The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan? The model has some serious backlash. Relationships between parent and child may benefit from more guidance, discipline and/ or involvement than many (most?) American parents invest - but the bond can be strained and even broken by too much negative reinforcement and withholding of affection.

The Chinese Language newspaper we picked up at Ho's (an Taiwanese market on 95th and I-35) followed a discussion among an ethnic Chinese community - and in the Chinese language (unsimplified). The consensus among those with closer ties to traditional Chinese culture than Hua is not in support of her. They compare her to a traditional story - a children's fairy tale about a tiger who disguiesed herself as a woman to get at some kids by marrying a widower. The story is as gruesome as the original Cinderella, Hansel and Gretel, and a little Red Riding-hood. Key in the telling is the sounds of the tiger crunching the bones of the children. The tiger is always the tiger's 1st priority.

Interestingly this Tuesday marks the end of the year of the tiger. I had been teaching for a couple years in Taiwan the last time we had a year of the tiger. I taught adults in evening classes and noticed that of nearly 500 students per semester I had no pregnant women in class in the year of the tiger. Once the year of the Rabbit got well under way there were about a dozen pregnant women scattered throughout my classes. Tigers are a strong sign, but they aren't much desired. Also, Tigers are not welcome at weddings.



References

• The Wall Street Journal on "Why Chinese Mothers are Superior" - written by the author, Amy Chua.
  
• Slate on why we let the father's role slide from our conversation in "Tiger Mom. Terrible role model"
• And the Huffington Post response by a sociologist and professional parent educator with a PhD in "Why Amy Chua is Wrong About Parenting"
  

Facebook Perils: Article summary and comment

Facebook relates to the specific composition objectives of developing the awareness and understanding of voice and audience. LaRoche and Flanigan (2009) note that students enter college and work discourse communities with unrealistic expectations regarding their rights to free speech, and they fail to recognize what constitutes private versus public expression.

Many students assume that The First Amendment protects their right to free speech and by extension protects them from punishment for posting their social life online. This assumption is false….Facebook pages are often created and maintained without considering the potential audience or appropriateness of the postings. (p. 31).

LaRoche and Flanigan surveyed 118 undergraduate students and 45 employers to assess their tendencies and values. Their research presented images from alleged Facebook posts and, perhaps not surprisingly, found significant differences in what employers and students found appropriate or offensive. Additionally the researchers note:

• Intentionally or by accident, Facebook users tend to make public their private lives
• Government and law enforcement have full access to all Facebook accounts
• Campus police sometimes crack down on drinking and student behavior by watching the site.
• Postings have been used to expel students
• Over 20% of students will add any person who seeks to friend them.
• Some colleges ban athletes from Facebook.

Many of these points may come as a surprise to students. The researchers conclude that while students at public institutions may have the right to free speech, that right offers no protection from suffering the consequences of that expression.

It might be easiest to ban Facebook, but doing so would preclude instructor presence in teachable moments. This is where students are (96% of students surveyed in this research, and none of the dozens of surveys published in the last 3-4 years have shown fewer than 85%). The recent incident involving student use of facebook illustrates a need, and this need iswithin the student learning outcomes defined by the college, specifically

• to collaborate respectfully with others,
• to communicate effectively (and that requires audience awareness),
• to demonstrate an understanding of the broad diversity of the human experience and the individual’s place in society.
• Use technology efficiently and responsibly.

In Chinese, a word for crisis (危機) combines two radicals, the first means danger, and the second means opportunity. All learning comes with risk; we can't teach a constructivist model of knowledge and give students the sort of experience that Dewey deemed sine qua non of learning by hiding from potential dangers.

Work Cited

LaRoche, C.R. and Flanigan, M.A. (2009) “Facebook: Perils, Perceptions and Precautions.” The Journal of College Teaching & Learning, 6(5), 31-38

Managing distractions

I like the options that teaching in a computer lab brings to writing classes - afterall, writing today is done on computers, but they offer so much distractions. Students aren't the only ones. In presentations to teachers and business people, wise presenters generally block access to the web, and / or expect professional behavior (in real life people lose promotions, jobs and other opportunities - and worse). A business writer explains that we need to stop blaming technology and be honest.

If you are having sex, you have a good sense that very few emails in the whole world need your attention right then. If you are at a birthday party for ten year old boys and they are screaming up and down a soccer field, you are probably bored and emails look a little more enticing. This is not about addicted or not addicted; this is an issue of knowing when email is essential and when it's a distraction.

You have probably been out to dinner with friends and they checked their Blackberry. This means you are not their most important priority at that time, just for that moment. You of course hope that your presence would make you most important, but in fact, it did not. Does that mean your friend is addicted to her Blackberry? No. It means your friend is prioritizing and she's letting you know that .

She elsewhere uses a colorful / NSFW analogy (see last 3 paragraphs) to note that we don't check technology while engaged in sexual congress, because it's fun and interesting. We use it when we're bored and want stimulation. I'd like to add to thoughts.

1. Being plugged means you will miss some of the subtle and not so subtle joys of life. Parents texting during a soccer game will miss seeing their childscore goals and students on facebook or texting during class will miss information and fun
2. learning requires quiet reflection. Sometimes we need to be disengaged from the constant bombardment of stimulus to be open - to give our minds the space we need to move ideas around and rearrange our thinking.
   

We need discipline in using technology - but in my classes lately I'm not seeing self-discipline.

facebook ethics: JCCC in the news

Last Nov. 10 (2010) a group of nursing students took a photograph of a human placenta while they were in class on a field trip/ clinical.

You'll have to read the summary yourself at KC Star and The Pitch. Long story short: photos were taken, and at least one person posted a snap to Facebook, which lead to 5 students' dismissal from the nursing program and JCCC. According to The Star in the above link, a judge has weighed in on the side of the student, but it seems far from over. The Pitch laid out her dilemma with customary wit:

Unfortunately, "[She] has scheduled an August 12, 2011 wedding in Virginia and has declared her intent to reside in Virginia with her husband next fall and therefore will be unable to resume her education at JCCC at that time," the lawsuit states.

It might be of small consolation to [her], but if she's forced to rearrange her wedding plans, it won't be the first time that matrimony is thwarted by a placenta.

The student pictured at the right claims that if you Google "placenta" now she (and the infamous picture) pops up at the top of the list (she's 4th now - the link above does it for you). This story has nationwide if not world wide traction and will likely affect her future regardless of how her relationship with the school plays out. The medical community and college communities in general follow these developments with rapt attention.

See the JCCC press release here, and check out the Nursing Department Facebook page here. The Wall Street Journal has also covered this in detail. A young nurse speaks for a generation who has grown up saturated with Facebook here (key words: silly, unaware of consequences).

A hole in the road

Experimenting today with embedding images from other blogs. Driven by this place hundreds if not thousands of times and never stopped. The kids loved it.