Originally Posted by Bostonian
The Tiger Mother famously wrote, only half joking, that her children were not allowed to

• attend a sleepover

• have a playdate

The tiger mom is an extreme example of our society's over-emphasis on industriousness. IMO, we overvalue this quality and undervalue the idea of slowing down to think a bit and get it right. Don't get me wrong: it's great to get stuff done, but overdoing this approach can lead to problems (e.g. crushing homework loads, crazed test prep lasting for months or years, and inferior textbooks being rushed to market to beat the competition).

In the process, perceiving industriousness as all-important allows us to undervalue giftedness.