Originally Posted by Bostonian
Amy Chua's essay "Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior" struck a nerve because Chinese-American kids *are* over-represented at our elite universities and among science competition winners. If Chinese-American kids were underperforming, she would be ignored. I think Chinese outperformance partly results from a higher average IQ (some studies find 105), but few critics of Tiger Mothering want to consider that reason for outperformance.
Being in the thick of this, out of 47 kids in my son's math class only 3 are Caucasian. (Not all are Asian-American but a large percentage.) One of the reasons is immigration policy. The PARENTS who are in this country are those who are bright and successful. The poor Chinese don't have a chance to immigrate. So many of these kids are bright, gifted and motivated.