Mothers and their daughters

The story, "Rules of the game" from the book The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan relates to the article written by Amy Chua: "Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior". In Chua's piece, she focuses on telling the audience about what the lives of many Chinese children look like in comparison of those of, for example, western kids (Americans).
In Rules of the game, Waverly is a Chinese girl who has two brothers who are treated similarly to what Chua said kids in China are treated like. Chua focuses a lot on how the parents want their children to be successful in school in specific. In The Rules of the Game, Waverly's mother does not focus on her daughter's education though. One Christmas, Vincent, Waverly's brother  received a chess set from the church. Waverly became addicted to the idea of playing chess and when she learned how to play, she went started going out with people she didn't know and playing chess and as she did that, her sills improved.
One day, her mother realized that her daughter had a real talent; playing chess. So she signed her up for a tournament first and after she won that, she signed her up for more. She started as a local champion and ended up being a national champion. Her mother then became a real proud mother and this idea came to her, to only make her daughter practice chess and to forget about everything else. Her mother kind of forced her to improve, as she wanted her to because she wanted her daughter to keep winning so she could be proud and to kind of show off her daughter to others.

I went to school, then directly home to learn new chess secrets... But i found it difficult to concentrate at home. My mother had a habit of standing over me while i plotted out my games. I think she thought of herself as a protective ally. Her lips would be sealed tight, and after each move i made, a soft 'Hmmmmph' would scape from her mouth. 

Chua talks about a similar idea. The idea of education. Instead of education, Waverly's mother forces her to learn more chess than her studies. Its also like playing the piano and violin only.  This can be seen as one of those instruments.
I do think that Amy Tan's novel endorses Chua's arguments about motherhood.

The best parents

I think that in the article "Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior" by Amy Chua, she makes too many assumptions about Chinese mothers in comparison with western parents. Amy Chua says:

First, I've noticed that Western parents are extremely anxious about their children's self-esteem. They worry about how their children will feel if they fail at something, and they constantly try to reassure their children about how good they are notwithstanding a mediocre performance on a test or at a recital. In other words, Western parents are concerned about their children's psyches. Chinese parents aren't. They assume strength, not fragility, and as a result they behave very differently.

She talks about how Chinese mothers kind of overreact with the actions of their children and western parents do not really mind. I do not completely agrree with that  because i think that not all parents are the same or act the same.
The parent's relationship with their children is strict in the Chinese side. The kid obeys the parents and the kid basically does not have an opinion over what happens, or cannot make important decisions about education or other important stuff. The life of a kid who has a Chinese mother seems much harder than the life of a kid who has a western parent. The Chinese kid has more obligations as described in the article. Kids with Chinese mothers have to really be good in general and seem to have much more pressure than other kids such as American.
American kids on the other hand, who have western parents they are less pressured in almost everything. They do not really have those high expectations that the Chinese kids have. When they get low grades, they are not really pushed by their parents to do better. I know that she is talking about her own family in comparison with the western families, but she kind of make it seem like a comparison of the two general groups.
She makes the point that the two groups are different in the way they teach their children and the relationship they have with their children. I thimk it all depends on culture. There are different views of supporting children in diffeent places and people usually do what they believe is best. If Chinese mothers want to force their children to be successful, i think that is fine, and if a western parent wants their children to try just as hard as they can and not relly support them, then that is fine too.
About the argument about what parents and children owe each other, i think that parents should not really put that much pressure on their children and that the response from the children shlould be respect and efffot.

Does it matter where you go to college? Does that shape your future?

My favorite response was "What You Do vs. What You Do" by Martha O'Connell. Her response post was really convincing in my opinion. She wrote saying that it does not matter where you go to college or university, or if that college or university is elite or not. She discusses that why matters is one's ambition for education. I agree with that. I think that if someone who really wants to succeed and get ahead in life can by going to any school. Success is something mental, if you want it, you get it. At least that is what I think and that's what i think O'Connell thinks. I think that the idea of people who attend elite schoolshave more chances of having a better future is partly true, but it does not apply to everyone who goes to elite schools. The people who have the money have it easy. One thing is having the money, and other thing is actually learning. I do agree that if you lean a lot from an elite school, you will probably have higher chances of having a "better" life than any other person who attended a non-elite school. The other thing is defining "better life". People think different ways, some similarly, and some conpletely different. Better can just mean a simple life, or it can mean lots of money, business, etc. So that means that it doesn't matter how much money they will be making in the future (some people). It all depends on who it is and what they like to study, and how much effort they put on their studies. People should have that mentality to succeed so that in the future they really do succeed.
My least favorite was "Skip to the Admissions Game" by Kevin Carey. I thought everything he said was crap. It's was all about how only the people who go to elite schools succed and people who go to cheaper schools get bad education. I thought he only cared about the rich. There are lots of people that can't afford going to such expensive schools and that they have no chose but to go to cheaper ones. I think that if they really work hard, Thayer can succeed.