This week has seen a media storm over Yale law professor Amy Chua’s new book, entitled “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother.” Chua started the debate herself with her Wall Street Journal essay relating her experiences raising two daughters the “traditional” Chinese way. Chua later responded to reader’s questions in the WSJ and during her appearance on The Today Show. By week’s end coverage of her book made its way to Slate, Above the Law, the Boston Globe, Time magazine, NPR, and the Huffington Post.
Today, the New York Times published an article about the large uproar from parents. Many emailed, some blogged, and it seems some have even issued death threats to Professor Chua.
I find the furor over Professor Chua’s book to be misguided. If anything, her book provoked–besides hostility–a debate over the proper role of parents in guiding their children. And in a country of parentless children, I find it disheartening that some would say she is not fit to raise children. She, at the very least, played an active role in her childrens’ formative years, which is more than most can claim.