Thursday, February 17, 2011

Response to "Why Chinese Mothers Are Better"

In the article “Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior” I found an interesting paragraph to talk about.

Second, Chinese parents believe that their kids owe them everything. The reason for this is a little unclear, but it's probably a combination of Confucian filial piety and the fact that the parents have sacrificed and done so much for their children. (And it's true that Chinese mothers get in the trenches, putting in long grueling hours personally tutoring, training, interrogating and spying on their kids.) Anyway, the understanding is that Chinese children must spend their lives repaying their parents by obeying them and making them proud.

This paragraph/quote seems to be extremely controversial. Some people think that since the parents gave birth to the child, that the child should do whatever their parents tell them to do because their parents have gone though so much pain and suffering to give birth and raise the children to adult hood. Other people feel that the parents should not force their children to do anything and that their children owe them anything because the children had no choice in who their parents were.

I personally believe that children owe their parents some things. For example, raising a child from birth to adult hood is not an easy feat. I believe that since the parents go through so much effort to raise their kids, that the kids should have at least some obligation to help the parents. If it was not for the parents, then the children would have a hard time surviving to adult hood. However, I do not believe that  children owe their parents EVERYTHING. Just because their parents gave birth to them does not mean that the children should obey every last command that their children give them. The parents also have no right in ordering their children to do whatever their parents want them to. The children are their own people, and just because they are their parents, does not mean that they have absolute control over their children.

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