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Diane Johnson's article in NYRB


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Did anyone else read Diane Johnson's review of the Tiger Mother book in New York Review of Books?

 

I'm not so interested in the subject of the review--Tiger Mom has been discussed to death on this forum--as in this odd paragraph in the middle of the review:

 

"Are there studies comparing the results of commercial preparation—paid tutors, cram schools—with the results of parental tutoring? No doubt it’s more emotionally complicated to have your parents urging you on. And is it efficient for society to depend on the unpaid labor of parents who are also highly trained professionals, who could be spending their time at their professions? These are unanswered questions."

 

There's no further development of these musings in the essay. I just wanted to yell at her for ending with "These are unanswered questions." Hello? There are some people you could talk to about these issues; people who have talked about them quite a lot already.

 

It's as if she never heard of the homeschooling movement; or perhaps she assumes that it wouldn't involve parents with professional training who are primarily interested in the academic aspects of tutoring their own children.

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I finally got a copy of Chua's Tiger Mom book from the library. I'm only halfway thru but it is NOTHING like what I expected from all the negative press. I like her a lot more than I thought I would.

 

As for the reviewer's comments, where to begin? To be fair, she probably has never had any dealings with any homeschooler. I also googled her. Turns out she co-authored the screenplay of The Shining. No wonder she has issues with parents teaching their kids. ;)

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