Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother

Yesterday, I began reading the book Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, by Amy Chua, as a source for my junior theme. This novel chronicles Ms. Chua's life as a "Chinese Mother" and her experiences of pushing her two daughters to achieve seemingly impossible goals. One very interesting line in the book says, "In one study of 50 Western American mothers and 48 Chinese immigrant mothers, almost 70% of the Western mothers said either that 'stressing academic success is not good for their children'... By contrast, roughly 0% of the Chinese mothers felt the same way"(Chua, 5) It seems that, in America (especially in wealthier areas such as the North Shore), there is a huge emphasis on the amount of stress students have to deal with on a daily basis. Even though the schools and parents aren't doing much to eliminate stress, they still acknowledge the fact that the it exists and isn't necessarily a good thing. On the other hand, according to the study above, Chinese mothers embrace the stress and view it as a positive and necessary part of their child's success. Ms. Chua definitely agrees with the later point of view (as proven by every single page in her book). Which way of viewing stress do you think is most healthy/effective?

Stress About Stress

After a week of reading articles and watching videos about academic stress in teens, a few main things stick out in my mind. The top thing that keeps being emphasized in nearly every article I read is that the high level of stress in students is only common in middle and upper-middle class areas with top tier schools. There is a common fallacy that stress is an epidemic plaguing the entire country, but in reality it only effects the 10% of students who have aspirations of being admitted to an elite college. Another recurring idea I have noticed is that the amount of stress and pressure has gotten progressively larger over the past few decades. Though there are not any commonly accepted reasons for this, one popular hypothesis says that pressure on students has increased over time because acceptance to college has become more difficult. Instead of just applying to 2 or 3 colleges like our parents did, it is common for students to now apply to as many as 15 or 16 schools. This new born game of getting into college has encouraged students to take as many Advanced-Placement and honors courses as possible, fill their resume with sports and volunteer activities, and give up their much-needed sleep to instead stay up all night studying. All of these practices are rightfully thought to be at fault for the recent spike in stress among young students in wealthy areas.

All of my research has lead me to finally create my "why?" question that I will try to answer through my research for my Junior theme: Why has stress among students in affluent communities increased in recent years?