Amy Chua is a Wimp

David Brooks takes a uniquely balanced look at Amy Chua’s controversial comparison of American and traditional Chinese parenting. Chua’s recent Wall Street Journal article, “Why Chinese Mothers are Superior”, rapidly made its way across the country striking fear in the hearts of Americans. Brooks takes a different view: “I have the opposite problem with Chua. I believe she’s coddling her children. She’s protecting them from the most intellectually demanding activities because she doesn’t understand what’s cognitively difficult and what isn’t.” How can this be?

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The Test Chinese Schools Still Fail

If you follow education news you’ve surely heard all the talk about China’s PISA test scores being the best in the world. Everyone who has an education agenda has been talking about how much we need to get our test scores up, how we’re being left in the dust, how we’re failing our children. This article is by Jiang Xueqin, deputy principal of Peking University High School. He has a very different perspective. According to him, China has a 10-year plan to reform its schools that includes promoting individuality and experimentation. He says, “One way we’ll know we’re succeeding in changing China’s schools is when those PISA scores come down.” If you’re at all concerned about curriculum and education reforms driven by standardized test scores this article is a MUST READ!

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703766704576008692493038646.html

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