『タイガーマム』とアジア系アメリカ人の教育達成研究

Abstract

In this paper, I explore Amy Chua's Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother as a biographical account of child rearing by a second generation Asian American. In recent years, education research on Asian Americans has become an important field of inquiry as Asian immigrant children are seemingly very “successful” in terms of education. Chua's book is worth discussing because this work is a very rare attempt by an Asian American parent to write about her own experience of child rearing. I examine Chua's account by situating it in the context of educational research on Asian American educational achievement in the United States. First, I review quantitative and qualitative educational research literature on the educational achievement of Asian Americans in relation to the Asian American model minority thesis, a stereotype that distorts how Asian Americans are seen in the United States. The examination of a number of quantitative research studies, finds no specific cultural determinant that affects Asian American students' high educational expectations. Also, while Asian Americans in general are found to be high achieving, there are differences among Asian subgroups in terms of test scores, grades, and family backgrounds. In addition, four qualitative studies are examined. Overall, they reveal the diversity among Asian American students, and differences in socio-economic backgrounds can make a big difference in educational experience even among the same ethnic group. In the final section, I go back to Chua’s account. After introducing her distinct style of very strict child rearing that she considers the “Chinese” way, I interpret it by using the framework of existing educational research. I offer some criticism from the point of the Asian American model minority thesis and point out a few pit falls.