China is full of Chinese moms

This is a remarkably smug WSJ editorial from a modern mandarin (Yale Law Professor).  She argues that Chinese mother behavior accounts for the success of Chinese children in the US.  Of course China is filled with Chinese moms and most of it continues to be backward with the 'advanced cities' largely copying the social and economic arrangements of the western 'slackers.  And of course Mao Zedong was the greatest "Chinese Mother", manipulating an entire nation into chaos, starvation and (if they could pull it off) flight to 'slacker land'.

Here are the most self righteous bits:

"A lot of people wonder how Chinese parents raise such stereotypically successful kids. They wonder what these parents do to produce so many math whizzes and music prodigies, what it's like inside the family, and whether they could do it too. Well, I can tell them, because I've done it. Here are some things my daughters, Sophia and Louisa, were never allowed to do:

• attend a sleepover

• have a playdate

• be in a school play

• complain about not being in a school play

• watch TV or play computer games

• choose their own extracurricular activities

• get any grade less than an A

• not be the No. 1 student in every subject except gym and drama

• play any instrument other than the piano or violin

• not play the piano or violin.

What Chinese parents understand is that nothing is fun until you're good at it. To get good at anything you have to work, and children on their own never want to work, which is why it is crucial to override their preferences. This often requires fortitude on the part of the parents because the child will resist; things are always hardest at the beginning, which is where Western parents tend to give up. But if done properly, the Chinese strategy produces a virtuous circle. Tenacious practice, practice, practice is crucial for excellence; rote repetition is underrated in America. Once a child starts to excel at something—whether it's math, piano, pitching or ballet—he or she gets praise, admiration and satisfaction. This builds confidence and makes the once not-fun activity fun. This in turn makes it easier for the parent to get the child to work even more.

Western parents are extremely anxious about their children's self-esteem. They worry about how their children will feel if they fail at something, and they constantly try to reassure their children about how good they are notwithstanding a mediocre performance on a test or at a recital. In other words, Western parents are concerned about their children's psyches. Chinese parents aren't. They assume strength, not fragility, and as a result they behave very differently."

This frankly Marxist explanation for cognitive achievement (children are blank slates that obsessive mothering can manipulate into glory) is belied by thousands of studies by cognitive scientists.  Chinese who voluntarily immigrated to the US are vastly different than both the Chinese that stayed in China and other Americans - they are genetically far more determined, resourceful and intelligent.  Unsurprisingly they have children who are determined, resourceful and intelligent.  But what about the fact that Chinese kids who are adopted by western parents don't perform nearly as well?  Chinese adoptees disproportionately come from the bottom of Chinese society:  the unwed or unconnected, it's not surprising that they carry a far more modest genetic inheritance and therefore do less well in school.

This is nothing but Chinese chauvinism married to gutter Marxism....a cultural Maoism, really.  It is shocking is that the WSJ would be so gap jawed credulous as to print such triumphal drivel.