paper tiger

The New York Times Best-selling book Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua spraks bitter controversy among Asian-Americans and non- Asian- Americans. The article Paper Tigers on New York Magazine written by Wesley Yang who expresses his attitude toward the Tiger Mom phenomenon and describes what challenges will Asian-Americans face after graduation. He claims that most Asian-Americans are raised to be elitists in academic fields. However, those who are grant scholarships or get decent job offer after graduation feel self-contempt and lost deep inside. Jefferson Mao in the article depicts the conflict between obeying Chinese traditional values and being himself. Mao enjoys working with literature but he worries that his decision to be a writer will be an abrupt shock for his conserved family. Although he often gains academic success, Mao identifies himself as"nameless, faceless Asian kids like a part of decor"(Page 3). Moreover, Yang believes that the superiority of Asian- Americans will hit"bamboo cling" which is the barrier to the higher level of success in corporate world. He cites a series of data to prove that Asian-Americans who dominate the workforce but make up a relatively smaller proportion in leadership positions. Yang alludes that this asymmetry is the result of traditional Asian upbringing. In addition, Yang points out that Asian-Americans are not masters in socializing which isn't taught in regular school class so he introduces a program which focus on helping

them to project themselves under different social circumstance. Yang concludes that in order to break the "bamboo cling", Asian-Americans have to be risk takers rather than blindly follow traditional values and pursing academic success.