Gerbec 1
Ashley Gerbec
English 101H
Professor McKeever
November 7, 2014
Word Count: 600
Evaluating an Argument
Western parents and Chinese mothers have extremely contrasting views on how to raise
their children. Amy Chua made a controversial argument in her article “Why Chinese Mothers
Are Superior”. All decent parents want what is best for their children. The Chinese just have a
totally different way of how to do that. I disagree with Chua’s argument on Chinese mothers
being superior, due to her tone, fallacies and lack of evidence.
Amy Chua’s tone throughout the essay was very dominant, overpowering and bold. The
way she spoke was as if she was one hundred percent correct in her beliefs and there was no
other proper way to raise a child. All of her comparisons to Western parents were one sided. She
gives the example of “things are always hardest at the beginning, which is where Western
parents tend to give up.” This is the propaganda technique of card stacking. No child is born
good at anything; it all takes time and practice. Western children have their struggles in activities
they participate in, but continue to persevere and not give up. This is why so many kids follow
through with their activities through college. Amy Chua is stacking all of the cards against the
truth to make the best case possible for her side.
She uses many common fallacies in her essay as well, which makes her argument hard to
agree with. Her tone throughout the essay resembles the fallacy of begging the question, “It’s
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true because I said so.” She makes hasty generalizations assuming all Western parents use the
same technique, all make the same mistakes, and their children all turn out less successful then
Chinese children. “Chinese parents order their children to get straight A’s. Western parents only
ask their kids to try their best.” She uses hasty generalizations such as this throughout the essay
generalizing every Western parent does the same thing. “Western parents are extremely anxious
about their children’s self-esteem. Chinese parents aren’t. They assume strength, not fragility,
and as a result they behave very differently”. She also uses the fallacy of “either/or”. Either you
are part of the solution, or you are part of the problem. She declares how if Western parents
followed Chinese mother’s techniques they could be a part of the solution to having a successful
child, or you are the problem leading to your child’s downfall.
Amy Chua lacks evidence in her argument that Chinese mothers are superior. She does
not produce counter arguments to give the reader enough evidence to form an educated opinion.
She does not give any evidence to show statistics on Western children have turned out less
successful or incompetent due to their way of being raised. Instead of providing adequate
evidence, she falls into making common fallacies and using propaganda techniques. There are no
stories or evidence to prove Western children are worse than Chinese children. All of her
examples about her own children and not relating any contrasts to western children that she may
know.
Amy Chua is a professor at Yale Law School, an author and a mother. Unfortunately, I
disagree with her ways of parenting and her argument she provided. I would have been
persuaded to agree with her if she gave examples and statistics on Western children compared to
Chinese children. Her tone throughout the essay was very arrogant and over powering which was
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also hard to agree with. The use of common fallacies and propaganda worked against her
throughout her argument. She did not persuade me Chinese mothers are superior.