John Derbyshire wrote an interesting review of the book and general claims both ways: http://www.johnderbyshire.com/Opinions/HumanSciences/tigermom.html http://

John Derbyshire wrote an interesting review of the book and general claims both ways: http://www.johnderbyshire.com/Opinions/HumanSciences/tigermom.html http://www.johnderbyshire.com/Opinions/HumanSciences/tigermo... Two telling quotes from his article: Professor Chua's article was a bracing rebuttal to the sappy-clappy "we're all special" sentimentality that is too prevalent in American child-raising. Her methods worked, too, at least in meeting her own goals: Her daughters are straight-A students, and one has played piano at Carnegie Hall. Probably we American parents should practice more tough love with our kids and fuss less about their self-esteem. Few of us would disagree with observations like: "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." And assuming "strength, not fragility" concurs with current scientific understanding of the child's psyche. They are indeed tough little critters. And later: Children need some nagging and supervision, but they also need freedom to explore, to discover their own interests and aptitudes. We may, in our current child-raising practices, have over-emphasized self-esteem and self-discovery, but that does not make these notions nugatory. Children are entitled to a childhood, with frequent spells of play, idleness, and freedom from hovering adults.