It’s a small world after all…since there’s Myspace and Youtube to help us out. But an article in the San Francisco Chronicle shows us a large gap in the difference between East and West that could affect our future.

Here in America, Asian parents are known for putting pressure on their little ones to gain academic success. Yet, they are also known for never praising their children for their achievements, just asking for better. The non-Asian society in America sees this as harsh and unhealthy, but this article demonstrates that maybe the rest of America is just seeing too much out of themselves.

Since many Asians in America are immigrants, they carry on their perspectives and values from home into Asian America. While most of America are saying to their children, “Just be the best you can be.” The Asian Americans are saying, “Always try harder. But could this be the reason why Asians are 10-30% of the student body in the best colleges. A study in 1992 even shows that students in Asia outperform American students, but when the students were told to evaluate themselves, the Americans gave themselves a much higher score than the Asian students.

Recently, there has been a popular Youtube video featuring a mystery man playing an awesome guitar version of “Canon in D”. Unlike someone from the West, who would’ve been searching for record deals by now, this humble star prefers to keep his identity a secret, until a New York Times reporter exposed his Asian identity and got to exchange a few words with him. Jeong-Hyun Lim, the mystery man, reveals that he doesn’t even think he’s that great of a guitar player, and rated himself a 50 or 60 out of 100. This is the perfect example of how the East and West are so different. But could this difference be the reason that Asians outperform? Is it because Asians push themselves harder and strive for higher goals? Could the rest of America be living in a dangerous narcissistic society?

Of Asian descent myself, I have to disagree with this statement. My parents push me to do well in school because they see education as the key to a better future. They want me to be living in a future where I won’t be stuck doing immigrant jobs like them. Though my parents always tell me to do better, they never forget to reward me when I do good. But I do understand that there are a good deal of other families that refuse to praise their children, who are afraid that they will think too highly of themselves and forget to try harder. This can be a way to push your children, but it is also a way of pushing them too far. Unhealthy practices like these could result in psychological problems in the future as well as a chain of reaction. Children growing up in a family that doesn’t give praise will treat their children the same way, resulting in a society of people that may be always actively working for their goals, but also never happy with themselves. Happiness stems from ourselves, and with values like these, how can we ever be happy?
—Traci Liang