Among Asian Americans, the overachieving, model-minority myth is certainly nothing new. Plenty of Chinese Americans from what I've seen buy into it. Always being the best at everything, never settling for less than an "A," first place or else, etc. After living in China for a year, I can see where it all stems from. The entire culture breeds constant comparisons between people, competition, criticism--all in the effort to make people supposedly better.
Personally, nothing could be further from the truth for me. I will be the first to tell you that I am not a very nice Chinese American gal. I don't always do as I'm told. I can be mean, bitchy and I don't always have my shit together. Despite the fact I have actually learned Chinese, I don't buy into Chinese culture. I actually disagree with a lot of what the culture stands for and I'm not sorry about it. I do not approve of Tiger Moms, Parents, Coaches, etc. I understand that behind every successful student, athlete, actor, anything, there's a Tiger-something challenging them to do better. I get it. However, it's not for me. I'm 31 and really, highly doubt that I'm going to change significantly.
I know a lot of Asian Americans out there thank their Tiger Moms for making them the successful human beings they are today but the fact of the matter is I didn't always enjoy that Tiger parenting as a kid. My dad was the Tiger parent, not my mom, and I felt like it actually negatively impacted me in the long run. More on this soon....
