Jennifer Lee: We need more Asian American kids growing up to be artists, not doctors

[Lodestar]

More emphasis on the arts for ALL children! Children need their individual gifts, whatever they are, to be supported by parents.

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Immigrant parents have raised smarter, richer children in the US with high standards of professional success. But at what cost?

Americans often measure success by the three M’s: money, Motorola, and Mercedes. Most Chinese immigrant parents, on the other hand, define success as getting straight A’s, graduating from an elite university, pursuing an advanced degree and becoming a doctor, lawyer, pharmacist or engineer.

Could this be why the children of Chinese immigrants are, on average, better educated and wealthier – with higher paying jobs – than the general US population?

Amy Chua (of Tiger Mother fame) and her husband and co-author, Jed Rubenfeld, seem to think so. In their new book, The Triple Package, they compare differences in educational qualifications, median household income and occupational status to support their claim that certain American groups – including those of Chinese, Jewish, Cuban and Nigerian descent – are more successful than others because they share certain cultural traits: a superiority complex; inferiority; impulse control.

But just because these groups have achieved “success” doesn’t mean that these traits are responsible for it, nor that the high-paying, professional job is even what Chinese Americans and other Asian Americans aspire to achieve.

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http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/mar/16/asian-american-jobs-success-myth-arts

[Loudly]

1. Ang Lee is awesome. n/t

[frazzled]

2. There are tons of Asian American artists

Here is one archive of names: http://artasiamerica.org/artist

One of my favorite current artists is Paul Chan, a Hong Kong native who grew up in Nebraska, went to art school here, and has had his work shown all over the world:



There are also renowned Asian American filmmakers and musicians. Especially musicians!

[Lodestar]

3. Beautiful work! Thanks for sharing. I agree that there may be many Asian American artists, however

I'm also aware that there are many 'would be' artists (and practitioners of other vocations as well) who still live
with the weight of responsibility placed on them by their culture/family to be a 'success' in the more lucrative career track
jobs. I think that may be even more pronounced in students whose parents have sent them to the U.S. for an education.
In fact I know a few. Of course those same pressures are placed on children of many cultures. It's really the narrow
interpretation of success in any and all cultures that is problematic imo.