Asian Parenting Styles and Academic Achievement: Views from Eastern and Western Perspectives

Introduction Our interest in Asian parenting style drew from the media attention given to Amy Chua's (2011) book, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. Chua's book is a memoir of her own philosophy and practices of parenting raising two high achieving daughters. She placed great emphasis on her children's academic achievement. Chua's views and practices raised much controversy regarding parent-child interaction. Public media began debating and discussing different views and practices about parenting (Chang, 2011; Chua, 2011; Flanagan, 2011; Husbands, 2012; Kohler, Kilgo, & Christensen, 2012a; Kohler, Kilgo, & Christensen, 2012b; Ninh, 2011; Poon, 2011; Wang, 2011). Chua connects her parenting experiences with her children's academic achievement. This motivated our conceptual inquiry about the relationship between Ethnic Minority parenting style and achievement in contrast with Authoritative style which is also related to high achievement in children in the literature. Additionally, we explore how Confucianism, the ancient Eastern philosophy, influences Asian descendants' parenting style. Secondly, we considered the achievement gap between Asian Americans and Caucasian Americans (Grissmer, 1994; Hsin & Xie, 2014; Kao, 1995; Konstantopoulos, 2009; Pang, Han, & Pang, 2011; Yong & Wei, 2009). The US media touts an achievement gap between white and African Americans and between white and Hispanic Americans (California Department of Education, 2010; Hemphill & Vanneman, 2011; Noguera, 2012; Noguera, 2008; O'Donnell & Kirkner, 2014; Schott Foundation, 2010). Because of this, the general public tends to be more aware of these achievement gaps. Less media attention is given to the achievement gap we focus on, the gap between Asian Americans and Caucasian Americans. Asians out score whites, especially in mathematics, science and other technical areas (Pang, Han, & Pang, 2011; Peng & Wright, 1994). In the U.S., Asian American score higher on the SAT and ACT (Hsia, 1988; Hsin & Xie, 2014), and are over-represented among winners of different prestigious scholarships, such as National Merit, US Presidential, and Westinghouse Science Talent Search Scholars (Flynn, 1991; Zhao & Qiu, 2009). Hildebrand, Phenice, Gray, & Hines (2008) indicated that Asian Americans have become the largest ethnic minority group in many career fields and at many elite colleges. In 2003, 51 percent of Asian American males and 44 percent of females age 25 and older had a bachelor's degree or higher compared with 32 percent of non-Hispanic white males and 27 percent of non-Hispanic white females. In 1980, Asian Americans comprised only 1.5 percent of the population but Asian Americans consisted of 5 percent of all engineers and 8 percent of all doctors in the United States (Hildebrand, Phenice, Gray, & Hines, 2008). Similar trends occur in international data. The latest PISA (Program for International Student Assessment) survey, an international educational survey conducted every three years by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) released in 2012, indicated the top five overall ranking were Asian students from Shanghai (China), Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and South Korea (Brown, 2013). We would like to learn more about the following: Why do Asian students attain such high academic performance in mathematics, science, reading, and technical fields? Are their achievements related to Asians' parenting style? Are they related to the age old Confucian philosophy that is part of the culture of Asians? In this conceptual paper, we will relate western parenting style literature and concepts involved in Confucianism to shed light on Asians' high academic performance. Parenting Styles: Theories and Literature Based on Maccoby and Martin's (1983) work, the two primary factors or dimensions to determine parenting style are responsiveness and demandingness. …