Asian parenting style is often portrayed as controlling, demanding, and harsh–characteristics most representative of authoritarian parenting (i.e., one of the four main parenting styles, the other three are authoritative, permissive, and neglectful). In her controversial book Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother published in 2011, Amy Chua labels Chinese mothers’ parenting style as “tiger parenting” which is described as strict, restrictive, and emotionally unsupportive. This is not rare in Asian families. For example, Tam and colleagues (2018) point out that tiger parenting has become increasingly prevalent in highly competitive societies, such as Hong Kong. In the meanwhile, there has also been increasing research focusing on parenting in elite families. Sherman (2017) examined the conflicts and interactions between parenting, privilege, and moral worth in elite families in New York. In addition to parenting at home, there is also research studying how elite parents interact with schools. For instance, Howard and Maxwell’s (2021) study shows how elite parents in Taiwan work with the school to bridge cultural differences and plan a future for their children who are determined to be the next elite generation.
https://imgflip.com/i/7bmoz9
Elite parenting in Taiwan is an interesting case to study because it integrates both traditional Asian parenting and Western elite parenting styles. In our interviews with elite Taiwanese students, we see how the two parenting styles combine. In three interviews, the students explicitly talk about the high expectations their parents have for them. They are required to get good grades. However, their parents are almost never satisfied with their grades and always urged them to get higher ones. One student says, “My parents are always like if you get a B-, you better get a B+, A- you better get an A+, something like that,” and the consequence of not achieving their expectations is that they would “want to kill” him. Although this might be an exaggeration, we see how Asian parents could be so demanding and strict. Furthermore, Asian parents also have higher control over the goal of their children. For example, one student complains that his parents always try to “tell me to be, to go in a certain direction,” and another student says that his parents care a lot about “the name of the university” whereas he cares more about his “major.” Although their parents do not directly interfere with their plans, they try hard to influence their children’s decisions. These parents are typical Asian parents who practice an authoritarian parenting style.
Moreover, these Taiwanese parents also practice elite parenting strategies as Western elite parents do. They try to cultivate “an appropriate habitus of privilege” in their children (Sherman, 2017). What this means is that they teach their children to behave “appropriately,” such as by being nice and working hard, while also teaching them how to occupy an advantaged position. In the interviews, the students mentioned the values that their parents emphasize at home. One student mentions trying hard and being thankful and another student mentions respecting elders. These two are both tied to the idea of behaving “appropriately” emphasized in elite parenting as I mentioned above. One other student explains that her family greatly values “service” and that her parents “want to see their children contribute to the community.” This is exactly the second part of elite parenting. When children are in advantaged positions, elite parents try to expose them to less advantaged groups by, for instance, requiring them to do community service. In this way, children will learn what “normal” life is like and also feel “morally worthy” in an unequal society.
In conclusion, how elite parents in Taiwan educate their children is a rather complicated but interesting study. Deeply influenced by Asian culture, many of them practice an authoritarian parenting style. However, in hopes of sending their children to Western countries, they also integrate a more Western-elite parenting style when educating their children.
Most elite schools heavily value extracurricular activities, such as sports and community services, alongside academic excellence. Takau English School is no exception. It emphasizes academics, arts, and athletics in the school culture and aims to shape students to be balanced from different perspectives. Within the school curriculum, all 9th-grade students are required to take a physical education (PE) class. Furthermore, there are abundant opportunities to participate in competitive sports (such as swimming, basketball, etc) after school. Art-wise, the school not only has sufficient opportunities for students to participate in both visual and performing arts but also invites artists from around the world to perform at the school. Takau English School also greatly encourages students to engage in community services.
Lin has been at Takau English School since pre-school. She participates in a variety of extracurricular activities while also holding high expectations for her academic performance. In the interview, she mentioned that the school is very “social service-oriented” because this concept is really popular in their country. They have to do many different types of services, including “creativity services,” “action services,” and “normal kind of services.” The school provides a lot of service trip opportunities to support education in underdeveloped areas of the country. For two years, she taught underprivileged children English, which is part of the school’s service programs. And, on her own, she also did community services outside of school. She had taught underprivileged Hispanic kids English when she was staying in the United States. Besides, when a disaster happened in their city, Lin and her friends volunteered at a relief center and helped victims there. She admitted that participating in community services helps her learn about cultures different from her own and allows her to meet people from different social classes. She really enjoyed doing these.
In addition to community services, Lin also engages in sports and arts to a great extent. She is on the soccer and volleyball teams in school. Outside of school, she is in a youth group and plays piano in the band there. She spends a lot of time at the youth group, so she could not go to extra practices or spend much time with her friends on the weekends. For a while, people around her could not understand why she participated in so many activities until they found that she truly enjoyed these activities. It also took her a while to find a balance between all the activities. She used to feel too overwhelmed and wanted to quit. However, her bonding with other members of the teams made her want to stay, and eventually, she successfully found a balance between her extracurricular activities, social life, and schoolwork. She acknowledged that sports stood out to her when she was asked to reflect back on her educational experiences. She described her soccer team as “a big family” with a “really good supporting system.” She recalled the encouragement from her coach and teammates and her experience from being a bench to an MVP, and she expressed great appreciation for the team.
In conclusion, in elite schools, students are required to be successful in not only academics but also extracurricular activities. They strive to find a balance between these and their social life. Elite schools try their best to train students to become “balanced” people.
As Pierre Bourdieu proposes in his paper “Cultural Reproduction and Social Reproduction,” cultural, economic, and social capital demonstrate a person’s social status and cultural competence, and they can reproduce across generations. However, unlike the other two, cultural capital is more obscure and is often ignored when we try to examine a person’s social class. However, its importance should not be underestimated. Cultural capital is defined as “the accumulation of knowledge, behaviors, and skills” that a person possesses. It is greatly associated with the education, from both school and family, that a person receives. Thus, if someone is constantly instilled with a set of values from a very young age, this person would very likely internalize those values and practice them later in life.
Takau English School, an elite international school in Taiwan, has a service-oriented culture. That means students attending this school would be required to participate in community service through which they should be able to gain a better understanding of social class and a reflection on their own privileges. However, in the interviews, we see that not all students truly understand the meaning of community service, and they have a variety of interpretations of social class–proof of their failure to internalize the values the school tries to instill. Across two interviews, I saw two completely different approaches to interpreting social class and privileges.
In the first one, the student acknowledged that she was born into a privileged family, and she was educated to be in service of the community since she was little. When asked about social class, she recalled her experiences of participating in community service during which she met people from different classes. She was indeed passionate about contributing to the community by helping underprivileged groups. Comparing her to other students, we see two unique features of her that play a significant role in shaping her identity and perception of social class.
Firstly, her family is wealthy and compassionate as they work in the medicalfield. Influenced by her family, she was determined to become a doctor andbe in service to the community in the future. Secondly, she went to Takau English School since pre-school, so she was instilled with service-oriented ideas in school from a very young age. Growing up in such environments, she fully understood the purposes of community service and her own privileged status in society. The education she received from school and her family made up her cultural capital and allowed her to be a true elite (in a good way). Born into the elite class, she was able to internalize the values instilled in her and accumulate cultural capital along the way.
The second student, however, demonstrates a completely different view of social class. He did not believe that he was advantaged even though all students attending this school should be considered advantaged because the school does not provide any financial aid. When the interviewer asked him to define his family’s social class, he answered middle class which he described as having “no difficulty in living and enjoying life.” Besides, he defined the social class as “division based on wealth.” However, in reality, social class is much more complicated than that. Furthermore, when asked about social class, his initial reaction was to recall the wealthiest student he had seen in school instead of people who were less advantaged than him. When mentioning community service, he acknowledged that there were people who are less wealthy but his reaction was that he could not say “‘go there and do something’” to these people. From his responses, I cannot see any awareness of his privileged status or understanding of community service. Unlike the previous girl, he only attended this school for two years. Apparently, he was not able to internalize any of the school’s service-oriented values. Although he was attending this school, he failed to accumulate the cultural capital he could have gained by reflecting on social status.
https://imgflip.com/i/7bmoz9
