When he was 8 years old, Michael Wang decided he wanted to go to Harvard. "I don't know if it's the Asian stereotype," he told me, "but I saw it as an avenue to social mobility." Though he wouldn't have thought of it in these terms when he was 8, Michael meant the sort of upper-echelon mobility familiar to graduates of elite colleges. Specifically, he wanted to be a neurosurgeon. Because he was that sort of kid, he read several peer-reviewed articles about cloning and checked the authors' credentials. When he saw that many of the researchers had gone to Harvard, he knew that was the college for him.
From that point forward, Michael's parents made it their life's work to help their only child achieve his goal. Michael's dad-who goes by Jeff-had a sense of what it would take. He'd come to the United States from Shanghai in the 1980s as part of the wave of Chinese students who had emigrated to the West when Deng Xiaoping implemented the Four Modernizations following Mao Zedong's death. Jeff got a PhD in physics from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, worked in banking for a while, and then transitioned to tutoring students in math and science. Today he runs a Mathnasium franchise in Union City, California, where Michael grew up. Many of his students went on to top colleges, and Jeff watched and emulated the parents' tactics. Sociologist Annette Lareau would call it concerted cultivation. Yale Law professor Amy Chua might say that he became a Tiger Dad.
Denne historien er fra January/February 2023-utgaven av Mother Jones.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra January/February 2023-utgaven av Mother Jones.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
HOG WILD
The scandalous reason meat prices have skyrocketed
ALL WALKS
Limiting cars in cities can help disabled people, too.
REMIGRATION
How Trumpism is following the far right in Europe toward mass expulsion of immigrants
SETTLING THE SCORE
A pop psychology book is considered the definitive trauma text. But what if it's leading survivors down the wrong path?
Positive Spin
People with e-bikes drive less, pollute less, parkinglots-and that's only part of why cities and states are embracing them with gusto.
Cradle and All
The devastating cost of Utah's thriving adoption industry
THE BILLIONAIRE WHO NEARLY BROKE NEWPORT
TRUMP MEGADONOR STEPHEN SCHWARZMAN'S EXTREME MANSION MAKEOVER IS DRIVING HIS NEIGHBORS NUTS.
THE SECRET PLAN TO STRIKE DOWN US GUN LAWS
AND THE COP-TURNED-PASTOR AT THE CENTER OF IT ALL
GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK
Election Day inside a bustling broadcast newsroom that no longer exists
MASTER OF DISASTER
Trump won’t confront the climate crisis. He’ll feast off it.