Abi Gewirtz, assistant professor in the Department of Family Social Science, spoke with the Los Angeles Times about parenting and Amy Chua’s controversial memoir, “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother.” “Battle Hymn” describes “Chinese parenting” techniques that, as Chua says, would seem “legally actionable” to many Westerners, but have granted her daughters great success.
Gewirtz agrees that setting challenging goals for children is crucial, but expectations need to be reasonably tailored to each child. “If you push a kid to do well, and they’re good at it, they benefit,” she says, “[but] not every kid can be at the top of the class.”

Read more from professor Gewirtz and the book at the LA Times.