It is a very prevalent stereotype for a non-Asian person to expect Asians to be very hard-working and that their parents are incredibly critical of their kid’s grades. Typically, the latter is often true. However, this traditional way of forcing kids to meet their parents’ expectations is just simply wrong. Instead, I would argue that it is crucial to guide the kids and help them discover and expand their area of interest. The goal of being a successful parent is to preserve a kid’s curiosity and the ability to self-learn. Schools shouldn’t be everything that a kid needs to be successful. It is also imperative to teach kids how to be a person with good hearts and be financially responsible at a very early age. Unfortunately, this is something that most parents tend to overlook.

To make matters worse, Asian parents tend to directly equate their kid’s success in school to their likeliness of success in their future career endeavors. That is a highly skewed and old-fashioned way of thinking. Because in most cases, a parent’s perspective of the world may be vastly different compared to that of a kid. The parents may be inclined to make a biased decision based on their past experiences and then take their kid’s ability to decide for themselves and critical thinking skills away from them. A perfect example is Asian parents’ intense and often absurd emphasis for their kids to be artistically or rhythmically talented. While it is a bonus, it is most definitely not a career-ready or socially responsible trait to have once they step into society. Ultimately, our kid’s life is not a continuation of ours. They should have total control of what they want to be and decide for themselves on the path they wish to take to get there.