Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior, By Amy Chua

There are many different understandings of how a children is grown to learn and have the knowledge to succeed academically. Several people portrait a different image of their children’s potential and ability to achieve success. In Amy Chua’s essay “Why Chinese Mothers are Superior,” she writes a memoir of how she raised her two daughters following the Chinese culture. She describes what she did to help her daughters to achieve success academically even though her method was harsh. She did what was necessary for them to be at their best which meant thinking about their future. Those thoughts about the future are counterfactual thoughts of what your options are that may happen in the future according to Alison Gopnik’s writing, “Possible Worlds: …show more content…
In Gopnik’s reading, there are people who believe that “Even when young children pretend or imagine they can’t distinguish between reality and fantasy: their fantasies, in this view, are just another kind of immediate experience. Counterfactual thought require a more demanding ability to understand the relation between reality and all the alternative to that reality”(164). Adults believe that children do not have the knowledge to tell apart what is real or fake. Only a person with experience can understand the relation between reality and fantasy is what most people think. Leading to the reason why most parents make decisions for their children because they believe they know best for them. They think for their future just as Chua has done for her daughters. Chua thinks counterfactually about the future of her daughters often because she believes “Chinese parents … know what is best for their children and therefore override all of their children’s own desires and preferences” (54). Chua wants her daughters to succeed no matter what, even if she makes every decision for them that will be beneficial to them in the future. She makes them do all the hard work until they excel in it while she thinks counterfactually about their future. Since she believes that she knows what’s best for her children by making every decision for them and, not giving them what they want but what they need to succeed. Chua believes that if she is making the decision for her daughters it would be better for them rather if they do it on their own. She does the counterfactual thinking for her daughter’s future while they do the hard work to succeed. Chua’s experience with going to a university and becoming successful she wishes for her daughter to achieve the same and to accomplish that wish she makes their decision for them. As most people believe that children don’t have the right