The
Wall Street Journal article generated a huge response, both positive and negative. In a poll on the
Wall Street Journal website regarding Chua's response to readers, two-thirds of respondents voted that the "Demanding
Eastern" parenting model is better than the "Permissive Western" model. Columnist Annie Paul, writing for
Time, describes, "[i]n the 2008 book
A Nation of Wimps, author Hara Estroff Marano, editor-at-large of
Psychology Today magazine, marshals evidence supporting Chua's approach: "Research demonstrates that children who are protected from grappling with difficult tasks don't develop what psychologists call 'mastery experiences' ... Kids who have this well-earned sense of mastery are more optimistic and decisive; they've learned that they're capable of overcoming adversity and achieving goals". Ann Hulbert of
Slate remarked on Chua's "shocking honesty about tactics. She has written the kind of exposé usually staged later by former prodigies themselves ... [Chua] is a tiger who roars rather than purrs. That's because no child, she points out, naturally clamors for the 'tenacious practice, practice, practice' that mastery demands."
MSNBC stated that the article "reads alternately like a how-to guide, a satire or a lament". MSNBC's critical response goes on to state that "the article sounds so incredible to Western readers—and many Asian ones, too—that many people thought the whole thing was satire ... [but] aspects of her essay resonated profoundly with many people, especially Chinese Americans—not necessarily in a good way". In the
Financial Times, Isabel Berwick called the "tiger mother" approach to parenting "the exact opposite of everything that the Western liberal holds dear".
David Brooks of
The New York Times, in an op-ed piece entitled "Amy Chua is a 'Wimp'", wrote that he believed Chua was "coddling her children" because "[m]anaging status rivalries, negotiating
group dynamics, understanding
social norms, navigating the distinction between self and group—these and other social tests impose cognitive demands that blow away any intense tutoring session or a class at Yale".
The Washington Post, while not as critical, did suggest that "ending a parenting story when one child is only 15 seems premature". Others have noted that the
Wall Street Journal article took excerpts only from the beginning of the book, and not from any of the later chapters in which Chua describes her retreat from what she calls "Chinese" parenting. Author
Amy Gutman felt many have missed the point of Chua's book, which she described as "
coming of age", and states the controversial examples shown in the book "reflect where Chua started, not who she is today, and passing judgment on her based on them strikes me as a bit akin to passing judgment on
Jane Austen's
Emma for her churlish behaviour to Miss Bates. Like Emma's, Chua's narrative has an arc. It's a coming-of-age story—where the one to come of age is the parent".
Jon Carroll of the
San Francisco Chronicle felt the excerpts in the
Wall Street Journal article failed to represent the content in Chua's book and states that "the excerpt was chosen by the editors of the Journal and the publishers. The editors wanted to make a sensation; the publishers want to sell books" but "it does not tell the whole story." A spokeswoman for the
Wall Street Journal told the
Columbia Journalism Review that "[w]e worked extensively with Amy's publisher, as we always do with book excerpts, and they signed off on the chosen extract in advance". On March 29, 2011, the
Wall Street Journal organized an event called "The Return of Tiger Mom" in the
New York Public Library. This event discussed different aspects of child-raising, in a more nuanced and sensible manner, compared to controversy which the book had previously provoked. Amy Chua's husband,
Jed Rubenfeld, and their two daughters also attended the event. Rubenfeld, who has become known as "Tiger Dad", said that he does not believe the Tiger Mom education method representative of Chinese education, but rather a more traditional old-fashioned style. He and Chua expressed a more liberal attitude compared with the
Wall Street Journals article, while still stressing the importance of discipline in a child's early years. The book was on the
New York Times bestseller list from January 30 to April 10, 2011.
Chua's defense Chua has openly confronted criticism in print and during her
book signings. In a follow-up article in the
Wall Street Journal, Chua explains that "my actual book is not a how-to guide; it's a memoir, the story of our family's journey in two cultures, and my own eventual transformation as a mother. Much of the book is about my decision to retreat from the strict 'Chinese' approach, after my younger daughter rebelled at thirteen". In an interview with
Jezebel, Chua addresses why she believes the book has hit such a chord with parents: "We parents, including me, are all so anxious about whether we're doing the right thing. You can never know the results. It's this latent anxiety." In a conversation with
Die Zeit, Chua says about her book: "I would never burn the stuffed animals of my children—that was a hyperbole, an exaggeration. I have intensified many situations to clarify my position". She adds that the book "was therapy for me at the time of a great defeat".
Reaction by Chua's daughter Sophia On January 17, 2011, an
open letter from Chua's older daughter, Sophia Chua-Rubenfeld, to her mother was published in the
New York Post. Sophia's letter defends her parents' child-rearing methods and states that she and her sister were not oppressed by an "evil mother". She discusses some of the incidents that have been criticized as unduly harsh, and explains that they were not as bad as they sound out of context. She ends the letter saying, "If I died tomorrow, I would die feeling I've lived my whole life at 110 percent. And for that, Tiger Mom, thank you." == In popular culture ==