In the last week or so, the tech blogs have been filled with responses to Amy Chua’s article, “Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior”.  Strange place to find this article and responses to it, no? I thought so. Maybe techies have a special affinity for their moms :).  Anyway, I found the whole argument and counter argument quite interesting.  I’ve collected all the articles I’ve read on the topic so far and I’m posting links to them here. be warned though, the WSJ links will probably expire soon.

http://is.gd/NVkRCS – The original WSJ article
http://is.gd/M1e75O – A rebuttal on TechCrunch
http://is.gd/GTuvLk – Vivek Wadhwa in BusinessWeek (not a direct rebuttal, but along the lines..)
http://is.gd/EBHtEi – A defence of Western moms in the WSJ
http://is.gd/EDeHCP – Probably my favourite riposte

My own thoughts on the topic? Every mother does her honest best for her children. What the child achieves at end of the day is a combination of luck and hard work (or nature and nurture). If a combination of the right incentives are present, it doesn’t really matter if the mother of a child is Chinese, American, Indian, or British. The child will be successful, regardless.