Q: What do POTUS, the Tech Museum, and Dr. Zuckerberg have in common?
A: NOT Amy Chua
Let me explain…
In President Obama’s State of the Union speech on January 25, 2011, he stressed the value of innovation in keeping the U.S. competitive in the global economy. (And a strong economy is what gives us JOBS, which makes for good lives and an optimistic future for all Americans.)
Obama said:
“We know what it takes to compete for the jobs and industries of our time. We need to out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build the rest of the world…
The first step in winning the future is encouraging American innovation.
What we can do — what America does better than anyone else — is spark the creativity and imagination of our people…
We need to get behind this innovation.”
I can get behind this thinking.
"The Tech" - Museum of Innovation in downtown San Jose, CA.
So can The Tech.
The Tech Silicon Valley Innovation Gallery
In this exhibit, the principles of what it takes to be an innovator are displayed. They are:
+ Curiosity
+ Faith
+ Nerve
+ Determination
+ Creativity
+ Fun
+ Tenacity
+ Vision
+ Commitment
+ Confidence
The type of environment that encourages innovation is:
+ Communication
+ Trust
+ Synergy
+ Acceptance
+ Freedom
Another exhibit at the Tech Museum:
Exploring the playful side of invention and the inventive side of play.
It is important for children to play!
Kids playing AND learning at the Robert N. Noyce Center for Learning at the Tech Museum.
I can get behind this kind of thinking.
Likewise, Dr. Edward Zuckerberg, a dentist from Westchester, NY, said this (in a radio interview earlier this month) about parenting his 26-year-old billionaire son, Mark “I stole the FaceBook idea” Zuckerberg:
“Probably the best thing I can say is something that my wife and I have always believed in…rather than impose upon your kids or try to steer their lives in a certain direction, to recognize what their strengths are and support their strengths and support the development of the things they’re passionate about.
I think that extremes in any form in parenting are not good. Children need to be well rounded. There’s a place for work and a place for play.”
I can get behind his thinking.
But not so Amy Chua’s. Here are some of her parenting rules:
* No play dates.
* No sleepovers.
* No school plays.
* No grades less than an A.
* Must play violin or piano.
* Cannot play any instrument other than a piano or violin.
* Cannot play computer games or watch TV.
(I won’t get in to her methods of enforcing these rules, such as being “compulsively cruel” with “brutal demands, verbal abuse…” that she admitted to at her book signing at the Hillside Club in Berkeley, CA on 1/20/11. Pardon me while I go puke.)
Suffice to say, I cannot get behind Ms. Chua and what she provides for the future of America—the squelching of creativity, innovation, freedom—and allowing the human spirit to soar in its own way. I think her parenting methods are the antithesis of what has made America great.
Let the Chinese have their oppressive parenting styles. I’ll take the American version like Dr. Zuckerberg’s—guiding and supporting.
I agree with you. Somewhere in the middle! I do think ferrying children from activity to activity, too much TV or computer time, and indulging a child’s every whim is NOT good, but being a dictator and denying children any fun in life is just plain sadistic! My daughter and her husband live very simply. My 10-year-old grandson does karate and plays the drums but they have no TV (just one to play DVDs on). He does jigsaw puzzles and plays with Legos and spends lots of time outside adding to his birding life list (my daughter is a naturalist and his other grandmother is an ornithologist) and he seems to be doing just fine.