Has it been a week?

Oof. No good. I'm starting to slack with this blog.

Was busy at work this week, but this Amy Chua book caught my eye. Haven't read it, but it sounds like the idea is that she attributes the success of Asian students to the hyper-disciplined attitudes of Chinese parents. Kids don't play much and they don't make their own choices, but they work nonstop and then they succeed.

I was also raised by immigrant parents, and I think much of what she attributes to Chinese parents can properly be attributed to other immigrant groups. Many Americans come to expect success and prosperity as a given, but non-Americans who were raised with a lower standard of living know more acutely that it is not. Nothing is a given, and as many relatively educated Americans are discovering today, the standard of living that we've been accustomed to enjoying is not always easy to maintain. The rest of the world wants a piece of our lifestyle, and with jobs and information crossing borders with ease, it's easier for them to get it.

Now, as a lawyer who went to a reasonably high-falutin' law school, I've met plenty of "successful" people. Some of them are extraordinary, but perhaps a few more are dull and underdeveloped. When you push hard to develop one aspect of your personality, others atrophy. Amy Chua, for example, adamantly opposes her children playing any instrument besides piano or violin. Perhaps there's prestige associated with those instruments not attributable to the trombone. But frankly, Amy Chua's orchestra, no matter how technically proficient, would suck. Jimmy Hendrix didn't play the violin, and Bill Clinton played the saxophone. Having a little personality is not to be avoided at all costs.

Amy Chua's children will succeed. And yes, maybe American children focus too much on self-actualization, to the extent that we lack basic skills. And if we lack basic skills, our lifestyle will deteriorate. But if you deny yourself worldly pleasures in their entirety in order to succeed, you are foregoing a higher quality of life to attain the success you will eventually obtain. And when you get there, will you know what to do with it? Why be successful, if you can't enjoy the quality of life it provides?

Fuck it. I'm going to go play the banjo.