Hong Kong-based Dutch photographer Saskia Wesseling wants to send a message for every tiger mom and change the school system in the country through her art. Although she sees herself becoming like it with her two children, she wants everyone to reconsider playing that role.
With Hong Kong's strict school system and tiger moms pressuring their kids, Wesseling is concerned that by the time these children finish their school, they all feel exhausted. She also worries that these youngsters will lose all the passion and drive that they should have when they start working. "We are just making anonymous children who are no longer individuals," she told the South China Morning Post.
With the guidance of her mentor, Taiwanese photographer Chien-Chi Chang, Wesseling uses her talent in videography and photography to hold a multimedia exhibit. Here, she shows children's faces covered with books. It implies that tiger moms and Hong Kong's school system shoved it onto their faces, and not by their choice.
Wesseling revealed that the Hong Kong children's statistics are terrifying. Some kids in primary schools have lesser time to do outdoor activities than prisoners. About 50 percent of secondary schoolchildren even show signs of depression. "The school systems in Asia have been consistently referred to as a pressure cooker," she added.
Yale law professor Amy Chua coined the term "tiger mom" in her 2011 memoir, "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother." It means a woman who is pressuring her child to excel and attain high-level academical achievements. Although not everyone accepts this term and sees it as a negative remark to mothers, the 56-year-old writer, who is also a mother of two, has no regrets.
"I think our education system is broke," Chua said, per Refinery29. She continued to say that the academic pressure starts from the ninth grade as these young students begin to worry about standardized tests while their parents hire tutors for them.
For Chua, education system today is "no longer an engine for upward mobility like it used to be." It is now high-stakes, and the kids greatly suffer.
Talking about tiger parenting, Chua said that parents should not only have their kids do the math, piano, and violin, among others, as there is too much competition. She advised children to "do anything but that."
Chua's "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother" is said to be reminiscent of parenting's old ways. At the time when Asian parents believed that hard work was the way to reach their children's dreams.
