Academic

A few weeks ago, one WSJ excerpt sparked a nationwide parenting discussion and inserted the term "Tiger Mother" into the common vocabulary.  Law professor Amy Chua's new book, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, became an instant NYT bestseller, and news stories about her, her family, or the national debate would grace the covers of magazines from Time to People.  Well, here at the Glom we thought it was strange that all kinds of folks were chiming in (David Brooks?) while we knew a big passel of other law professor moms who might be able to speak to the topic from experience.

So, we rounded up a whole bunch of rockstar lawprof moms with school-age children or younger to give us their take on the book on Monday, February 21.  Usha, Lisa and I are chomping at the bit to blog about this a little more, and we've told the Glom Dads that they can certainly chime in as well.  Joining us so far are Mehrsa Baradaran (BYU); Lyrissa Lidsky (Florida); Sarah Lawsky (UCI); Jennifer Collins (Wake Forest); Andrea Schneider (Marquette); Erica Hashimoto (Georgia); Michelle Harner (Maryland); and Miranda Fleischer(Colorado).  I think the median number of children in that list is three, so there's a lot of fodder there.  Like Prof. Chua, some of our participants have parents from other countries (Lyrissa and I are from West Texas, which may count as well).  Like Prof. Chua, some of our participants have law professor spouses.

Just so you know what to expect, everyone is going to speak to the book.  Not the author's family life or personal biography, even if some of our participants know her personally.  We are going to speak of the daily balance that law prof moms face not only of work time and family time but also of inspiration and unconditional love.  How does a mom sit on an admissions committee, seeing that the average admit to her alma mater has a near-perfect gpa and then go home and tell her child that grades aren't everything?  How do we prepare our kids to mix in any sphere they want, including the ultracompetitive sphere we inhabit, while preserving their spirit?  These are hard questions for me, and I'm looking forward to hearing everyone else's take on both the book as memoir and the book as challenge.

We're also interested in what our readers have to say, so we hope you jump in on the comments!