This is probably the only thing that Dan Choi and David Chang have in common.
Choi: “My parents always brag about me in church…[My mom] would talk about me graduating from West Point and being a Harvard student and going to Iraq and coming back, being very involved in church, and bragging about all this stuff. They even got to the point where it was like, ”And he’s a tall Korean, too!” Their validation of their existence is through living vicariously and bragging about all these things that I’ve accomplished and done.”
Chang: “Koreans are a funny bunch…They say, ‘This is my son. He’s going to Harvard. He’s going to be an investment banker. He’s going to make $3.4 million a year.’ There’s a Cold War arms race among Asian parents: ‘This is my daughter who finished medical school while an undergraduate and can play Beethoven’s Fifth on the violin with her toes.’ My dad gave up on me long ago, this son who did terrible in school. Now he can throw me back into the ring.”
caroline
/ October 22, 2009You ARE a tall Korean!
But the part where you were an average student at a tiny college is maybe not as bragworthy.