In my mind I grew up thinking the United States and China were entirely different places, but, I came to the realization that I was completely wrong. In “Plight of the Little Emperors”, by Taylor Clark, she goes into great detail about the pressure teens have in China. As I continued to read, I realized that the teenagers in the U.S have a lot in common, with the teenagers in China. The pressure to succeed is, at times, unbearable. In Clark’s essay I found that they find it unbearable, too. Clark talks about the pressure that is on the lives of teenagers in China, but teens in the United States have just as much, if not more. First of all, the parents of the teenagers in China, play a big role on how their teenagers succeed. Clark says, “parents go to such lengths in part because Chinese culture has always emphasized success”, mean while back in the U.S, some are not as fortunate to have such striving parents, making their reach for success even harder, which means the amount of pressure is even …show more content…
China has “magnified versions of the SAT”, “if students do well, they win spots at China’s top universities and an easy route to a middle-class lifestyle” (Clark 353). Yes, we have SAT’s but they do not guarantee us, middle class lifestyles or an easy route of any type. We have a harder road that does not have any guarantees. Their schools are more powerful, giving them something to work for while most of us here, have to work on it our own, and hope for the best. Teachers don’t stress as much about success as they do there and that can seriously impact the amount of pressure on ones self. Clark explains how strict schools are in China and that can make for a stressful couple of years, but the lacking of care from the teachers here, will add to the many stressful events teens deal with and making that reach for success seem further, and further,