The moment you set up your kid to be chasing after academic results is the time your kid will be mediocre. The kid will be thinking of getting good grades then a good job (there is just too much opportunity cost of rejecting a job). There is nothing more pathetic than aspiring to work and enrich someone else. There is always someone who can do better than you at a lower price. The real-world system no longer reward the education system like in the past. PHD taxi drivers can attest to that.
There is nothing wrong with good honest work, but that should not be the sole aim of education. The purpose of education is to bring out the best in a person where his interests and passion lie and be in the field or start a business to be successful. Most people i know hate their jobs (regardless of salary), are married with kids and work for the sake of putting food on the table and clamouring for material wants all because they studied for something they had no interests in, at the instructions of their parents and the worst part is they know they will live out their lives feeling this way. Guess what, they are doing the same to their kids and they and their circle of friends are miserable.
Many will say it is hard, near impossible.. of course it is, the route to achieving happiness is meant to be hard, that's what make the result that much sweeter. This post isn't meant to demean and to put down, but to inspire one, if you will. If you are still young enough, no kids, not married.. there is still chance to lead your own life instead of your parents' wishes, however good their intentions were, it is not their life and you are the one having to live it out. If you are one of those tiger parents, you were probably brought up the same way or subconsciously, you wish your kid to accomplish things you never could do. To some people, that's why they have kids and push them so hard, they were mediocre themselves.
