twas many a moons ago, that i first read of the chinese style of parenting. it created a media frenzy across the globe and caught the attention of the western media like none else before it. i half expected to hear some amazing magic having been conducted under the stars to aid the lead given by the chinese child over his peers elsewhere on this globe. instead i heard the ordinary. i heard of spankings and beatings, minor only to my own as a child. i heard about deprivations and lack of play, a concept many a black child in africa knows first hand by name. alas, the chinese form of parenting, was mild in comparison to the daily reality of nigerian parentage, and i began to wonder why our strict fathers and their whips did not turn us on the path of global leadership...instead fostering rebelion in our loins. the difference between black and chinese parentage lay bare upon interview given by the author of a book that had caused this furore. she brought forth unto the ears of the world