History Main / EducationMama

The diametric opposite of the OpenMindedParent is the Education Mama, a mother (and it's usually, but not always a mother) who is obsessed with her children's education and pushes them to succeed academically, particularly in a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) field, no matter the cost. She will shell out thousands of dollars to send her kids to private school or move to another town with good schools, and her kids will be forced to surrender their social lives in the pursuit of good grades (CramSchool may be involved). And [[BerserkButton God help her kids]] if any of them [[TheBGrade gets anything less than an A]] or ADegreeInUseless.

* ''Series/LawAndOrderCriminalIntent'': Robbie, the title character from the episode "Bright Boy", had an extreme version. Robbie did have above-average intelligence and could likely have excelled academically in an environment where his abilities were properly nurtured, but he was more properly suited to be an honor student and class valedictorian, not an academic ChildProdigy starting college before most kids start high school. His father, however, was convinced he ''was'' a child genius and pushed him well beyond what he was actually capable of. Goren's investigation eventually reveals that Robbie's father repeatedly cheated on behalf of his son and yet, despite this fact, [[IRejectYourReality he somehow continued to believe that Robbie's genius was real]].

* ''Series/LawAndOrderCriminalIntent'': Robbie, the title character from the episode "Bright Boy", had an extreme version. Robbie did have above-average intelligence and could likely have excelled academically in an environment where his abilities were properly nurtured, but he was honor student-smart, not an academic ChildProdigy. His father, however, was convinced he was a child genius and pushed him well beyond what he was actually capable of. Goren's investigation eventually reveals that Robbie's father repeatedly cheated on behalf of his son and yet, despite this fact, [[IRejectYourReality he somehow continued to believe that Robbie's genius was real]].

* ''Manga/KaguyaSamaLoveIsWar'': Shirogane's mother valued education above all else and constantly pushed him and his little sister to excel, [[MissingMom eventually walking out on the family with Kei]] because she was the only one who showed promise (though Kei is back to living with her brother and father in the present for reasons that have yet to be explained). [[spoiler:Part of the reason why Shirogane is so obsessed with being the number one student in the school (aside from feeling that it's the only way that Kaguya would acknowledge him as an equal) is that he secretly hopes that his mother will come back for him if he's successful.]]

* In IsaacBabel's ''Literature/OdessaTales'', [[TheEdwardianEra Edwardian Age]] poor Jews from Odessa push their boys to learn music, the violin being their instrument of choice. Even if the kid had no musical talent at all. They scrabbled together their last coins to pay for a violin and music classes, seeing the musical career as one of the few paths out of [[CrapsackWorld the miserable existence in the Tsarist state]]. When the hero's father finds out the boy had dodged the music classes, he chases him with openly expressed murderous intentions.

* ''Series/LawAndOrderCriminalIntent'': Robbie, the title character from the episode "Bright Boy", had an extreme version. Robbie did have above-average intelligence and could likely have excelled academically in an environment where his abilities were properly nurtured, but he was honor student-smart, not an academic ChildProdigy. His father, however, was convinced he was a child genius and pushed him well beyond what he was actually capable of. Goren's investigation eventually reveals that Robbie's father repeatedly cheated on behalf of his son and yet, despite this fact, he somehow continued to believe that Robbie's genius was real.
* ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'': When a teenage girl is murdered, investigation reveals that her father was a particularly brutal example of this trope. She and her sister were forced to kneel on grains of rice on the basement floor while their father drilled them on different topics. It also turns out that the girl's killer was her roommate from her incredibly prestigious school, who killed the victim out of jealousy because she felt that ''she'' needed to be the best or else she was a failure. It's implied that most of the students at that school have similar backgrounds (if only because the school's mentality was similar to that of this type of parent, which would have attracted those parents and potentially put off others).

Contrast: ParentalAbandonment, OpenMindedParent. Compare JewishMother and MyBelovedSmother. Can turn your child into a WellDoneSonGuy if all goes according to plan. If it goes pear-shaped, it can lead to a YouAreGrounded moment, or worse still, [[{{Angst}} teen angst]] or [[CoolPeopleRebelAgainstAuthority teen rebellion]]. In the worst cases, particularly in East Asia, the end result is [[DrivenToSuicide attempted suicide]], [[TheRunaway running away from home]], becoming a {{hikikomori}} or some other variety of TheShutIn or even [[TheDogBitesBack snapping out]] and [[SelfMadeOrphan committing violence against the parents]].

* Amy Chua's ''Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother'' is a tongue-in-cheek how-to guide for Education Mamas. The book chronicles her attempt to raise her children in the standard Chinese overachiever tradition (but in America!), and the inevitable culture clash that ensues.

* In ''VideoGame/PotionPermit'', Xiao used to go to the arcade as a kid, but his strict parents banned him from doing so and pressured him into studying.

* This is [[ControlFreak Riddle's]] FreudianExcuse for all his actions in ''VideoGame/TwistedWonderland'': his mother micromanaged his life to the extreme to ensure his success in his studies and punished him for the smallest rebellions against it, resulting in his rule-obsessed attitude in the present.
* This is Mafuyu Asahina's main issue in ''VideoGame/ProjectSekai''. Her parents have basically planned out their daughter's entire life for the forseeable future, and to that end, they push her study hard and take "meaningful" extracurriculars so she can become a doctor, while also "nudging" her away from people and activities they deem inferior, all while being "gentle" about it to discourage any potential rebellious behavior. The end result is that Mafuyu is a BrokenAce: the image of a perfect student on the outside, but suicidally depressed and emotionally stunted on the inside. They also happen to believe music is a waste of time, and [[spoiler:Mafuyu's mother throwing away Mafuyu's synthesizer]] ultimately results in the rest of [=N25=] discovering her plight and coming to her aid.

* In ''Series/{{Bunkd}}'', the AsianAndNerdy Tiffany has one of these (although in a subversion of the stereotype, her mother ''isn't'' Asian). She wants Tiffany to go to medical school at Harvard, therefore Tiffany has been prohibited from doing anything remotely fun or enjoyable for her entire life. She herself is a scientist, who is researching [[TheSleepless a cure for sleep]] since she believes anything that takes eight hours per day away from studying can't possibly be healthy. She also hid all of Tiffany's Christmas presents from Santa, telling her that he only gives presents to people who have gotten a paper published in an Ivy league journal. The only reason she allowed Tiffany to come to camp in the first place was that Tiffany told her it was an educational camp for child geniuses. When Tiffany tries [[CallingTheOldManOut Calling the Old Woman Out]], she dismisses Tiffany's feelings as nonsense. [[FreudianExcuse After all, her own mother treated her the same way, and look how successful she turned out!]] She has a HeelRealization and agrees to ease up a bit when Tiffany points out that Grandma's treatment of her ruined their relationship and they don't even talk to each other anymore.

* The ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode "The God Complex" implied that Rita grew up in a household like this. Her worst fear is her doctor father's disappointment in her grades, despite the fact when we meet Rita she's already a doctor.

* ''Franchise/SuperSentai'' doesn’t so much use this trope, as it deconstructs it.

* In ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'', the parents of Julian Bashir are so ambitious for their son that they subject him to dangerous and illegal genetic modification to enhance his intelligence with the intention of advancing his career.

The diametric opposite of the OpenMindedParent is the Education Mama, a mother (and it's usually, but not always a mother) who is obsessed with her children's education and pushes them to succeed academically, particularly in a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) field, no matter the cost. She will shell out thousands of dollars to send her kids to private school or move to another town with good schools, and her kids will be forced to surrender their social lives in the pursuit of good grades (CramSchool may be involved). And [[BerserkButton God help her kids if any of them]] [[TheBGrade gets anything less than an A]] or ADegreeInUseless.

The diametric opposite of the OpenMindedParent is the Education Mama, a mother (and it's usually, but not always a mother) who is obsessed with her children's education and pushes them to succeed academically, no matter the cost. She will shell out thousands of dollars to send her kids to private school or move to another town with good schools, and her kids will be forced to surrender their social lives in the pursuit of good grades (CramSchool may be involved). And [[BerserkButton God help her kids if any of them]] [[TheBGrade gets anything less than an A]] or ADegreeInUseless.

* ''ComicBook/RobinSeries'': Jack Drake manages to combine this with being a mostly absentee parent by using his son's "poor" grades as a reason to force him to transfer schools. For the record, Tim was implied to be a straight-A student though he needed extra credit to get there in his Literature class.

* ''WebOriginal/LoomingGaia'': Like many kids in the Empire of Damijana, Jeimos was raised by such parents. They made them learn teleportation due to it being the most complex kind of magic despite Jeimos being more interested in transmutation, and also made them take robotics classes, piano lessons, and classes for twelve different languages.

While it is a problem in many countries around the world, this trope is especially pervasive in East Asian families, due to the existence of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_examination Imperial examination]], a standardized test you could take in China that was absolutely necessary for a position as an ObstructiveBureaucrat, one of the cushiest, most respected and most well-paying jobs then available. (The topic of the test was the writings of and about the great philosopher Creator/{{Confucius}}, meaning that theoretically anyone who could read had a shot at a government job. Needless to say, competition is fierce.) Many of the other nations in China's cultural shadow adopted this system, giving rise to the stereotype that all Asian parents are like this. Such parents have been given the name "Tiger Moms" (Traditional: 虎媽, Simplified: 虎妈, Pinyin: hǔmā) in Chinese, and specifically ''kyoiku mama'' (教育ママ) in Japanese. With the increase in migration, this trope takes on a whole new meaning in migrant diaspora - a fear of their children being locked out from opportunities.