Want to grade my parents? Check my report card!

I came across an interesting article on the 'Oriental' style of parenting that I thought deserved some discussion. The full article can be read by copying and pasting the link below (I tried hyperlinking, but it didnt work):

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704111504576059713528698754.html?mod=WSJ_hp_us_mostpop_read

The article is pretty long, but I cited it so that it can be confirmed that what I'm inferring from it is in fact true. The author, Mrs. Amy Chua, proudly states the things that her daughters are not allowed to do, and how she is ensures that her children will be successful when they grow up. She goes on to suggest that her techniques and discussions are Chinese in that they are mostly Asian, and that when she compares her parenting style to her Western counterparts, she just means parenting that is more 'loose' than hers.
I have a lot of personal issues with Mrs. Chua's extreme parenting techniques, but aside from just that, her defense on why her approach is better is baffling to say the least.
To suggest that the only way to ensure success in children is to be extremely strict, insulting, belittleing, blackmailing, threatening, and superficial is outrageous. She suggests, or claims rather, that academic success is the only way to judge good parenting. So clearly, any student that performs horribly in school has horrible parents.
She further states that 'Western' parents care too much about their child's self-esteem and self-worth, and not enough about their success. How can one acheive the latter without the former two? Aren't those necessary ingredients to attain confidence and motivation to perform better?
I'm not sure if this is how all Chinese parents think, but if it is, then I can safely state that their kids lead very very sad and monotonous lives. If individuality and uniqueness is not promoted at home, how is the child supposed to realize their strengths, weaknesses, true passions, interests, etc? Are they all supposed to be robotic in nature and have one single goal of being number one in academics? Let's get real, there can only be one number one. Durrr.
I don't agree with a lot of the Western philosophy on life. I don't agree on giving up when it's too hard, or having a fragile psyche that hurts my character everytime I hear something negative about myself, but I definitely don't think that doing the exact opposite is the most effective way of parenting. Being insulted and called "garbage" just because I can't solve a math problem under 30 milliseconds is ridiculous. I think most 'Westerners' would agree with that statement.
I have excelled and gotten straight A's all throughout my academic career, but that was not due to good or bad parenting, but due to personal motivation, drive, and competence. Success is not simply measured by good grades, but by excelling in your passion. I consider myself pretty Asian in my beliefs, but if being Asian means being a cookie cutter parent with cookie cutter kids, I guess I'm as occidental as it gets!