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Photo of Lillian Kao

Lillian S. Kao, M.D, M.S., FACS

Professor

Department of Surgery

UT Health Science Center at Houston

It is both empowering and humbling to see the accomplishments of all of those that I have been privileged to teach.

In "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother," Amy Chua states that tiger mothers "believe that their children can be the best students, that academic achievement reflects successful parenting, and that if children did not excel at school then there was a problem and parents were not doing their job." As a teacher, I feel a responsibility to my students (my "children") to believe in them and to expect the best from them, to invest my time and energy into their lessons, and to share accountability for their learning. In doing so, I take great joy and pride in their successes and commiserate and learn with them in their failures.