When people tear apart the Tiger Mom book because they think overachievers miss out on important things, they miss the core point of the book. The author admits that something was wrong, but she just can't help herself.
He's an American middle class poseur. Consciously or unconsciously he rejects middle class values so that he not be confused for them, the bourgeois. Neither poor people nor rich people have this kind of bile, because the first are not going to be mistaken for it and the second don't care if they are.