>Should she further the "achievement" of her child through cultural conformance and obsession with "achievement" and corresponding status, or is it her who needs to find her own voice, not defined by external validation.
'Voice' and 'validation' are inextricably intertwined in a social being. She is finding her own voice within this piece. Indeed, I rather admired her self-awareness and questioning of her own assumption and influence (culpability?) in the problem she was addressing.