The comparison of Family Education Between China and America

Education means the activities of educating or instructing; activities that impart knowledge or skill. Family Education is parents educating their children in daily life, through their body talk, lifestyle, emotion, communication and so on. Then family members influence each other the whole life. When we born, family is our first school, parents is our first teacher. The Family Education is related to a person's life. Nowadays, social development needs high qualified talents and good Family Education is the key point to the high qualified talents. The book called Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua has caused a debate about cultural differences in Family Education. What Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother reveals is that the Chinese just have a totally different idea of how to teach their children. Western parents try to respect their children's individuality, encouraging them to pursue their true passions and providing a nurturing environment. The Chinese believe that the best way to protect your children is by preparing them for the future and arming them with skills, strong work habits, and inner confidence. Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother chronicles Chua's iron-willed decision to raise her daughters, Sophia and Lulu, her way-the Chinese way-and the remarkable results her choice inspires. In the book we can see many differences in Family Education between China and America. 

In China, parents pay much attention in children’s education. They give their children a high expectation. When a baby born in a Chinese family, his parents often design a future for him, no matter the child likes it or not. That is to say, Chinese parents would enforce their children living under the designed future instead of considering children’s feelings and abilities. Chinese parents would like to provide everything what they can for their children in the process of children’s growth. In short, they would like to sacrifice anything if their children can live better with their help. Therefore, in the process of children’s growth, the most important thing the parents concerning is to developing their children’s intellect, except for caring children’s daily life. In order to make their children have a good performance in study, become outstanding, or even become a famous person in the future, they would not let children do anything except studying. The examination becomes the only way to judge the children. Parents pay attention to children’s school performance, but ignored the behavior of children at home. The instructing children obey their parents and grow up as their parents expecting, the others against their parents and choose the way they wanted to go. We have to admit that the traditional Family Education is cultivating a large number of outstanding Chinese, but Family Education also needs to keep pace with The Times, adapt to the development and the demand of The Times.

In order to let the children recognize that they are the masters of themselves, American parents will give their children enough freedom and will not make decisions for them in most cases. American parents willing to respect and understand their children’s feelings, thus, they always think carefully about their words and choose the appropriate time to educate their children. American takes happy learning serious. But, in fact, happy learning is good when children are young. Only pay attention to happy, parents may find that children’s learning levels are declined. For example, some students who get used to happy learning can’t calculate without calculator. American think that every member in a family, he or she should had his or her own space. In their opinions, they can’t interfere with each other even they are in a family. And when a person is 18 years old, he may leave his parents. It means his has little time to stay with their parents. So they have less responsibility to their parents.

The purpose of this paper is to study the present situation of the Family Education of China and America, find problems, looking for the reason of the problem and finally be more suitable for the children to grow up. The difference in Family Education of China and America shows in three aspects. They have different aims, contents and methods. Every child grows up under his parents’ Family Education, what kind a person will be, depends on what kind of Family Education he received. Children’s character and behavior are connected closely to Family Education. For the family, for the children, for the parents, we should change the wrong conception of Family Education and correct it at once.

2、outline

1. Introduction

2. The Family Education in China

2.1. The advantages of Chinese Family Education

2.2. Main Problems in Today’s Chinese Family Education

2.2.1 The Excessive Expectation of Children’s Education

2.2.2 Restrict Type of Family Education

2.2.3 Careless of Family Education

3. The Family Education in America

3.1. The advantages of American Family Education

3.2. Main problems in today’s American Family Education

3.2.1 Indulgent type of Family Education

3.2.2 lack of communication

3.2.3 Pay too much attention on sharing

4. The comparison of Family Education between China and America

4.1 The comparison of the aims of Family Education

4.2 The comparison of the contents of Family Education

4.3 The comparison of the methods of Family Education

5. Conclusion

3、References

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