Comparison between
Chinese and American Family Education
Abstract
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. Because of the different social systems, culture backgrounds, education aims and so on, family education for the children are different in many aspects between China and America.
This article will compare Chinese with American families in differences in educational aims, content and teaching method, what's more, analyze some reasons for these differences.
Key words: children, parents, family education，Chinese ,American
1. Introduction
Geert Hofstede, a master engaging in cultural studies, defines the word "culture" as "collective mental programming" possessed by people in the same environment. This program differs since people have different ways of thinking which derive from diverse educational background and work. From this, the significance of education in cultural differences can be seen. In additions, children are the hope of nation and "family education" is the earliest lesson children took. So it’s important to compare our family education with others and develop it.
2. Main different of family education
First, there exists great difference in educational conception and purpose between Chinese and American families.
Chinese parents produce a great impact on children’s future. They often design a future for children, no matter they like it or not. The largest parental
expectation to children is that they work hard and try to be promising. And parents would like to spare their no efforts to provide children with a more favorable growing environment——for they believe that everything they've done deserves if children get a better future.
And during this process of giving, "good marks" are gradually considered as the only mission and goal on the path of development. At the same time, they ignore their children’s extraordinary abilities, damage their imaginations. Nevertheless, the largest expectation of American parents is to encourage their children to be a social man. “Social man” is not a utopia idea, but a requirement which is practical and easy to achieve. They pay much attention to train their children’s independent ability. They provide children with more freedom, inspiring them to develop through experience. American children take part-time job during their spare time. For example, they do house cleaning; send newspapers to make money for the cost of living.
Second, their teaching method diverges a lot.
The method in China is often no more than the mode of "Teaching by holding his hand". Parents prefer to directly telling children the results, rather than show the process. Over time, they will suffer from psychological dependence, ignoring the importance of self-exploration. And that's why most Chinese students lack of creativity.
What’s more, Chinese parents pay more attention to class lessons than learning in life. we can find the following scenes easily: Parents take their children to various kinds of lessons after school.
On the contrary, American parents pay attention to practical training, emphasis on training children in practice instead of preaching. Parents always let children do what they want and like to do. And it is this kind of method that cultivate their autonomous learning and spirit of innovation.
Besides, in American, children take part in all kinds of activities; do a lot of outdoor exercises. There are a lot of good places for them to do exercises. In the process of playing, the children develop their intelligence, such as
imagination, judgments, communication with other people and emotion adjusting and so on..
But, undeniably, American indulgent type of family education also has harmful affections. Over indulgent education made a lot of social problems, such as, teenage crime.
Third, the content of education also accounts for the difference.
The differences of family education between the two countries are also reflected in the contents of family education. Although the contents of Chinese family education can also divided into moral education, intellectual education, physical education and artistic education, but intellectual education has been the most important one since they go to school.
However, the contents of American family education are abundant, which pay more attention to the harmonious development of language, emotion, knowledge and so on. It is so-called “education for all-around development”.
3. The reasons for the differences mentioned above:
Reasons results in these differences are as followings. Firstly, China and America have different traditional culture. China, with a long history, has a sort of cohesive and conservative sense. By contraries, America is a nation of immigrants’ culture, in which people like accept new ideas. Secondly, different economic form and social conditions led to the different. American parents think a useful person is better than others. They see educating child to be an independent, conscientious and kindhearted person as their duties.
Conclusion
These above are the analysis on differences between Chinese and American family education. There is no point saying which kind of education is superior. 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 destiny have great relationship with family education and children’s education determines nation's prospect. We would improve ourselves continuously only if we could find out our weaknesses in this comparison and learn from the best.
References:
《The Aims of Education same areas of controversy 》 薛连
《美国家庭教育启示录》 李盈
《论中美家庭教育的差异》 曾芝
《中美家庭教育差异-英文版》 新浪博客
作者：王路 （[1**********]2）
环境科学与工程学院
环境工程2009级
Comparison between
Chinese and American Family Education
Abstract
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. Because of the different social systems, culture backgrounds, education aims and so on, family education for the children are different in many aspects between China and America.
This article will compare Chinese with American families in differences in educational aims, content and teaching method, what's more, analyze some reasons for these differences.
Key words: children, parents, family education，Chinese ,American
1. Introduction
Geert Hofstede, a master engaging in cultural studies, defines the word "culture" as "collective mental programming" possessed by people in the same environment. This program differs since people have different ways of thinking which derive from diverse educational background and work. From this, the significance of education in cultural differences can be seen. In additions, children are the hope of nation and "family education" is the earliest lesson children took. So it’s important to compare our family education with others and develop it.
2. Main different of family education
First, there exists great difference in educational conception and purpose between Chinese and American families.
Chinese parents produce a great impact on children’s future. They often design a future for children, no matter they like it or not. The largest parental
expectation to children is that they work hard and try to be promising. And parents would like to spare their no efforts to provide children with a more favorable growing environment——for they believe that everything they've done deserves if children get a better future.
And during this process of giving, "good marks" are gradually considered as the only mission and goal on the path of development. At the same time, they ignore their children’s extraordinary abilities, damage their imaginations. Nevertheless, the largest expectation of American parents is to encourage their children to be a social man. “Social man” is not a utopia idea, but a requirement which is practical and easy to achieve. They pay much attention to train their children’s independent ability. They provide children with more freedom, inspiring them to develop through experience. American children take part-time job during their spare time. For example, they do house cleaning; send newspapers to make money for the cost of living.
Second, their teaching method diverges a lot.
The method in China is often no more than the mode of "Teaching by holding his hand". Parents prefer to directly telling children the results, rather than show the process. Over time, they will suffer from psychological dependence, ignoring the importance of self-exploration. And that's why most Chinese students lack of creativity.
What’s more, Chinese parents pay more attention to class lessons than learning in life. we can find the following scenes easily: Parents take their children to various kinds of lessons after school.
On the contrary, American parents pay attention to practical training, emphasis on training children in practice instead of preaching. Parents always let children do what they want and like to do. And it is this kind of method that cultivate their autonomous learning and spirit of innovation.
Besides, in American, children take part in all kinds of activities; do a lot of outdoor exercises. There are a lot of good places for them to do exercises. In the process of playing, the children develop their intelligence, such as
imagination, judgments, communication with other people and emotion adjusting and so on..
But, undeniably, American indulgent type of family education also has harmful affections. Over indulgent education made a lot of social problems, such as, teenage crime.
Third, the content of education also accounts for the difference.
The differences of family education between the two countries are also reflected in the contents of family education. Although the contents of Chinese family education can also divided into moral education, intellectual education, physical education and artistic education, but intellectual education has been the most important one since they go to school.
However, the contents of American family education are abundant, which pay more attention to the harmonious development of language, emotion, knowledge and so on. It is so-called “education for all-around development”.
3. The reasons for the differences mentioned above:
Reasons results in these differences are as followings. Firstly, China and America have different traditional culture. China, with a long history, has a sort of cohesive and conservative sense. By contraries, America is a nation of immigrants’ culture, in which people like accept new ideas. Secondly, different economic form and social conditions led to the different. American parents think a useful person is better than others. They see educating child to be an independent, conscientious and kindhearted person as their duties.
Conclusion
These above are the analysis on differences between Chinese and American family education. There is no point saying which kind of education is superior. 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 destiny have great relationship with family education and children’s education determines nation's prospect. We would improve ourselves continuously only if we could find out our weaknesses in this comparison and learn from the best.
References:
《The Aims of Education same areas of controversy 》 薛连
《美国家庭教育启示录》 李盈
《论中美家庭教育的差异》 曾芝
《中美家庭教育差异-英文版》 新浪博客
作者：王路 （[1**********]2）
环境科学与工程学院
环境工程2009级