Abstract Family education means how parents influence their children when they contact with children, which is the basis of school education and social education. It occupies a decisive way in the formation of children’s thinking ways and world view. This thesis analyzes differences in the tendency, values and methods of Chinese and American family education and compares some influences brought from differences between Chinese and American family education. It aims to take advantage of American family education and find out disadvantages of Chinese family education by analyzing main problems and causes of differences in family education between two countries，with which Chinese family can improve their ways of family education.61399

Key words: family education; differences; China and America

摘要家庭教育是指在父母与孩子的交流互动中父母对孩子的影响。家庭教育是学校教育和社会教育的基石,并且在孩子的思维方式和世界观的形成上起到非常重要的作用。本文分析了中美家庭教育在教育倾向性、教育价值观和教育方法的不同，对比由于差异带来的影响，找出各自存在的问题并且分析原因，从中借鉴美国家庭教育的优势，找出中国家庭教育方面的不足，以便改善中国的家庭教育方式。

毕业论文关键词：家庭教育；差异；中美

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. Differences between Chinese and American Family Education 1

2.1 Differences in the tendency of education 2

2.2 Differences in the values of education 2

2.3 Differences in the methods of education 3

3. The Main Problems Existing in Chinese and American Family Education 5

3.1 The main problems existing in Chinese family education 5

3.2 The main problems existing in American family education 6

4. Causes of differences between Chinese and American family education 7

4.1 Different historical background 7

4.2 Different economic mode 7

4.3 Different social conditions 8

4.4 Different traditional culture 8

5. Influences Brought from Differences between Chinese and American Family Education 9

5.1 Influences on forming children’s character 9

5.2 Influences on choosing future occupation 10

5.3 Influences on cultivating talents 10

6. Some Suggestions that Chinese Family can Take 11

6.1 Changing the idea 11

6.2 Creating a fair and democratic family atmosphere 11

6.3 Cultivating children's self-confidence 12

6.4 Combining happy mode with Chinese modes 12

7. Conclusion 12

Work Cited 14

1. Introduction

In Zhao Zhongxin book Household Pedagogy, he defines family education as this: the broader sense of family education is an education implemented among family members while the narrow sense of family education is a kind of education implemented by parents or the elders to have influences on their children and the other young people.(Zhao Zhongxin,2001: 12) Comparatively, Like Harry Chester says in his book Schools for Children and Institutes for Adults (1860), education is the development and training of the human being in all his capacities, spiritual, intellectual and physical…(Harry Chester ,1860:148). In China, people only think family education is that parents education their children while Americans think family education should be implemented among family members, which means parents and children can educate each other. From the definition, there are quite different understandings between China and America. The Chinese researchers only restrict family education to family, but American researchers are not limited to this and they have extended family education beyond home. Moreover, China is concerned more with parents and their children about who have more impact on the other one while America focuses on what the family can teach children.