The contemporary Chinese education is still influenced by the traditional family values. Because of the impact of Confucianism, there has always been an inequality between the status of the parents and children. Parents as the authority are the dominators of the family. Therefore, when making some family decisions, children are forced to follow their parents’ authority, and Chinese parents are more likely to arrange everything for them instead of advising them. Now with the improvement of the living standard and the implement of family planning, many families go to another extreme. Because of only having one child, parents as well as grandparents cherish their kids too much and some are overprotecting their little kids that they meet everything their little king and princess want, give the best things they think to their children, and even take the place of their children to do all the things that ought to be done by their children themselves. This is not good for the children at all, which makes the child self-centered, dependent and willful, and causes another inequality of interpersonal relation of the family as well.
Chinese family education usually pays emphasis on whether their children have a brilliant future, whether their children can find a good job, and whether their children could have a smooth life. And most parents think it is their responsibility to give their children a better life, and for their children, they are willing to sacrifice themselves no matter how painful and tired they are. Therefore, except for meticulously caring for their daily lives, parents also pay particular attention to their children’s intelligence quotient. To them, the priority of children is to study hard and enter an excellent college. Parents pin too much their hope on their children, expecting their children to do the things they failed to do or finish when they were young. “Expecting too high of their children” has became the prominent problem of Chinese family education. Almost every child goes to a cram school in China. And in recent years, children’s skill development has become an important component of Chinese family education. Many parents are not just satisfied with their children’s learning basic knowledge at school, and they arrange a variety of skill training for their children, for example, piano, dance, calligraphy, and so on, fearing that their children would be less competitive than other children in applying for a job in the future. Although most of the parents especially young ones choose training classes for their children on the basis of their interests, there are still some hierarchical parents who go against their children’ wishes. It may be useful for children’s full development in a sense, but the key point is whether these skills are chosen on the basis of the children’s interests or not.
In Chinese culture, if a child is good at learning and always gets good marks at school or wins awards in the competition, it is a great honor of the whole family and it is the best reward for the parents. And as competition is fiercer ever than before, so many young parents also do not want their children fall behind at the starting line. They force their children to compete with others almost in every aspect, healthier food, more expensive clothes, of course, better marks and more certificate of merit. 英文论文论中美家庭文化差异(4):http://www.751com.cn/yingyu/lunwen_18485.html