Abstract

Family education, an indispensable part in one’s education, is influenced by the culture it is in in terms of educational aims, contents and methods as well. The Joy Luck Club conveys the differences in family education between China and America. This paper will analyze those differences from the three aspects, and will mainly analyze the differences in family education between China and America, including history background, parents’ expectation and traditional culture. The author hopes this paper can provide some insights into family education.

Key Words: family education, China and America, differences, cultural analysis

摘    要

家庭教育是教育中不可或缺的一部分，受文化的影响,家庭教育存在着巨大的差异.本文将以电影《喜福会》中的中美家庭教育的差异为例,从教育目的、内容、方式这三方面对比中美家庭教育，分析历史背景、家长期望和传统文化对中美家庭教育的影响，以期为人们理解家庭教育提供有利的帮助。

关键词：家庭教育；中国和美国；不同；文化分析

1．Introduction：
Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club is a masterpiece in Chinese-American literature, and the story was took movie in 1993. The Joy Luck Club mothers and their daughters have been the focus of research ever since the publication of this book. Some researchers lay emphasis on the relationship between the mothers and daughters while some others believe that it is the writing style that makes Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club a success. For there are conflicts that have been vividly described in this book, some researchers make the conflicts in The Joy Luck Club the theme of their thesis. However, in this paper, family education will be the theme, and it will be interpreted from the view of different values. Since the ancient times, more people pay attention to family education problems. Now almost all the parents care about family education. So we need to rethink what kind of family education is good. First of all, it is necessary to understand the definition of family education
“Harry Chester’s for Children and Institutes for Adults says, ‘Education is the development and training of the human being in all his capacities, spiritual, intellectual and physical……’”In the encyclopedia, the definition of family education explains this way: Parents or elder generation educate the child or teenage in family. “Family Education refers to parents’ influence on the children’s growth in the process of family interaction, and it is the most important part of all educational aspects”.Thus, family education is an important part of the whole education system.