Abstract: There are many types of school education in the world. Each of them shows distinctive features and is closely responsive to its culture. China and America both pay great attention to the education, but differs much in culture. America is a country with distinctive multicultural traits, while China has a profound and long-history culture. Therefore, this thesis chooses Chinese and American school education to study cultural differences. There are great differences in educational systems, educational environment and relationship between teachers and students between Chinese and American school education. This comparison first analyzes the differences from these three aspects, and then tries to explore the causes of the differences from two aspects, thinking patterns and cultural values. Through theoretical and comparative study, this paper proves that culture really influences school education and school education of different countries, in turn, can reflect different cultural values.
Key Words: Chinese school education; American school education; culture tradition; differences

摘  要：世界上有很多类型的学校教育，并且各自都有其鲜明和独特的特点，反映了其独特的文化。中美都是教育大国，在文化上又各有特点。美国是一个文化多元的国家，而中国文化博大精深且历史悠久。因此，本文选择中美学校教育来研究文化差异。研究从教育体系、教育环境和师生关系三方面来对比中美学校教育，并从思维模式和价值观念两方面重点分析产生差异的原因。本文通过理论研究和对比研究证明文化对学校教育确有影响，不同国家的学校教育也体现着各自不同的文化价值观。
关键词：中国学校教育；美国学校教育；文化传统；差异

English novelist Marry Webb once described education as a window for people to get in touch with and understand one nation’s culture. In other words, there is a very close and inseparable relationship between culture and education. Education is a kind of particular cultural phenomenon. Different cultures give birth to different educational concepts. In other words, culture determines the way how education is dealt with. Education, as the carrier of culture, spreads culture from generation to generation and makes it prosper.
As a result, education could be a good start if we want to learn about a certain culture. A profound study of a certain culture’s education would be much helpful for the understanding of the culture itself. Thus this thesis puts the focus on Chinese and American school education and tries to explore the differences and similarities between the two cultures.