Traditional Culture and Family Education

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Family structure is the combination of family members and the unified combination of intergenerational structure and population structure in the family. The difference of family structure between China and the West reflects the difference of family concept between China and the West.

China people attach importance to consanguinity, and China's consanguinity intergenerational relationship has three characteristics: strong affinity, strong inheritance and strong persistence. However, in the process of China's modernization, restricted or promoted by the social environment, the family structure in China has undergone tremendous changes, which mainly have the following characteristics: (1) The family size is miniaturized: the nuclear family or small family is on the rise; (2) the main family (referring to families with more than two generations and only one couple in each generation) still occupies a considerable proportion; (3) Diversification of family types: nuclear families are the mainstay, and other non-nuclear small families, such as divorced families, dink families, empty-nest families, single-parent families and single-parent families, are also forming an important part of the urban and rural family structure in China.

Comparatively speaking, westerners don't pay as much attention to blood relationship as people in China. In western countries, the nuclear family is dominant, while the main family is very small. In addition, there are single-parent families, single families, cohabiting families and other forms.

2. The relationship between individuals and families

Influenced by Confucianism, China people have strong family values. Among individuals, families and groups, family occupies an extremely prominent position. In dealing with the relationship between individuals and families, the family is always sacred, and it is the first. Personal interests are subordinate to family interests (and family interests and family interests are closely linked), and the two are often combined into one.

In western culture, individuals and groups occupy a much more important position than families. Family is the basic unit of society, but it can be further divided into individuals. For westerners, man is not only the subject of knowledge and the master of nature, but also the master of society and family. In the relationship between individuals and families, personal interests and wishes are the dominant factors, and family is secondary.

3. Relationships between family members

(1) family role

In the traditional culture of China, the family has created different roles for both sexes, that is, men become the leaders and economic pillars of the family because of their "strength"; Women are born "weak" and can only rely on them. In addition, the traditional concept of "patriarchy" is deeply rooted. Generally speaking, the head of a family is the male master of the family, and women are in a position of assistance and obedience.

Western culture holds the view of gender equality, and holds that the differences between men and women are not natural gender differences, but because of the differences in social requirements between men and women, which lead to their different role needs. In the family, men and women have equal status, respect each other's values, and have equal rights to survival, development and choice.

(2) Parent-child relationship

The parent-child relationship between Chinese and western families is also very different. In China family, children depend on their parents since childhood, and parents make many personal sacrifices for the family, but at the same time, they are required to obey their children and their parents' authority more.

In western families, parents and children emphasize freedom, equality and friendship. Every family member, regardless of gender, age and age, enjoys the status and rights of the master equally.

4. Family education

Family education is an important part of education in the whole country. Both China and western countries attach great importance to family education. But family education in China is very different from that in the west:

(1) Different educational tendencies

In China, parents attach importance to social education and neglect their children's growth. Parents in China attach great importance to the education of social adaptability, but they often neglect to promote their children's growth according to their physical and mental development needs. They often cultivate their children according to the established model, pave the way for their growth and attract all kinds of conduct to them. Western parents pay more attention to providing their children with an antagonistic growth environment, cultivating their children's tough character and good conduct, and constantly adjusting and choosing their own training concepts and methods according to social changes and children's physical and mental characteristics.

(2) The emphasis of education is different.

China's traditional culture embodies life and morality, and attaches great importance to life and interpersonal relationships. Therefore, parents in China have always regarded morality as the highest value orientation of education. Parents cultivate their children's self-cultivation, self-convergence, emphasis on implication and emphasis on hierarchy.

Western culture focuses on knowledge, and cultivating children's interest and creativity is the focus of western family education. They take children's psychological development as the highest direction and stimulate children's curiosity and imagination about nature; Through various fairy tales, children's imagination can be expanded, which is conducive to the creation of knowledge.

(3) Different educational methods.

An important feature of family education different from school education is the education of love. However, perhaps it is because China's traditional culture emphasizes implication, China families are not good at expressing love and emotional education is weak. China's parent-child communication is also very characteristic of China. For example, in China families, the repeated verbal commands to children are "No", "No", "No" and "Should". This is the embodiment of parental authority.

On the contrary, parents in western families often use encouraging language to express their appreciation for their children. They will take time to communicate with their children, listen to their voices, strengthen spiritual communication and pay attention to their psychological needs.

Second, the root causes of differences

1. Different social structures

China's social structure is based on the family, while western society is based on the individual. China people lack group life, attach importance to family life, organize society by ethics, and melt the opposition between individuals and groups, so they are called "ethical" society; Westerners attach more importance to group life than family life, and rely on religion (Christianity) to unify individuals and unite society, thus establishing individuals' independent status and freedom rights, so they are called "individual-oriented" society.

2. Differences in values

Traditional values are the core of culture. China's traditional culture takes social groups as the main body of value and forms a group-oriented value system. Under the influence of collectivism, China people hold that the interests of family, society and country should be the most important, and personal interests can be ignored and sacrificed when necessary. This concept of value has penetrated into China's family relations.

Individualism is the core of western cultural values. Praise human value and advocate the free development of human dignity and personality. Nowadays, the values of individualism have penetrated into every aspect of British and American politics, economy, culture and social life.

Third, cross-cultural communication.

With China's accession to the WTO and rapid economic development, economic and cultural exchanges with western countries have become increasingly frequent. Different values and ways of thinking formed by different social and cultural backgrounds in the East and the West will inevitably bring obstacles to cross-cultural communication. Family concept is an integral part of cultural values, and different family concepts are bound to be reflected in cross-cultural communication and may be misunderstood. In this regard, we should establish the following correct attitude:

1. Understanding the differences

Understanding differences is the premise of successful cross-cultural communication. Because the family occupies an extremely important position in China, many social relations often have the characteristics of family, which can be said to be a family-oriented social relationship or an expanded family network. This has a great influence on cross-cultural communication. In fact, all kinds of comparisons reflect the cultural differences between Chinese and western family values. Understanding these differences will clear up misunderstandings.

Face up to differences

Facing up to differences and understanding each other are the keys to the success of cross-cultural communication. The culture of any nation has its own characteristics, and there is something worth learning from other nations. Therefore, in cross-cultural communication, we should respect the cultures of other nationalities and learn valuable things from other cultures in order to enrich and develop our own culture.