American vs. Chinese Child Rearing

Krystle Hawkins
July 13, 2014
ANT 101 Introductions to Cultural Anthropology
Christopher Deere

In different cultures, there are different styles of child rearing practices. “Child rearing practice is the process of promoting and supporting the philosophy, emotional, social, and intellectual development along with the educational experiences of a child from infancy to adulthood. Parenting refers to the aspects of raising a child aside from the biological relationship” (Webster, n.d.) Parenting is rooted in not only where the child grows up and lives in but also it has a lot to do with the child’s childhood experiences. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention cultures can have a Hugh affect on the practices and parenting styles. For example, culture that both parents that share parenting responsibilities and work full time are really different from a culture that has a stern disciplinarian father in which he is the breadwinner of the family will actually have different types of affects on child- rearing practices. Child rearing is broken down into four categories, which are Behavioral Expectations, Affection, Education and Physical Punishment.
In this paper, I will be comparing Chinese and American child- rearing. I find after researching the both of them, they are quite different in a lot of ways. Chinese child rearing philosophy are to have a very organized system where the government take on the responsibility of teaching and bring the children up and they parents have the responsibility of bringing their children to school to learn. The Chinese government policy is one child per household in which they actually prefers that the upbringing and the education of the child be left of to them, as they believe that they are the best to teach the child and teach them discipline. Religion is taught in the home, if religion is taught at all, because the Chinese government strongly discourages the teachings of religion. The government accepts Buddhism because it is believed it allows the mind to focus and it is a form of mediation and it also gives a form of discipline.
American child – rearing is believed to be perceived as being not so strict. A lot of people believe that Americans let their children do whatever they want as long as they are not bothering the parent. Even though parents are much more lenient than Chinese they are still very concerned that their children are raised right with morals, traditions, values, family, friends and with good hearts. Americans tends to have a place that they go to for worship, which they can attend without having political persecution, fear or personal persecution. Mrs. Kennedy once said "I looked on child rearing not only as a work of love and duty but as a profession that was fully as interesting and challenging as any honorable profession in the world and one that demanded the best that I could bring to it." (Kennedy, 1995, p. 121) Education has always been a top priority in America, as a lot of the different presidents have tried to focus on bettering the education system, so that American children and adults can receive one of the best educations there is. President Kennedy once said, "A child miseducated is a child lost."("Education Reform: A Moral Imperative, Remarks | U.S. Chamber of Commerce", n.d.) Recently concerns were raised that American children were falling behind other countries children and that they are far below other countries in science and math and they were barely competing with then in language skills and reading. It is believed that American parents works over 80 hours a week just to make sure that their children have everything they need not thinking about the emotional strain that place on the child or how it affects the children when they never see their parents or when they have someone that they do not even know raising them, i.e. a nanny. It is believed that "Today's family is built like a pyramid; with all the interfamilial rivalries, tensions, jealousies, angers, hatreds, loves and needs focused on the untrained, vulnerable, insecure, young, inexperienced and incompetent parental apex . . . about whose incompetence our vaunted educational system does nothing." (Kubie, 1960)
There are different traditions in the American culture than it is in the Chinese culture. In America Christmas is the biggest religious holiday of the year. Christmas is suppose to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, but as the time has went on it is found that Christmas has now been commercialized and Americans have associated Christmas with bright lights, extended vacations and gifts, but I do still believe that the children are still made aware of what Christmas is about and why Christmas is such insignificant holiday in America. In the Chinese culture Buddhism is one of the major Chinese religions. Buddhism is the only religion that the current government will allow as it is seen to be a useful tool to focus and collect energy and thoughts as well as to clear the mind and produce a moral attitude while being respectful. There are many holy days that are special that are held throughout the year by the Buddhist community. Buddhist in which other significant dates in the Buddhist calendar as well as the birthdays of Bodhisattvas in the Mahayana tradition celebrates a lot of these days. The most significant celebration happens every May on the night of the full moon, when Buddhist all over the world celebrate the birth, enlightenment and death of the Buddha over 2,500 years ago. It has become to be known as Buddha Day.
In different societies diverse approaches are seen to be wrong or crazy because it is not understood and its different from what they have been taught. In china children are educated and raised to respect and believe in their community and authority. Their religions and traditions are acknowledged privately, if they are able and or willing to acknowledge them at all and while doing that they are not allowed to let it greatly influence their public lives.

In America, children are educated and raised as individuals; problem solving and creativity are encouraged. The influence of tradition and religion vary greatly from individual to individual, and they have choices to make, and with the moral support of friends and family, they succeed or fail on their own. It becomes difficult to qualify in a general fashion how the two affect the "average" American's decisions and life choices.

Reference Page
Webster, M. (n.d.). Rear - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Retrieved July 9, 2014, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rear

Kennedy, R. F. (1995). Times to remember. New York: Doubleday.

Education Reform: A Moral Imperative, Remarks | U.S. Chamber of Commerce. (n.d.). Retrieved June 30, 2014, from https://www.uschamber.com/speech/education-reform-moral-imperative-remarks

Kubie, L. (1960, March 7). Child rearing. Newsweek.

Buddhist Holidays and Festivals. (2013, January 1). Retrieved June 28, 2014, from http://www.urbandharma.org/udharma3/holidays.html

Crapo, R. H. (2013). Cultural anthropology. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education.