Cultural Values, Parents’ Beliefs, and Children’s Achievement in the United States and China

Abstract

This paper describes traditional and modern Chinese cultural values regarding educational achievement and how they are reflected in the beliefs of parents and children. Chinese philosophy traditionally has emphasized human malleability and the value of self-improvement. Chinese parents set higher standards and work more often with their children on homework than their American counterparts, and Chinese cultural values help to ensure that children work diligently. These factors may help to explain the superior performance of Chinese children in cross-national comparisons of mathematics achievement.