1.Introduction With the hit drama Tiger Mom Cat Dad, there emerged worldwide discussions about family education. And the concern of family education has reached a new level ever since. From the drama, it can be seen that now there still exists a lot of potential problems in family education. There are many types of family education all around the world, and each of them has their special features which are closely related to their special culture. Among them, American family education is the most famous one and the most learnable one. And American drama Modern Family typically shows many aspects of American family education. The study aims to compare the differences and causes of family education between China and America with examples from the two dramas, thus to adapt Chinese family education to a better one and benefit more children in China. 1.1 Research background Although family education plays an important role in a person#8217;s lifetime, there is still not a definite definition of it. In Family Education, Zhao Zhongxin (5) didn#8217;t define it, but he states that ” according to the traditional mind, family education refers to the education and influence of the elders of the family(mainly parents) to their children and other younger people. This is a narrow family education. The generalized family education should be an education implemented to each other by the family members. In the family, regardless of the parents to their children, the children to their parents, or the elder to the young, the purposed and conscious influence is family education.” In the west, there are also some explanations of family education. Some hold that family education is a formal preparation for developing good relationships between parents and children. The others hold that family education is an informal education in order to teach children to learn about knowledge and skills of family life. The president Xi Jinping (2013) said: "family is the basic cell of society, is the first school of life. No matter how the times and life pattern change, we should pay attention to the construction of the family, pay attention to family, family education, and family traditions, "thus, family education also is an important part of education. Family education is the earliest and the most important part in education, which is the foundation of school education and social education. After children go to school, family education is not only the foundation of school education, but also the supplement and extension of school education. The teaching ideas, methods and contents of parents not only directly affect the result of family education, but also have an impact on school education. Education plays an important role in a country#8217;s development. As an important part of education, family education plays an important role in the cultivation of talents. The German educator Frobel also said: "the fate of a country is not so much in the hands of the rulers as in the hands of the mother" It is very philosophical and profoundly pointed out the important role of parents in the education of children. Parents are the first teachers of their children and family education is particularly important. But family education in China still has a lot of serious problems, affecting the healthy growth of the younger generation. When it comes to family education, we cannot forget to mention American family education. The United States, as the only superpower in the world today, has first-class science and technology, which stems from the first-class family education and school education. The researchers in the United States has done a lot of work and managed to improve American family education. The successful experience is worth our using for reference, especially in recent years with the hit drama Tiger Mom Cat Dad. From the drama, we can see that there still exist some universal problems in China#8217;s family education. Because of the long-time one-child policy, the family members will put much more love on the only one child, even spoil him (her). And this will not only create bad effects on the child#8217;s growth, but also will threaten the relationships among the family members. 1.2 Need for the study There are many differences between Chinese and American family education, which are caused by the different cultural background and socialist ideology. It is very important to correctly understand the hidden reasons for the differences, which is the premise of correctly learning form American family education. Through the comparative study on the differences and their reasons, it#8217;s hoped to draw lessons from the American family education so as to improve the family education in China, which still has many drawbacks. Family education plays such an important role in children#8217;s growth that we have to pay much attention to it and strive to improve it. The goal is to bring out the positive impact of it, rather than the negative one. Through the comparative study of two different family educations, we hope to arouse a lot of concerns among Chinese people. Chinese parents can use the American way of family education as reference, thus to find the most suitable way of family education in China, also combined with China#8217;s special national conditions. In doing so, the family education system can be continuously improved, and children in China can get better family education and grow more healthily. The American drama Modern Family and Chinese drama Tiger Mom Cat Dad are two hit dramas in their own country. Family education issues are much involved in them. Based on the two dramas, the study first introduces the definition and characteristics of both family educations, then make a comparative analysis of the differences. Furthermore, the reasons for these differences will be discussed and analyzed. Finally, it will summarize the successful experience from American family education and provide reasonable suggestions for the reform of family education in China. 2. Literature Review 2. 1 Previous studies at home Different educational aims, educational content and educational methods can lead to completely different educational results. The point of view can be clearly embodied and proved by the different results of family education between the two countries. In general, American children have the following characteristics: active personality, the perseverance to overcome the difficulties, the spirit of innovation, strong sense of social responsibility, self-reliance ability (Zhang, 2010). They can exist independently of confidence and courage, as members of their society. In a word, American children are mature in the aspects apart from the intellectual factor and they have strong ability to better adapt to society. In China, although children have better academic performance than American children, they show a negative tendency in their character. Zhang (2010) stated that Chinese children are tend to be passive, dependent, short of the innovative spirit, and they lack of independent ability and awareness. In short, Chinese children generally lack the ability to adapt to society. The result is closely related to Chinese family education. Owing to the different results of family education, many scholars in China have done a lot of research on the issue and made a lot of comparisons. In comparison, there exist different educational aims, educational content and educational methods. About the aims of Chinese family education, parents focus on cultivating children's knowledge education, hoping that children can grow up as national talents, then they can have a good job and a better life. The goal is difficult to achieve and with a strong utilitarian meaning. Chinese parents always have great ambitions for their children, thinking that it#8217;s parents#8217; duty to let their children live better. About educational content, we can have a good knowledge of the content of it in the tradition from Zeng Guopan's Letter Home. In the book, he said that parents should cultivate children#8217;s moral character, knowledge education, and so on (Zeng, 78). In other words, education should pay attention to intellectual education and moral education at the same time. Although family education in China are said to include moral, intellectual, physical and several other aspects, China attaches great importance to intellectual education in recent years. Chinese people put intellectual education on the overriding position, which causes the imbalance of the content of family education. The method of family education means the specific measures and means to complete family education. Choosing what kind of education method is closely related to a nation's cultural traditions, historical background and other factors, and is also affected by the aim of family education. Conversely, whether it is possible to choose and apply the appropriate educational methods determines whether the purpose and content of family education can be successfully completed. In China, affected by the culture traditions, parents have the absolute authority in family, and play a dominant position in the issue of family education. They do not put themselves in the same position with their children, making decisions without seeking the opinions of their children. Education is part of a culture. ”Education has the function of choosing, communicating, and creating culture. Therefore, to some degree, education must reflect with different connotations of the social culture” (Tang Mei, 49). The imperial examination system had impacted Chinese history for more than a thousand years. Although it has been abolished for a long time, some old education ideas still remain in Chinese people#8217;s mind. There are cultural, economical, social and other factors causing these differences. The causes are mainly listed as bellows. The United States is an immigrant country with a short history, and the old ideas retain little. Under the influence of multi-culture, American people can quickly accept new ideas and adapt to new cultures (Wang and Zhang, 2012), therefore, they are full of the spirit of adventure and innovation. In comparison, China has a long history and rich culture, but at the same time, due to the influence of the constraints of feudal ideas, Chinese people lack the spirit of adventure and creative awareness. Furthermore, the children were taught to be obedient throughout their childhood, and also there lacks a suitable environment for new ideas. The United States is a developed country with advanced productive forces and more employment opportunities. Americans have an open outlook on employment and more career choices. So in American parents#8217; point of view, it#8217;s enough for their children to be able to gain a place in society. In their eyes, occupation is of no distinction. However, China is a developing country with a relatively backward economy. There is a large pressure of survival, poor mobility of careers, and less career choices. Therefore, in Chinese people#8217;s mind, whether having a good job determines the happiness of their life. And they hold that a good job comes after a good academic performance, so the intellectual education has been placed on a dominant position. The aim of Chinese family education is to cultivate talents. The United States has good economic conditions and a sound social security system. American parents don#8217;t raise children for their old ages as they can go to the nursing homes when they are old. They believe that they done the duty when develop their child into an independent and responsible person. The child needs to fight for his future by himself. While China is a developing country, the social security system is not so perfect, and there exist some old ideas. Therefore, on the issue of children's family education, Chinese parents consider more about their pension problem of old age and the idea of saving face. They treat their children as their own private property. 2.2 Previous studies abroad The United States have many first-class universities worldwide, and it has close relationship with the close attention paid to the issue by American parents and scholars. American family education focuses on the cultivation of children's independent ability. American parents want their children to be able to adapt to society. This is so-called ”yu ren#8217; in Chinese. Therefore, they attach great importance to the labor training and mind training of their children. They hope that their children can have the ability to survive in the society, rather than just a means to make a living. Family education in the United States is rich in content. American parents pay attention to the comprehensive development of all aspects of children, which can be called "quality education". They stimulate the children's interest and thirst for knowledge, exercise children#8217;s labor, and teach children the good manners and etiquette. They also instruct them to abide by the rules and develop good habits. In the United States, ”Parents mainly use an equal way to educate their children. They respect children#8217;s personality and rights. Children, in the family, are treated as independent individuals. Parents and children are equal.”(Delis, 1982). The democratic and equal relationship is established between the children and the parents. 3. Methodology Before I wrote this paper, I#8217;ve read some works on this subject both at home and abroad, which can be found in the library and on the Internet. Then I will make a careful research into the subject with the analyses of the dramas and the materials I#8217;ve collected. As comparison can help better understand the subject, we will study the differences through a large amount of comparison. In the thesis, I will discuss the differences of family educations in many aspects, analyze the deeper reasons for its existence and put forward some suggestions for the reform of family education. 4. Conclusion Family education as an important part of education owns an irreplaceable position in the development of individuals as well in the social progress. It inherits the culture and also can create culture, thus it has close relations with the development of the whole society. If we absorb good things from the United States to change the situation of family education in China, our society will develop quickly and our country will become stronger and stronger. Because of the importance of family education, educators around the world have been very concerned about family education all the time along. And the thesis is aimed to research the subject and hoped to have some positive impact on the reform of Chinese family education. Works cited [1]Musgrove, F. ”The family, Education, and Society”. London: Rout ledge Kegan Paul, 1996. [2]Zhi, Binuo. ”The Comparison of Family Education between China and the West.” (2012) [3]邵璇,张晶.中美家庭教育观差异及跨文化交际研究[J]. 边疆经济与文化, 2010(04) [4]苏显春.关于当代家庭教育中若干问题的思考[J]. 和田师范专科学校学报, 2006(01) [5]曾国藩.曾国潘家书[M].北京:中国华侨出版社, 2001, 78. [6]张晓亮.浅析中美家庭教育的差异[J].《大众文艺》,2010(23). [7]张威.中美家庭教育方式比较[J].《科技信息》,2008(31). [8]赵忠心. 家庭教育学-教育子女的科学与艺术[M].北京：人民教育出版社，2001,5. [9]赵波.分析当前家庭教育的问题及对策[J].学周刊,2011(19). [10]周静,王永杰.中美家庭教育的差异比较[J]. 科教导刊(中旬刊). 2012(09). Outline 1. Introduction 1.1 Research background 1.2 significance of the study 1.3 structure of the study 2. Literature Review 2.1 The definition of family education 2.2 previous studies at home and abroad 2.3 problems in the previous studies 3. The differences between Chinese and American family education 3.1 Different aims of family education 3.2 Different contents of family education 3.3 Different ways of family education 4. Causes of the differences between Chinese and American education 4.1 Different historical background 4.2 Different economy forms 4.3 Different social conditions 4.4 Different cultural values 5. Suggestions on the reform of Chinese family education 5.1 On the concepts of Chinese family education 5.2 The instructions on the one-child family 6. Conclusion References