Family Background Influence

陳雨茗

When I was in middle school， my parents recommended me to read a book called The Kite Runner. It tells the story of Amir， a young boy from the Wazir Akbar Khan district of Kabul， and has a closest friend Hassan.The Kite Runner is a father?son story， emphasizing the familial aspects of the narrative. There is a pivotal scene depicting an act of violence against Hassan that Amir fails to prevent. The latter half of the book centers on Amir's attempts to atone for this transgression by rescuing Hassan's son over two decades later.

At that time I felt confused about the plot， now after I thought back in these days studying， I realized the deeper meaning through sociology family eduction plays an important role in our lives. Amirs father raised Hassan and told Amir to treat him as his real brother， so after that Amir raises Hassans son to compensate for his mistake.

In our modern society， there is a large number of population and because of one-child policy， the population is aging. In this case， children are seen as the hope of family and all the parents hope their children to get higher degrees， then also a good job to raise the family. The children are put under great pressure and they are forced to become excellent. Thus， family expectations of education are playing a considerable role in this process. Good family support could help children to be better than they supposed， while misdirected family supports may cause irreparable consequences. In the following paragraphs， I will share one of my friends， Cloriss， opinion about how family influences her identity and her future goals.

Cloris is a 17-year-old girl who lives in a middle class family in Beijing. Her mother is a middle school teacher and her father is working in an electric power company. To study the influence of the family on an individual， he/she should have distinct traits that are formed by its unique family.

Cloris could be a good example that relates to this topic. We spent an hour on interviewing on these following questions and she was glad to tell me how her family influenced her in both the identity and future goals. Through her answers I understood more how families will shape who you are.

When in middle school （around 12）， she became to realize that she was different from other classmates. During their daily studying， Cloris noticed that there is great competition among peers. Even though she was dreaming about top universities andstudying really hard， it was still difficult for her to get a satisfactory grade. In this case， her parents began to suggest her to go abroad for university. As a result， she accepted this idea and chose to go to Dalians international school for preparation. She made this decision mostly because of her family?because since she was young， her parents instilled in her the idea of a good university and she at least had to enter Tsinghua University， otherwise she would be letting her parents down. So she had a strong and clear goal about where to go.

Cloris thinks its actually the right choice for her to study in Dalian because she feels pretty suited for the teaching system at this school now， and she could definitely choose to study abroad， if she can choose again. She is still willing to study here because its now easier to maintain and develop her interests and goals. The system at the Canadian international school in Dalain allows students to develop various kinds of skills， not only studying skills， but leadership skill， management skill， and communication skill as well. She is glad that she can learn these important and useful skills via participating in different kinds of school activities.

Cloris thinks her parents made a good suggestion for her. Although her parents did not give her much support on daily study， they helped her make the right decisions when facing vital turning points though. For example， they decided to let her learn to play lute when she was in kindergarten， learn to dance in primary schools， learn English in middle school and attend international high school. Family education strategies actually played an important role in her life.

Two writings gave me a deeper understanding of the influence of family on education： Ann Hulberts “ Re-education Chinese higher Ed reform” and Brook Larmers “Inside a Chinese Test-Prep Factory”. Both articles discuss the Chinese education system and how parents decisions make differences for their kids. In Hulberts article， although Meijie didnt get a high mark in Harvard， they were still proud of her， its made clear when the author writes， "Her parents had stood by， a little stunned， as their intrepid daughter won distinction in an unusual way， by accomplishing all kinds of things outside of the classroom.” It reveals that Meijies parents are open-minded and always support their daughter. They didnt put grades as the most important factor to measure their child. This kind of good family education helped Meijie to get higher achievements.

However， things are totally different in Maotanchang， the test prep residential school， where the parents take kids grades seriously and have a strong hope that the children would achieve their goals. For example， “My mother constantly reminds me that I have to study hard， because my father is out for construction far from home to pay my school fees.” The room went quiet for a minute. They all knew this would be the boys fate too， if they failed to do well on the Gaokao. “Dagong，” Yang said. “Manual labor.” He and Cao would have to join Chinas 260-million-strong army of migrant workers."

This quote initially illustrates that Yangs parents are and they want their son to change his future life through a different example of how family education will influence their kids. These two examples together

In conclusion， the articles and the example of my friend make me have a deeper connection between a persons identity and family education.

陳雨茗

年齡：17

城市：大連

就讀學校：大連楓葉國際學校

年級：高三

目標專業(yè)：社會學

這篇文章是關于家庭教育如何對個人性格或習慣的塑造帶來影響的，主要從采訪兩位熟識的同學入手，通過深入觀察她們行為習慣的不同來分析不同家庭教育觀念和背景是如何塑造個體的。我在日常生活中發(fā)現(xiàn)不同家庭的人對待事情有不同的觀念，這使我產(chǎn)生了想要深入研究的想法。借助此次暑校，讓我有機會學習到淺析這一話題及現(xiàn)象的方法，并對社會學有了更深刻的了解與認識。