ABSTRACT:Family as an elementary unit of society is the first environment where children are educated and guided to keep in touch with society. Family education is the foundation of school education and social education，which is an important part in the whole educational system. Early education in family has the profound influence on the formation and development of someone’s personality, ability and attitude towards to life. Its function is irreplaceable. The success of family education relates to children’s life closely. This paper will research the ideas of self-confidence, self-determination and guiding education in American family education via analyzing Little Miss Sunshine and introduce American family education from the concepts, purposes, contents, and ways. Hereby, it will show the main features about the culture of American family education to the readers and make the English learners and the fans of American culture to know American family education culture more clearly and more completely, which will be helpful to their English expression and cultural communication. At the same time, the findings of this study will also expected to provide some useful enlightenment to other countries’ family education. 

Keywords: Little Miss Sunshine; America; family education; individuality

TABLE OF CONTENTS

摘要

ABSTRACT

1 INTRODUCTION-1

2 LITERATURE REVIEW-3

2.1 The Definition of Family Education-3

2.2 The Research on Family Education-4

2.2.1 The Overseas Research on Family Education-4

2.2.2 The Domestic Research on Family Education-5

2.3 A Brief Introduction about Little Miss Sunshine-6

3 THE IDEAS OF AMERICAN FAMILY EDUCATION REFLECTED FROM LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE-8

3.1 The Ideas of Self-confidence-8

3.2 The Ideas of Self-determination-9

3.3 The Ideas of Guiding Education-10

4 THE AMERICAN FAMILY EDUCATION REFLECTED FROM LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE-12

4.1 The Cultural Background of American Family Education-12

4.2 The Family Education Concepts of American Parents-13

4.3 The Purposes of American Family Education-15

4.4 The Contents of American Family Education-15

4.4.1 The cultivation for children’s independence and adaptability-16

4.4.2 The cultivation for children’s integrated development-17

4.5 The Ways of American Family Education-18

4.5.1 The way to diversify children’s personality-18

4.5.2 The way to respect children’s right-19

4.5.3 The way to establish an equal communication between kids and parents-20

4.6 The Enlightenments of American Family Education-21

5  CONCLUSION-23

REFERENCES-25

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS-26