Pew Global Attitudes Project

Americans Want More Pressure On Students, the Chinese Want Less

The Parenting Gap: U.S. Versus China

August 23, 2011

With U.S. students underperforming on international tests, most Americans (64%) say that parents are not putting enough pressure on their children to do well in school. By contrast, 68% of the Chinese public take the opposite position and say that parents in their country are putting too much pressure on their children to succeed academically.

A survey by the Pew Research Center's Global Attitudes Project finds that, overall, majorities or pluralities in nearly half of the countries polled believe that parents are not putting enough pressure on their children to succeed in school.

See the full report for more details on attitudes on the subject among Americans as well as country by country findings at pewglobal.org.