In previous posts in this series, I looked at how Canadian parents differ from their Chinese, Swedish, French, Indian and American counterparts in what they value in their children, based on data from the World Values Survey.
Today I’ll be doing something a bit different: Comparing what parents in India and China, the world’s two largest countries, want for their children.
On its face, one might expect the two countries to be quite similar in their parenting values. In terms of their economic situation, both countries are quite similar — once poor nations that are rapidly developing and modernizing.
However, the data suggests that while there are some key similarities between the two countries, there are also key differences.
Not surprisingly, the one big similarity between the two countries is how much they value hard work — it’s the most valued trait in both countries by a convincing margin. This is in stark contrast to Canada, by the way, where Hard Work comes fourth.
But what about the differences?
Obedience seems to be much more important to Indian parents than Chinese ones (56% to 16%). as is religious faith (42% to 2%). The latter is not much of a surprise given China’s official state atheism. But I was a bit surprised that obedience doesn’t rate more highly for Chinese parents.
And what do Chinese parents value more than Indian ones? Thriftiness for one (69% to 56%). And, somewhat surprisingly, Tolerance (67% to 56%). This last one surprised me a bit as I would have thought tolerance would be a more important value in multi-faith India than in China, which is relatively homogeneous. Although perhaps that’s precisely the point: It’s a lot easier to teach tolerance in a place where it’s not regularly tested.
Chinese vs. Indian parents: How do they differ? | Vancouver Sun
Compare this to the Western Countries,
