One of the most captivating topics we’ve discussed this week is the controversial concept of “Nature vs. Nurture. “ Which one is it? Has the society in which we live in molded us into the individuals we have grown to be? Or have we develop into who we are today due the upbringing of our parents? Some may argue behind the concept of “Nurture;” those who have raised us have had a significant impact on our personalities, traits and characteristics. Nevertheless, some may feel strongly about the idea of “Nature;” the “culture” in which we are a part of has influenced our perspective on life. In other words, the things we wear, what we eat, how we interact with one another, in sum, our everyday norms are due to the society we live in. First and foremost, I must say I was mainly in the midst of both theories. Though the world around us does have a vital impact on what we’ll become in the future, our perspective of the world depends on the perception we’ve received has a child. Moreover, “Nature” is more so the dependent variable whereas “Nurture” is the independent variable as to what I’ll lives will shape into. But more profoundly, after viewing the video above, which shows the outcomes an adult can have on a child, I am leaning more towards the ideas surrounding “Nurture.”
We’ve all heard the phrase “a child’s brain is like a sponge.” Hence as the video shows, children truly do absorb a vast amount of what is taken place around them. The video, intensely, captures the awareness of children to in fact act out what they see by those closest to them. For instance, the scenes show a child abusing their mother after seeing what appears to be their father performing the same act, or a child smoking a cigarette along with their parent, interestingly enough they even throw some slight humor by showing a child flipping the bird to a driving after road rage between the driver and the child’s mother. Nevertheless, the way children are nurtured truly does have a strong influence on who they’ll become, regardless the societal factors they’re placed in and culture they live. This video is a true testament to that..
This was my favorite discussion in class this week, had you not written about this I would have. Although we spoke about it briefly, I love this topic. It is obviously very controversial. I, like you are also in the midst of both ideas but I can say I side with nurture.
I definitely agree with this video. I truly believe that children do what they see. I’ve seen it for myself and constantly have heard it from those around me. I currently work at a pediatrician’s office and am obviously constantly around kids. Most of the time the only interaction I have with the kids are hi and bye but even in those situations you can see the resemblance of their parents and how they have raised them. For example we have a patient who’s mother is always very friendly, always asks how we are and brings us food. Every time the child comes to the office he too always asks us how we are and is very friendly. About a week ago he had an appointment, at their arrival his mother told us that she had forgotten to get us something to eat and her son insisted she turn around and go back to the store. This child has constantly seen his mom be kind and generous to us and he demonstrates exactly that.
The idea of nature, I think also plays a role in one’s life. I feel like there are traits you are born with that aren’t instilled in you as a child. Just like I’ve seen situations like the one mentioned above, I have also seen children that have been “raised” by their brothers or sisters and had little to no guidance in their lives. I have seen these children throughout the years grow up to be exemplary. Of course I believe that the absence of their parents will have an impact on their lives, but the nature of the people they are can never be taken away.
I strongly believe that newborn babies are goodness and purity in heart. They don’t know what’s right or wrong. It’s up to parents and guardians teaching them to be goodness.
After watching the video, i agree what Barry Jones wrote in the article, “Children see, Children do”. In the video, the kids are learning to do what their parents doing. The nurture has great impact on the growing of the children. First of all, the parents are the main trust for the children. Then follow by teachers and media news such as television and radio. Children only trust their parents the most. When a kid watched the parents from doing something, they just do the same. Children easily absorb what their parents doing and learn from the schools. Some minors of children may learn from their friends and classmates. In the video, it shows the kid abused his mothers because his father was doing it. Another kid is smoking a cigarette because her mom is doing it and her kid is watching and learning it. So nurture is parent’s main responsibility.
Minority of children doesn’t get influenced by exterior factors such as environment, media, and friends because their parents were doing a great job of teaching their kids. Parents teach them talking and basic life habits when they are kids. In the video, the last example shows that the father helps a woman to pick up the falling items on the ground and the boy is following up to help also. Every parents should watch the video and learn a lesson.
I agree with you. “A child’s brain is like a sponge.”We can see a child is like a blank paper, and for the child how to grow up depends on how society affects him or her. Child will observe others and learn from others. Sometimes the gene has nothing to do for the kids whom they will become; almost time they are influenced by our culture. For example, if a person who born in African, if he or she stays in Africa, then his or her behavior will be like an African act, if he or she moves to the United States when he or she is a kid, then his or her behavior will be like an American do, if he or she was come to China in his or her childhood, then he will act like a Chinese person. In this case, it is none of the DNA’s business; this is how the culture affects him or her. I think that children’s identity is closely related to what culture they connect with.
Kids lack the basic information for what they do, what they can’t do, and how to do the things which around them. Therefore, they have to learn from other people every day, such as family members, classmates, and teachers. Therefore they look at others and may act or react the things and people in our environments as a result of the meaning they attach to them. Therefore, learn from others is a key experience for kids to make a functioning human being.
Family and other individuals that children are surrounded by play a remarkable and important role in the behaviors the child will possess. I do believe that both nature and nurture helps a person become who they are but I believe nurture has a bigger role. We become the people we are through witnessing different things, experiences, the people we surround ourselves with, our environment, etc. All these components shape the being we are. If a person lived in one country with different values to another, they would be an entirely different person.
In “Learning the Student Role: Kindergarten as Academic Boot Camp” by Harry L. Gracey, the text described how teachers organize an environment and system that will teach kids the way to behave in a classroom setting and hopefully beyond. But I feel as if some parents rely to much on the teachers to mold their kids in a certain way and forget that it’s just as important in the earlier stages to set a good example. Similarly, in the commercial posted the viewers see children following their parents every move. For example, when the parent was smoking, so was the child. Kids will follow the actions of their parents because they see them as a role model. I remember as a child, I wanted to be just like my mom and would copy the way she would talk and act around people. A child’s ideas and beliefs easily come from their parents because it’s what is present in their household. Parents’ actions portray to their children how to socialize, behave around other individuals, and make personal decisions.
The nature vs nurture debate has been an ongoing debate for a long time now. Are we the product of our innate characteristics?That is, what we experience and feel is based on our genetic material or is it the society in which we live in creates who we are as an individual?As what most people said, there is no right answer to this debate; nature and nurture are both important when explaining humanistic behaviors.
I would say nature and nurture are independent of each other. Nature is something you are born and stays with you for life and nurture is caused by interaction with the environment and adapting to it. I agree with the phrase “a newborn child’s brain is a sponge,” innocent and empty like an empty slate. For children, parents are their first role models and they will have a strong attachment to them. Because of this attachment, most often they will follow their parents shoes and do what they do. I’m sure we’ve been asked at one point in our childhood what we want to do when we grow up. A common response was, “When I grow up, I want to be like daddy (or mommy)” This shows how parents raised their children to look up to them.
However, I am leaning towards the side of nurture having a greater influence on an individual in the later years of his life. As we grow up and start making decisions for ourselves, we rely less on our parents. As we gain more exposure in society, we make our decisions based on what we have heard, saw, or experienced. We make rational (or sometimes irrational) judgments and then we evaluate or decisions. Further years down the line when an individual decides to have a family, he or she too will make decisions. These decisions will all reflect on the experiences he has accumulated in the past.