Montessori's School could it work?

I found Montessori's educational philosophies, rather interesting. I mean, if you put children (3-6 in age) in a room, and allowed them to master things on their own what would happen. Especially, with the teacher as a onlooker only intervening in extreme cases.

I believe that these schools are a great idea in philosophy. If kids were always respectful of other children and wanted to master every skill, this school would be perfect. However, there are many flaws with this school I believe.

Starting, with natural human behaviors. Children and human's alike are all naturally jealous. If a child is playing with blocks, but sees another playing with blocks and lincoln logs, he/she will most likely be jealous. Then, the first child will naturally want to go take the lincoln logs for themselves. If the teacher is a passive obserever, then who will stop this.

Also, what happens if the child is not working? The teacher is a observer, not an instructor. This means that, they should just watch the child nap or color all day. What if that child falls behind? Then, the main thing i would blame is the child not being instructed. I mean some kids need an extra push, and will not just work by themselves.

Then comes the fact, that if this school works. Then, why isn't there more of them? The answer is parents and teachers agree that while these schools may work for some, they do not for the majority. Also, parents do not want their kids falling behind.

As i said in the beginning, I find these schools interesting. However, I think unless more instruction is used, they'll never work.

Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Development

I read an article on a study that Kohlberg performed. It was a test to see how children at different stages of their moral development would respond to a moral dilemma presented to them. The moral dilemma consisted of a woman who was sick with a form of cancer, and her husband wanted to help find a cure for her. There was a cure that a pharmacist developed, but it was too expensive for them to purchase. The pharmacist put a large mark-up on the product to make money, and refused to lower the price for the sick woman. The husband eventually broke into his shop, and stole the product for his wife. The way the children responded was different based on their age and the stage of moral development they presented. He found the following responses.

There were three levels of development that he observed.

Level one: Preconventional morality

level two: Conventional morality

Level three: Postconventional morality

Level one was broken down into several components. The first form of morality to develop was one where children see moral absolutes, and morals are set in stone. Rules must be followed to avoid punishment. It then adapts slowly to where the children can see the perspective of others, and follow the best course that suits the individual.

Level two was broken down where society is considered important, and one must follow rules that please others. Individuals choices should not hurt relationships.

Level three discussed morality where rules should be developed as a society, and what is best for all should be put into place. People then should follow these installed feelings of doing what is right and justified.

I found this study parallels to what we had discussed in class, about how children go through stages when morality is developed.

Importance of Dreaming

According to Freud, individuals dream as a means of expressing unconscious interests and desires. He divided dreams into two different categories, the manifest content, and the latent content. Latent content is simply what the dream is about. Manifest content is the hidden message, or not realized meaning behind the dream. Freud argues there is more to dreams than what is simply presented. There are unconscious desires or wants, and the dream is there to express those unconscious wishes.

A differing view about why we dream is presented by cognitive theorist. They believe that dreaming is a means the brain uses to sort through information taken in that day. It serves to organize information, to link it, and tie it into memories. As a result, they believe it is a way to organize and sort information that is presented to mind.

This ties into developmental processes, because as the brain develops it encounters many stimuli that are internalized. The brain needs a means in order to organize and link important information. If it did not, thoughts and stimuli would be caotic, and the brain would not be able to maintain a highly organized structure. The complex operations it performs would be lost as well. Therefore, there is some evidence supporting the theory that dreams are a way in which the brain organizes information, and ties into usefull pathways.

Is spanking detrimental to children?

I really enjoyed these articles of contrasting opinions and although my opinion on the subject didn't change, I now look at the debate in a sort of different light. First, It's hard to get empirical evidence on this matter because (1) there are so many other variables to consider as to why kids who were spanked had higher levels of aggression in adolescence and (2) if a researcher was observing parents who spank their kids to collect evidence, at what point is too much and ethical lines are crossed. The interesting thing about the two, however, is that arguement stating spanking was "not" detrimetnal to healthy development seemed to include more facts and statistics than the argument claiming spanking "is" detrimental. The latter argument really didn't place much emphasis on socio-economic status and the violent nature of the parents, if any. The conclusion I came to is that there is no evidence suggesting that not spanking your child will lead to aggressive behaviors, however there really isn't a lot of hard evidence suggesting that spanking your child will lead to aggressive behaviors either. Having said that, I was not spanked as a child (or the recipient of any type of corporal punnishment for that matter) and I still contend I will not spank my children either, for the simple reasoning that I do not believe in inflicting any type of pain to "teach someone a lesson" or "prove who the boss is".

Post-Traumatic Stress in Children

I read an interesting article about post-traumatic stress disorder in children and adolescence. It stated that children can experience post-traumatic stress from situations some may not consider traumatic in nature. It does not necessarily take a child being abused or neglected to cause such a disorder. An example of situations that may cause post-traumatic stress in children may be parents continually arguing with one another, or a new or fearful change in their environment that challenges their comfort zone. The article presented several signs and symptoms that may describe a child who is experiencing the disorder. A child may have recurring or disturbing memories of the event. They may experience increasing levels of anxiety, anger, or distress. They may relive the experience over and over. A child qualifies as having PTSD if they meet three or more of the criteria. The article also suggests if the child does not receive care or treatment it may have severe implications, and possible harm to their development.

I think this is alarming, due to the fact that many parent may not even know if their child is experiencing this disorder. If can cause them severe problems if left untreated. Many families and parents argue continually around their children and very few even realize that it can be causing their child problems. Children are also changing environments continually, especially with high divorce rates, and that may be traumatic to children as well. As a result, I believe more people need to be educated about PTSD, and that the disorder may be taking hold of the individuals who reside within their homes.

Who's In Charge Here?

This article was very interesting and also very good! In my senior year of high school I would go down to our Dwyer Primary School in Anaconda, where I would help out with the first grades. While I was in the classroom, I was very surprised when the kids would come up to me saying they liked my Abercrombie and Fitch shirts or my Hollister shirts. As they talked to me about fashion I was surprised yet concerned as to why they already know what these stores were.

And as I continued to read the article it talks about how our younger generation is so concerned about what clothes they wear, how the do their hair, or what kind of school supplies they bring to school. When I was younger, yes I wanted to fit in with my friends at school but if one day I didn't match or didn't do my hair they never said a word because we didn't care.

I have a cousin who is in the 4Th grade and will no wear anything that doesn't have a name brand on it. I think it's so horrible that she feels this way to fit in with her fellow students. I would have never thought that little kids would be wearing name brand clothing or worrying about any of this until they hit high school.

I believe that parents have a lot to do with this, but then again it's not just the parents fault. If the parent wants their child to fit in then of course they are going to go spend $30 on a tee-shirt of make sure that their children are wearing name brand clothes. Peer pressure is a huge issue in our world today, children are always wondering what others think of them and they try as hard as they can to fit in. I know this because this is how my little cousin is. This worries me because childhood is such a precious time in every one's lives and they shouldn't be worried about anything, especially if they are worrying about fashion or silly little things like that.

Is spanking detrimental to children?

As I read the article assigned to the class discussion it really got me thinking about if spanking of children at a younger age reflects on their older years?

When I was younger my parents never spanked me instead when I got in trouble I would have to go stand in the "No no corner," which was the worst minutes of my life. But yet because my parents didn't spank me when I was bad doesn't mean that other parents didn't. I have a ton of friends who's parents did turn to spanking to punish them and they are some of the sweetest people I know.

I can 100% agree that if some parents took the spanking too far out of hand that yes, when the child being spanked can form into an aggressive adult. I do not think that spanking a child is any way to punish their acts, instead I believe that the "no no corner" or other sources of non violence ways can send the same amount of a message.

I am impressed that in several countries such as Austria, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, and Finland that they banned physical punishment. We have all been to our local Wal-mart where we see parents using some source of violence towards their children, which makes me think what really happens behind close doors? I do not think that violence is the answer to help control your children. So I don't think that parents should spank their children, instead think of other alternatives.