There is an inner voice which emerges at age six. This inner voice determines right and wrong, but it also emits feelings of morality. Some children feel this voice early on in life, while others do not. These sentiments create emotional stability for a person. Feelings of love, compassion, and kindness all stem for this sensible "voice."
There is not a direct correlation between social-economa-strata (S.E.S.) and the prevalence of this voice. Some of those born as an elite have gone on to have emotionally impoverished lives. Some of the most loving parents have had unmoral children, while some poor abused children in the ghetto have turned out to be world-renowned human rights activists.
While knowledge of right vs. wrong is determined by the pattern previously set by one's parents, morality is not. A child develops a sense of morality based on his or her assessment of their early surroundings. They decide who they care about and who cares for them, then they generalize these feelings to others in their life.
Let us take the example of the abused child in the ghetto. Perhaps there was one person in their life, such as their grandmother, who explained that life had many wonderful things to offer. Their purpose in living then became escape from their present situation. This was an incentive to learn and prepare for independence. They did not generalize their feelings towards the rest of the world. Here there is a good chance that the child's morality will be accentuated later in life
Now let us examine a child from an upper S.E.S. family. This child has gotten everything it desires since birth. However, it does not value the opinions of its parents. It does not attempt to please them, or work hard to keep out of their wrath. When dismay is expressed for their actions, they feel no remorse. The groundwork earlier laid lacked devotion, and emotion. Chances are that the parents never truly expressed what they felt, who they were, or allowed the child to understand the family problems.
Another important aspect in creating a moral child is a feeling of "belonging." If the child feels that it plays an important role in the family, it will develop a sense of morality based on protecting it's loved ones. It will feel that it takes care of others, and therefore what they think truly matters, and how they feel is crucial to his well-being.
A moral child is not too difficult to create as long as emotion is kept in the picture. Allow the child to feel as if he or she is a part of the family. Tell the child your feelings, and why you feel that way. Allow them to see you when you are sad, and then see the consequences on their own life.
http://www.allsands.com/kids/moraldevelopmen_tvn_gn.ht
Personally, I have experienced this, to a degree. I was not raised in a "ghetto", nor unloved by my parents. But I was misguided with some issues and did not feel apart of my family. I did however, have grandparents that enriched me with the morals that I have today, and I did feel as if I were a part of something there. As early as I can remember, I preferred to be with my grandparents. In a Substance Abuse Prevention course that I was involved in, I learned about resilience. resilience is defined as: an ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/resilience
It was easy for me to recover or adjust when I had to go back home, because I was taught good morals and a sense of belonging while at my grandparents house.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Monday, November 15, 2010
Babies for Bullies?
I read an article today that I thought was interesting and it relates to our discussion on bullies. According to a study by a Canadian based program called Roots of Empathy, if you introduce a baby to an elementary school classroom, it will increase kindness and empathy and decrease bullying. This program sets up regular visits in which a mother brings her baby to the school and the children interact with him. The idea is that instead of punishing bullies, the schools hope to inspire acts of kindness among the students. The kids also learn how to understand and respond to the baby's behaviors and emotions. This may sound a little far fetched, but the results have shown that introducing a baby to the classroom has brought on kindness and understanding even in the most difficult of children. Now, I'm not so sure I'm ready to believe that babies are the cure for bullying, but it's definitely an interesting theory.
http://www.parentdish.com/2010/11/12/could-babies-serve-as-a-cure-for-bullies/
http://www.parentdish.com/2010/11/12/could-babies-serve-as-a-cure-for-bullies/
Teachers and Tenure
Should teachers be given tenure? This debate has been going on for as long as I can remember. People who oppose giving teachers tenure believe that if teachers weren't guaranteed jobs for as long as they like, then they would focus more on being the best teachers they can be. When a teacher gets tenure, it's virtually impossible to get rid of him or her even if many people agree that he or she isn't doing a very good job teaching. Opponents to giving tenure also say that it shows that if a teacher works hard for a few years, then he or she can sit back and coast through the rest of their years until retirement, even if that means the students suffer. On the other hand, proponents believe that by rewarding the teachers with tenure, it allows them to focus all their attention on being great teachers, instead of worrying about losing their jobs. These supporters also believe that teachers work hard for low wages and that tenure is a reasonable benefit for all the time they put towards educating today's youth.
I am going to have to go with the anti-tenure side in this debate. In high school, I had a few teachers who were tenured and basically gave up trying to teach us anything. These teachers would sit back with their feet up on their desks and tell us to read our text books day after day, and never actually teach the material. Then when the time came to take tests, half the class would have cheat notes which they made using tests from students who took the class the year before (this individual NEVER rewrote any of his tests), and the rest of us would study our butts off with the few materials we had and earn grades ranging from OK to terrible. If this teacher hadn't been tenure, then maybe the school could have done something about his performance(or in this case, the lack of performance). I think that a teacher who knows he or she has to work hard to keep his or her job will be a better teacher than the one who knows he is safe.
http://www.education.com/debate/teacher-tenure/
http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2010/7/19/what-if-college-tenure-dies/rethinking-college-tenure
http://www.publicschoolreview.com/articles/200
I am going to have to go with the anti-tenure side in this debate. In high school, I had a few teachers who were tenured and basically gave up trying to teach us anything. These teachers would sit back with their feet up on their desks and tell us to read our text books day after day, and never actually teach the material. Then when the time came to take tests, half the class would have cheat notes which they made using tests from students who took the class the year before (this individual NEVER rewrote any of his tests), and the rest of us would study our butts off with the few materials we had and earn grades ranging from OK to terrible. If this teacher hadn't been tenure, then maybe the school could have done something about his performance(or in this case, the lack of performance). I think that a teacher who knows he or she has to work hard to keep his or her job will be a better teacher than the one who knows he is safe.
http://www.education.com/debate/teacher-tenure/
http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2010/7/19/what-if-college-tenure-dies/rethinking-college-tenure
http://www.publicschoolreview.com/articles/200
Kids and Social Networking
Facebook has recently hit 500 million users. Many of those users are kids and, according to neuroscientist Susan Greenfield, social networking sites could be having adverse effects on children. She, along with other scientists and psychologists, believe that children who use sites like Facebook on a regular basis are shortening their attention spans, hurting their communication skills, and hindering their abilities to make and keep relationships off-line. Some psychologists also believe that these sites are teaching kids to expect instant gratification.
I don't know about the science of the brain and how these websites can effect it, but I do believe that there is some truth to the idea that Facebook and MySpace could be damaging to communication and relationship skills. There are age requirements for these sites, but all kids have to do is change their birthdates by a couple of years and they are good to go. Once online, they become obsessed with all things Facebook. In my opinion, they spend to much time on the computer making friends instead of making them the old fashion way: in person. They focus so much energy on their "profiles" and "status updates" that I think sometimes they forget that there are more things in life besides Facebook. And then there's the problem of cyber bullying which seems to be becoming more and more prevalent in the news these days. Kids can go online and say things they would get in trouble for saying at school, and then other kids join in on the bullying because they aren't actually talking to a human being. They are just talking to a computer, and so they aren't seeing the effects their words are having on the person being harassed or teased.
I am not bashing social networking sites or the people who enjoy them, I just think that children, and adults for that matter, should learn to make friends and communicate with people in real life before they jump onto the internet. I do not personally have a Facebook account, nor do I ever care to have one. However, I think that Facebook is great for individuals looking to keep in touch with relatives and friends whom they can't see or talk to on a regular basis. But, personally, if I want to talk to someone I would rather call, text, or visit them. But hey, that's just me.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1153583/Social-websites-harm-childrens-brains-Chilling-warning-parents-neuroscientist.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kari-henley/facebook-and-kids-are-the_b_177357.html
http://harrison.patch.com/articles/constant-technology-bad-for-kids-development
I don't know about the science of the brain and how these websites can effect it, but I do believe that there is some truth to the idea that Facebook and MySpace could be damaging to communication and relationship skills. There are age requirements for these sites, but all kids have to do is change their birthdates by a couple of years and they are good to go. Once online, they become obsessed with all things Facebook. In my opinion, they spend to much time on the computer making friends instead of making them the old fashion way: in person. They focus so much energy on their "profiles" and "status updates" that I think sometimes they forget that there are more things in life besides Facebook. And then there's the problem of cyber bullying which seems to be becoming more and more prevalent in the news these days. Kids can go online and say things they would get in trouble for saying at school, and then other kids join in on the bullying because they aren't actually talking to a human being. They are just talking to a computer, and so they aren't seeing the effects their words are having on the person being harassed or teased.
I am not bashing social networking sites or the people who enjoy them, I just think that children, and adults for that matter, should learn to make friends and communicate with people in real life before they jump onto the internet. I do not personally have a Facebook account, nor do I ever care to have one. However, I think that Facebook is great for individuals looking to keep in touch with relatives and friends whom they can't see or talk to on a regular basis. But, personally, if I want to talk to someone I would rather call, text, or visit them. But hey, that's just me.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1153583/Social-websites-harm-childrens-brains-Chilling-warning-parents-neuroscientist.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kari-henley/facebook-and-kids-are-the_b_177357.html
http://harrison.patch.com/articles/constant-technology-bad-for-kids-development
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Moral Developlment
Moral Development vs Ethics
This post is in part a reply to (inspired by) the post entitled “Normal Development.”
Moral development has been a popular topic in psychology beginning with the works of Jean Piaget. I am more interested in Lawrence Kohlberg. Kohlberg followed Piaget’s model claiming that logic and morality develop through constructive stages. Expanding on Piaget's work, Kohlberg determined that the process of moral development was principally concerned with justice, and that it continued throughout the individual's lifetime (Kholberg 1958.
For a good example of how moral development is a lifelong process, I examine myself. I came to the realization a few years ago that I had an unconventional upbringing and may not have developed the same ideas of what are socially acceptable ethical principals as the majority of the American population. My future career is one in which ethical principals must be followed to avoid law suits. For this reason I took a class called “Health care Ethics and Regulations.” Here I learned that ethics and personal moral codes are often in conflict. For example: In the case of homosexuality, many believe it is morally wrong, yet some of the same people also believe it is unethical to discriminate legally against a group of people by disallowing them the same rights afforded heterosexuals. It is my opinion that Kohlberg does not recognize a distinction between moral judgment and ethical justice.
Kohlberg's six stages follow Piaget's constructivist requirements for a stage model, as described in his theory of cognitive development, using the principal that it is extremely rare to regress backward in stages—to lose the use of higher stage abilities. In other words stages cannot be skipped; “each provides a new and necessary perspective, more comprehensive and differentiated than its predecessors but integrated with them.” (Walker, 1989)
Level 1 (Pre-Conventional)
1. Obedience and punishment orientation
(How can I avoid punishment?)
2. Self-interest orientation
(What's in it for me?)
Level 2 (Conventional)
3. Interpersonal accord and conformity
(Social norms)
(The good boy/good girl attitude)
4. Authority and social-order maintaining orientation
(Law and order morality)
Level 3 (Post-Conventional)
5. Social contract orientation
6. Universal ethical principles
(Principled conscience)
The 3 Major Criticisms of Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Development:
• Does moral reasoning necessarily lead to moral behavior? Kohlberg's theory is concerned with moral thinking, but there is a big difference between knowing what we ought to do versus our actual actions.
• Is justice the only aspect of moral reasoning we should consider? Critics have pointed out that Kohlberg's theory of moral development overemphasizes the concept as justice when making moral choices. Factors such as compassion, caring and other interpersonal feelings may play an important part in moral reasoning.
• Does Kohlberg's theory overemphasize Western philosophy? Individualistic cultures emphasize personal rights while collectivist cultures stress the importance of society and community. Eastern cultures may have different moral outlooks that Kohlberg's theory does not account for.
Refrence sites
http://tigger.uic.edu/~lnucci/MoralEd/overview.html
http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=3960446079037918273
Kohlberg, Lawrence (1958). "The Development of Modes of Thinking and Choices in Years 10 to 16". Ph. D. Dissertation, University of Chicago.h justice, and that it continued throughout the individual's lifetime
Walker, Lawrence, J. (February 1989). "A longitudinal study of moral reasoning". Child Development (Child Development, Vol. 60, No. 1) 60 (1): 157–166
This post is in part a reply to (inspired by) the post entitled “Normal Development.”
Moral development has been a popular topic in psychology beginning with the works of Jean Piaget. I am more interested in Lawrence Kohlberg. Kohlberg followed Piaget’s model claiming that logic and morality develop through constructive stages. Expanding on Piaget's work, Kohlberg determined that the process of moral development was principally concerned with justice, and that it continued throughout the individual's lifetime (Kholberg 1958.
For a good example of how moral development is a lifelong process, I examine myself. I came to the realization a few years ago that I had an unconventional upbringing and may not have developed the same ideas of what are socially acceptable ethical principals as the majority of the American population. My future career is one in which ethical principals must be followed to avoid law suits. For this reason I took a class called “Health care Ethics and Regulations.” Here I learned that ethics and personal moral codes are often in conflict. For example: In the case of homosexuality, many believe it is morally wrong, yet some of the same people also believe it is unethical to discriminate legally against a group of people by disallowing them the same rights afforded heterosexuals. It is my opinion that Kohlberg does not recognize a distinction between moral judgment and ethical justice.
Kohlberg's six stages follow Piaget's constructivist requirements for a stage model, as described in his theory of cognitive development, using the principal that it is extremely rare to regress backward in stages—to lose the use of higher stage abilities. In other words stages cannot be skipped; “each provides a new and necessary perspective, more comprehensive and differentiated than its predecessors but integrated with them.” (Walker, 1989)
Level 1 (Pre-Conventional)
1. Obedience and punishment orientation
(How can I avoid punishment?)
2. Self-interest orientation
(What's in it for me?)
Level 2 (Conventional)
3. Interpersonal accord and conformity
(Social norms)
(The good boy/good girl attitude)
4. Authority and social-order maintaining orientation
(Law and order morality)
Level 3 (Post-Conventional)
5. Social contract orientation
6. Universal ethical principles
(Principled conscience)
The 3 Major Criticisms of Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Development:
• Does moral reasoning necessarily lead to moral behavior? Kohlberg's theory is concerned with moral thinking, but there is a big difference between knowing what we ought to do versus our actual actions.
• Is justice the only aspect of moral reasoning we should consider? Critics have pointed out that Kohlberg's theory of moral development overemphasizes the concept as justice when making moral choices. Factors such as compassion, caring and other interpersonal feelings may play an important part in moral reasoning.
• Does Kohlberg's theory overemphasize Western philosophy? Individualistic cultures emphasize personal rights while collectivist cultures stress the importance of society and community. Eastern cultures may have different moral outlooks that Kohlberg's theory does not account for.
Refrence sites
http://tigger.uic.edu/~lnucci/MoralEd/overview.html
http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=3960446079037918273
Kohlberg, Lawrence (1958). "The Development of Modes of Thinking and Choices in Years 10 to 16". Ph. D. Dissertation, University of Chicago.h justice, and that it continued throughout the individual's lifetime
Walker, Lawrence, J. (February 1989). "A longitudinal study of moral reasoning". Child Development (Child Development, Vol. 60, No. 1) 60 (1): 157–166
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
My Experience With Co-Sleeping
I have always co-slept with my children. They were in a bassinet next to my bed until 2 or 3 months old. I did as my pediatrician said and they all slept on their back, without pillows nor stuffed animals. I had the bassinet right next to my bed.
I chose not to breast feed my children for a few reasons. One is that I've always been a working mother. After a few weeks they would start to sleep 6 or 7 hours in between feedings. Bottle fed babies seem to go longer between feedings, which allows for more sleep.
At about the 3rd month when they were a bit bigger, I wanted them to lie on my chest and stomach to sleep. I wanted them next to me. I've always been a very light sleeper, very aware of their every move.
Now my 4 year old son sleeps right in the middle of my husband and I. He has his own bed, all my children do. When my husband is out of town for work, I have my 4 year old, 11 year old, and even my 16 year old that loves to snuggle with her mom. As most parents know a sleeping child is beautiful. I love to look at my children when they are asleep. Maybe it's because they're not talking.
I chose not to breast feed my children for a few reasons. One is that I've always been a working mother. After a few weeks they would start to sleep 6 or 7 hours in between feedings. Bottle fed babies seem to go longer between feedings, which allows for more sleep.
At about the 3rd month when they were a bit bigger, I wanted them to lie on my chest and stomach to sleep. I wanted them next to me. I've always been a very light sleeper, very aware of their every move.
Now my 4 year old son sleeps right in the middle of my husband and I. He has his own bed, all my children do. When my husband is out of town for work, I have my 4 year old, 11 year old, and even my 16 year old that loves to snuggle with her mom. As most parents know a sleeping child is beautiful. I love to look at my children when they are asleep. Maybe it's because they're not talking.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Corporal Punishment and Negative Social Consequences
A study was conducted by Maryland-based anti-spanking advocate John Benjamin Guthrow. He compared data from state, federal and local government agencies for the top 1 states who use corporal punishment most frequently in their schools. He found a correlation between corporal punishment in schools and a variety of negative social consequences.
Even though it is possible that corporal punishment is directly related to those children murdering someone when they get older this study does not determine that is true. There are other factors that could determine this correlation. For instance, it is the parents' and teachers' that decide if spanking should be allowed in school so it is possible that the high murder rate is because of adults' violent influence. Also those states that allowed spanking had high poverty and low education and health. Murder rates could be the result of poor environmental conditions at home rather than the school.
I hypothesis that negative social consequences is directly related home environment rather than corporal punishment in schools. In order to fully understand if spanking is related to negative social consequences the sample should include schools from all states rather than just the five states with the highest murder rate and the five states with the lowest murder rate. I would use longitudinal design to determine if spanking was directly related to negative social consequences. By using longitudinal design this study will eliminate bias by determining if there is a direct association rather than finding correlations in the data.
http://www.womensenews.org/story/health/010923/experts-say-harms-children
Even though it is possible that corporal punishment is directly related to those children murdering someone when they get older this study does not determine that is true. There are other factors that could determine this correlation. For instance, it is the parents' and teachers' that decide if spanking should be allowed in school so it is possible that the high murder rate is because of adults' violent influence. Also those states that allowed spanking had high poverty and low education and health. Murder rates could be the result of poor environmental conditions at home rather than the school.
I hypothesis that negative social consequences is directly related home environment rather than corporal punishment in schools. In order to fully understand if spanking is related to negative social consequences the sample should include schools from all states rather than just the five states with the highest murder rate and the five states with the lowest murder rate. I would use longitudinal design to determine if spanking was directly related to negative social consequences. By using longitudinal design this study will eliminate bias by determining if there is a direct association rather than finding correlations in the data.
http://www.womensenews.org/story/health/010923/experts-say-harms-children
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