Jan 7 Sex Education in Schools

I personally do not believe that schools should be the sole provider for all information on sex education. I think that parents should be the ones who educate their children on sex, sexually transmitted diseases, and using protection. Schools should only be used as a supplement to what the parents are doing. With that said I know that many parents do not talk to their children about sex. Parents might find it weird, awkward, and they may not know how to bring it up. But on the other hand kids probably feel the same way talking to their parents about it. A strong parent-child relationship is key to talking about sex. Kids should feel comfortable talking to their parents about anything. "Children who discuss sex with their parents take fewer risks, avoid pressure to have sex, and think that their parents provide goo information" (Berger, 2008, pg. 430). Nationwide, sex education classes and abstinence-only programs are starting to emerge in main stream high schools. I think that schools should incorporate sex education into their regular health classes. I really don't think its the schools responsibility to teach our children about sex. What I think schools should do is give the facts, show the statistics, and give the children resources if they want them. Parents should be the educators. "Even so, whether or not an adolescent follows the urge to become sexually active depends more on family, peers, and culture than on classes" (Berger, 2008, pg. 431).

Berger, K.S. (2008). The Developing Person Through the Lifespan. New York: Worth Publishers.

The Culture of Children

When I read the passage in the text about the culture of children I felt that I could really relate to this having an older sister, as well as, being an older sibling. The culture of children according to Berger, is considered the rituals and rules that are passed down to younger children from older children without approval from adults (2008). I remember many things that my sister would find out from other people and then she would teach us. I also hung around with different kids in the neighborhood, and some were older than me, so I thought they were "smarter" then us younger kids. Of course I listened to them and continued to pass the rituals and rules taught to me down to my younger siblings and friends. I remember my friend showed me how to jump from the roof and down onto the trampoline. This was not approved by my parents, but my older friend showed me how so I thought it was cool to do. I later showed my younger sisters, and soon enough we were all doing this; however, we eventually got into trouble by my parents. I thought this was a good example of how I was not only the younger child receiving the information, but also the older adult passing down the cultures.

Berger, S. K. (2008). The Developing Person: Through the Life Span. New York, NY: Worth Publisher.

Jan 5 No Child Left Behind

I was particularly interested in reading the section of chapter twelve that dealt with school curriculum and testing. As a former social studies education major, the No Child Left Behind Act was an often debated subject in many classes, with most people arguing that it did more to hurt public education and students than help them. This chapter verified some of those opinions. Berger wrote about debates regarding the best teaching methods for subjects such as reading and math. Proponents of different teaching techniques (such as phonics or whole language) base many of their ideas on developmental and psychological research. This causes problems when instituting a standardized test. Which method should the test favor if multiple are based on sound empirical research? For example, initially the NCLB mandated standardized tests favored phonics, but many states required different teaching methods (Berger, 2008, p. 320). Hence, the tests were initially biased toward schools that taught phonics, no matter if children learning using the whole language method were also learning to read. Another problem of standardized tests favoring one teaching method is that it encourages teachers to teach using only that method. This does a disservice to teachers, who are forced to be less flexible and creative in their lesson planning. This hampers student learning and makes school more boring. Because of different types of communities, cultures, socioeconomic conditions, etc in the US, I don't think there is a one-size-fits-all teaching method for any subject. However, standardized tests like those mandated by NCLB imply that there is such a system out there and that it can be achieved. I think this is dangerous because it favors the few people who happen to learn how the test best measures, and the rest of the students must try to adapt themselves to fit. This is unfortunate in a country that supposedly celebrates diversity.

Berger, K. S. (2008). The Developing Person Through the Lifespan. New York: Worth Publishers.

Jan 5 Imaginary Audience

As soon as I started reading Chapter 15 is was drawn to the concepts of adolescent egocentrism and the imaginary audience. Children in their adolescent years think completely about themselves, and what other think about them. The idea called adolescent egocentrism was first thought up by David Elkind. Elkind said that adolescents unlike younger children have well developed theory of mind, they are aware that others have their own thoughts, and their egocentrism does not exclude others. This egocentrism therefore creates what is called an imaginary audience. Adolescents believe that they are the center of attention, all eyes are on them, everyone is looking at them. They think that their peers are as fascinated or concerned with them as they are with themselves. This idea makes teens enter a party as if they are the most beautiful person alive. As they might enter a room full of confidence, they also try to find any imperfections, such as a zit or mark on their face. Young adolescents are extremely concerned with what their friends think of them. They don't want to be judged as being the odd ball out or the weirdo, they want to be the cool kid, a popular kid. I'm sure all of us can relate to this when we were younger. Remembering trying to fit in, or doing what our friends wanted to do. I remember when I was in grade school that all my friends got a bagel at lunch that day, because I didn't want to stick out I got a bagel too, even though I didn't really like them. It can be something simple like that or can be something more drastic like shoplifting or stealing.

Jan. 5 Family Issues

Family issues in chapter 13 caught my attention. I realized how much family impacts children and either helps or hurts in the shaping of them. This chapter talked a lot about the detrimental effects that moving from home to home has on children. Aside from college I’ve lived in the same house for 22 years and my parents are still married. It made me wonder how different my life would have been if I moved a lot. I can definitely see the impact that moving has had on some of my friends. One of my friends has moved 11 times and her parents are both divorced and now re-married. She barely trusts anyone and acted out a lot over the years, getting in trouble with the law. According to the text parents disturb a child’s development if they push their children to take sides in a marital dispute or if they give one child authority over another. Each year about 16% of all U.S. children move from one home to another (Berger, 2008, Pg. 350). I wondered how many of those parents knew how much it would affect their children in the long run.

Adolescent Egocentrism

Adolescent ego-centrism is a trait of teenagers to focus only on themselves; their thoughts and experiences are more unique and vivid than anyone else's. This focus on the self gives rise to an imaginary audience, the people around the person, who are believed to be watching every action of the teenager. An adolescent anticipates the reactions of people around him, however, these thoughts are based on what the adolescent thinks of himself; admiring or critical. In a group of people an adolescent is constantly updating his imaginary audience. This is called an imaginary audience because this is not the normal social situation; most people do not focus on one other person in a crowd, they focus on themselves. Since this audience is not actually focused on him, it is in fact, a construct, the audience knows all of the adolescent's sensitivities and is laughing at them constantly.

The invincibility fable, or the personal fable as Elkind called it, is another ego-centric belief that he or she cannot be harmed or defeated by anything that may overcome someone else. This is why teenagers may drive faster than necessary, do drugs, or have unprotected sex. Some teenage females believe that pregnancy will happen to other females but never to them so why bother with precautions. Ego-centrism is simply an adolescent attempt to get attention and confirm or deny the views someone has of themselves.

I enjoyed reading Adam's last post on the different styles of parenting. I would also say that I have an excellent relationship with my parents, primarily because I now understand how much they love me and my siblings. They were very respectful, encouraging, yet demanding parents. they held my siblings and I to a particular standard, yet were very understanding when we failed to meet their standards. They are extremely supportive and were actively involved in my life as a child. Even after their divorce, there were both committed to being my biggest support. They were always forgiving, and fantastic guides through my adolescence. They would most likely resemble authoritative parents. Berger describes these parenting methods of having successful, articulate, generous children. I would agree that my brothers, sisters, and I have become well-rounded, successful, generous citizens. I love reflecting on my childhood, especially because my parents did such a wonderful job being parents. I often think what my life would be like if my parents hadn't gotten divorced. Would I still consider myself successful? Would I be obnoxious and ungrateful towards them? I'm interested to reading more of Berger's text.