Nature or Nurture?

The way we act and the way we communicate with others is defined by the way we were raised and by what environment we were raised in. In class we watched the Oprah show. A young girl named Danielle was 8 or 9 years old and barely had the maturity of a 2 year old. The facts behind her actions were how she was raised. She was raised in an environment where she was neglected and barely nurtured. She was taken away from her mother and adopted by a new family. In her case, her nature and nurture was unstable. She didn't have a proper safe home to grow up. Danielle also wasn't cared for as a baby properly. Our nature is what we are born into. The only way it may change is from our caretakers. Our nurture is how we are raised and how we emotionally develop from the way we were raised. Studies have shown that the better balance of nature and nurture in our life as a young child, will affect us the rest of our life. I am just like my family. Emotionally I am very similar to my brother and sister and I have the same mannerisms. My parents noticed my unique personality at a young age. The best way to measure the personality level is by the different social skills. By the time I went to preschool, I was able to socially attribute to the other kids. Nature and Nurture influenced my life entirely.

Water..

My life is full of water. I may not realize it, but it affects my decisions and behaviors. What this means is that people are affected by certain things our society offers. One thing in our society may also very much differ from any other society's "water particles". In my life, I am affected by television shows. Our culture consists of many fast pace things that other cultures may not care for. For Example, every week I watch Gossip Girl and I see what they wear and how they act on the show. Even though it's not exactly realistic, it still is a show that is supposed to manipulate the upper east side of New York. To me, I am influenced by the different clothes and styles that are appeared. I tend to think that in the show their styles are what is "in" and what looks good. I also recognize that a show like that can make an "outsider" of our culture become very unaware. An outsider may get in impression that that's what our culture is all about. But for me, television shows can influence my likes in styles.

I am able to maintain my stability as the "water" around me is going around and around. At school we are encouraged to always try our hardest and to succeed later in life. Although, for other cultures they might just be wondering where they may be sleeping at night. I know that school is really hard and can be a lot of work, So I take the initiative by always trying my hardest so that I can get to go to the college I want to go to. This way later in life I may be set more qualified for a specific degree. I adjust by giving into the culture by still staying intact with my own personality and beliefs.

American values can be unique but can also be very simplistic. For me, I try to do what is good for me by keeping my own Individual personality. I find it very important to do the right thing but doing it the right way. I value in keeping true to myself and not worrying what others think. Although, I think it is important to know your limits. Knowing when to adjust to society is important, because going completely of the ordinary is bad. I also value education because it can bring greater things in the future. In order to start a future, you much create your background to back up where you come from. In our culture it is important to keep going. To me, it is important to achieve my potential. In my future, I value my education.

Our Culture

This week in class we talked about how each culture is different. Each culture has different values that may differ from a larger concept or a smaller one. Not only that but the different cultures can conflict with one another. For example, one normal gesture in our culture may be an obscene one in another. The way people act may be okay in on society but not in another. In our culture at Stevenson we have subcultural values that may conflict in our school's society.

Freedom is a big part of our society. At school we should have the freedom to do whatever we want, but in reality that isn't really true. For instance, if I were to blurt out in class, chance are I would get in trouble and I didn't really have the freedom I though I had. Another important part of our culture is education. The goal of school is to encourage students to work hard, go to college, then get a job. But in reality the goals as a school won't work for every one. People may think that everything is the fair but in reality it may not appear to be so. Our culture has a way of changing a larger concept into different subcultures.

Do nothing Activity

Last week we were given the assignment to do nothing. At first it seemed like it would be a really easy assignment because it was to "do nothing". But as I started, I realized it is very hard to do nothing. No matter what we are doing at anytime, we're either talking, watching something, looking at something, sitting, walking, but we are never actually doing nothing. In our society, if some one isn't doing something it will appear odd. For example, when I went to my family dinner, I just stood in the middle of the room not doing anything. My cousins kept coming up to me asking if something was wrong and why I wasn't doing anything. Afterwards, I thought to myself, Why would doing nothing be out of the norm in our society? People in our society are always active. No matter what we're doing we are staying active as if to achieve something and to succeed. By doing nothing, we are doing something. Because nothing is something and nothing comes along with how we're sitting or even where we're looking at.