Essential Question 3

[brian]

    We are completely products of our environment. What happens around us, where we live, who we are raised by, and who we are friends with tremendously effect who we are as a person and citizen in our community. If we grow up in a house where our parents are unsupportive or abusive, there is a high chance that when we become parents we will adopt the same style of parenting. The same goes for the other side. If we grow up in a family that is supportive and hard working, our parenthood will reflect these values. The people we hang out and where we live will effect us as well. If we grow up in a neighborhood where drugs and murder go practically unpunished, there will be a high chance of us going for the same life style because that is what we know. Friends have an enormous effect on us as well. If we choose to hang out with a lazy money craver that is willing to do anything to steal money, we will get caught up in his activities and face the same punishment. While there are a few exceptions where a person grows up in a bad environment and decides to do something good with his or her life, you have to consider why did they opt for a different lifestyle? The reason is that they saw the problems and pain derived from the bad choices and decided that he or she would not follow the same path. While this is not the same result as others growing up in the same environment, the decision to change came from their desire to get out of the environment that they currently preside in. This shows how our environment and the variables that we relate ourselves to completely controls the outcome of our life. 

[etana]

    Claiming that we are "completely" products of our environment ignores the entire world we live in. A world where it is completely possible for an autonomic person to interact with people on the other side of the world or talk to someone just a state over, and literally change their perception of their environment. And how would you account for kids who were constantly changing neighborhoods and schools? A parent chooses their child's community almost entirely, so to blame the peers and neighborhood norms is simply to blame the parents more. The most you can correctly blame the parents for is the genes they didn't really pick and choose for their child. Twins living in completely different environments (stable vs. violent, rich vs. poor, organized vs. chaotic) will invariably have major similarities in their personalities, and therefore, in their behaviors. 

[bigmike]

Etana I greatly disagree with you and completely agree with Brian. Firstly, simply being able to communicate with someone across the world does not at all change your environment, although your perception may change that means nothing. Bottom line plain and simple, if you grow up in a community that is corrupted, you will become corrupted yourself. And as to the whole parent thing, i understand what you are trying to say. I agree that parents are the sole deciders of their childerns' community, that is why i am also going to say that if that child is in a bad community it is the job of the parents to change that. So in the end it is almost completely up to the parents to form their child's way of thinking and behaving,and as for the twin thing i highly doubt that if their is a drastic difference in the outcome of their lives, that their personalities will not be at similar.

[kandahar]

I personal experiences here. I, as some of you may know, lived in Colorado up to my second grade year. We moved here because the schools and the community of Fort Thomas were and are very good. Going to Highlands is like being in an Ivy League school compared to what I was to be going through in Colorado. Not to mention the community in Fort Thomas is so much more supportive and safe than in my old town (Even though it was VERY safe in Colorado Springs). I personally think that our parent's decisions are part of our environment that will continue to influence us for our entire lives. I have no clue if I would be the same as I am today if I would have continued living in Colorado, but I do know that what Etana is saying is very true and what Brian is saying also has a large effect on who we are. For example, we at Highlands are constantly talking about how bad drugs are and how they are a problem. A major problem, just not so much in Fort Thomas because the community won't stand to have us, the children, doing things like Heroin that would hurt us and because of this the school won't stand for this which is why drugs aren't a big problem. So it is as much the parent's job to find a good environment as it is for them to work together with the other parent's to provide a supportive community in which we can learn and grow safely. (Even though a good environment isn't always good as it doesn't fully prepare us for life, but that is another topic for later)