Role of Environment in Child Development Research Paper Example

📌Category: Child development, Family, Psychology
📌Words: 525
📌Pages: 2
📌Published: 15 April 2022

“You cannot make people learn. You can only provide the right conditions for learning to happen.” ~Vince Gowman. Most people believe that when a child makes a mistake, people often think it is the child’s problem and wonder, “what's wrong with the child'' or “how can we fix him/her”? But most guardians don’t realize that it is not the child’s fault, it's the environment around them sculpting children and giving them certain behaviors to improve and grow (Zirpoli 2014). One’s environment is crucial in influencing someones’ life because it is the place they develop as well as where adolescents gain their all-round social and academic behavior. Poverty has one of the greatest impacts on children and their overall well-being. In the article, Environmental Influences on Young Children's Behavior, the author states “According to a study by the Illinois State Board of Education (2001), poverty is the single greatest predictor of academic and social failure in U.S. schools''( Zirpoli, 2014). As children grow they begin to follow the actions and/or behavior that is around them. If children aren't given the simple necessities they need to become successful in school and develop a healthy social life they will soon fall behind in their academic and social expectations. In “The Other Wes Moore” (Author felt left out when he didn’t know how to act in “Riverdale Country School”. Wes once stated “I tried to hide the fact that my family was so much poorer than everyone else’s at school. Every week I sat down to create a schedule for my clothes. I had three “good” shirts and three “good” pairs of pants. I would rotate their order, mixing and matching so that each day I had on a fresh combination”. Wes was embarrassed to have such a poor family, which eventually led to Wes falling behind in social skills and being “satisfied with C’s”. Without certain needs, Wes quickly fell behind and was ashamed that he didn’t have things that other kids did have. Single-parent families are also one of the many reasons that the environment is the most important factor of a child. The article states,"Children in single-parent families are at increased risk for academic failure; increased likelihood of dropping out of high school or becoming a teen parent; and increased levels of depression, stress, anxiety, and aggression" (Casey Foundation, 2005). Wes(convict) grew up with no father figure, he had his mother(Mary) and his older brother( Tony, who was rarely there) to look up to. On the way to school Wes met a girl named Alicia “Wes and Alicia quickly became more than friends. After school they would head to each other’s houses, since neither had parents at home during the day. Within two months of their meeting, Alicia told Wes that her period was late. Four tests and eight matching plus signs later, it was confirmed. They were going to be parents”(Moore, 84, pdf). Wes filled the position of his father, with anger and aggression hoping things would turn towards the positive side. Single-parents families can be very stressful and have a toll on the growth of children and the social and academic future. As you can see, the environment has the heaviest influence in a person’s life. Environment affects social and academic expectations and affects the overall development of a child/person. Poverty and single-parent families are just 2 of the many reasons the environment has the biggest impact on someone.

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