Leigh Mc Namara - Journal Assignment PDF

Preview

Summary

Download Leigh Mc Namara - Journal Assignment PDF

Description

Leigh McNamara February 20th, 2018 PSY 213

Journal Assignment Culture and Development

Human development is defined as, the scientific study of processes of change and stability throughout the human life span (Papalia, Martorell, 2015). It is a complex, dynamic topic, and there are many things that impact the course of development. A year ago, I embarked on a journey across the world to Thailand. There, I spent six months there teaching English to a kindergarten class comprised of five and six year olds that knew minimum English. The school itself was run by a Thai couple, who started the school in 2012 in efforts to hire English speaking teachers to run an emersion program. The curriculum was taught in Thai, with the exception of English class which was taught solely in English. I had a Thai assistant teacher with me at all times as I taught to help with the language barrier when necessary. I lived in a small Thai town called Chumphon, that included a community of primarily Thai speaking residence, myself, and one other American teacher I was placed with. Chumphon allowed me to step out of my comfort zone and immerse myself within a culture vastly different from my own. Because of this experience, I was able to see how much a culture can shape the development of individuals across a lifespan. Teaching such a young age group allowed me to see first hand how culture impacts individuals at a young age. While reading our book throughout this semester, I found a lot of concepts relate directly to my experience in Thailand. One thing in particular that stood out to me is social construction and how it varies across different cultures. Social construction is defined as, a concept or practice that may appear natural and obvious to those who accept it, but that in reality is an invention of a particular culture or society (Papalia, Martorell, 2015). One thing I noticed as a teacher in Thailand is how different we view the roles of children in society. In Thailand, children at a very young age have a lot expected of them. They are expected to help their parents around the house as well as anything

they might need whether it be a family business or feeding animals they may have. I remember one time in particular, I went out to get lunch one of the first weekends I was there. I saw one of my students, who was six years old at the time, helping his father make sticky rice at their food stand. I remember being so shocked that a six year old was helping his father with their family business. When I really thought about the situation later, I realized how different cultures are from country to country. This is something that is totally normal in Thai culture and is a way of life. The influence of socially constructed ideas and beliefs in Thailand influence how a child develops. One day in particular, I taught a class lesson in class on growing up and the future. I had the kids talk about what they wanted to be when they grew up. To my surprise, a large amount of the children talked about wanting to grow up to work at their families food stand, or work on their families rice farm. In America, this lesson would have turned into something a lot different. I was expecting children to talk about how they wanted to grow up to be an astronaut or a firefighter. In this moment, I realized how my own culture has shaped my development and views of the world. I was disappointed by the children’s aspirations and I realized that this was my own social construction about how I felt the children should respond. I felt that the students aspirations at such a young age should be about a world of possibilities and that anything can happen. I think this is something we emphasize in American culture. Aspiring to be the best or to achieve this idea of “greatness”. In Thailand, a lot of people are genuinely happy working for the family food stand that has been passed down from generation to generation. I think this impacts us on the developmental level, especially throughout the adolescence phase of life. In American, we are constantly in competition to get into a great school, to go on to get a great job, and to make money to sustain life. This impacts us on all levels, whether it be about our psychosocial

development and our relationship with our peers, or our cognitive development and how we reason with the world around us. Culture has a large impact on the development of an individual. This became evident to me throughout my experience in Thailand. Another major thing I came to notice is the contrast between American and Thai culture in education. Education is something American culture puts a very high level of importance on, which in turn impacts the development of an individual. In Thailand, some families believe in the importance of education where some do not. I had a large number of students that would go weeks without coming to school, and then would show up in class two weeks later and try to follow what was going on within the class. I could see the impact this had on not only children’s cognitive development, but their psychosocial and physical development as well. It was clear that the children who were not attending class on a regular basis were slower in their development compared to those classmates who attended class regularly. I think this outlines the importance of cross-cultural research. Development is multidimensional and therefore is a complex area to study. Cross-cultural research allows us to look into different cultures and how they compare and contrast to one another. Culture plays an essential role on the development of an individual. I believe that my experience in Thailand allowed me to have a first-hand look at the differences in development in Thai children compared to my own country, and the large impact culture has on the development of an individual. Socially constructed ideas and beliefs impact the way we view the world and how we live day to day life. Culture is not the only important aspect of development, but it can have a big impact on how an individual grows up....