Story of my life - This is one of several short essay assignments. PDF

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This is one of several short essay assignments. ...

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Sam Compagno #4 12/2/15 The Story of My Life Assignment 1) Can language and communication take place without socialization? No, language and communication cannot take place without socialization. From birth, humans communicate and socialize with other human beings. When a baby cries, it gets attention. Its parents provides him/her with food, water, a clean diaper, a toy, or nonmaterial love and comfort. Through this interaction, the baby learns to cry when it needs something, and thus socialization has taken place. Eventually, as we grow up, we learn to replace crying with words and sentences. Even though Helen Keller was blind and deaf, she still learned to communicate to her parents through socialization. When she was hungry, her parents would feed her and she learned to motion to her mouth that she wanted food. In the movie, she used to doll to communicate that she wanted the ability to see like the doll could. The very definition of language from Dictionary.com requires socialization because language is “a body of words and the systems for their use common to a people…” Notice that the word “people” is used, not person. While it may involve language, talking to one’s self does not constitute communication because, again from Dictionary.com, communication involves “the imparting or interchange of thoughts, opinions, or information by speech, writing, or signs.” There must be a person or group to receive what a person is communicating, and that person-to-person interaction constitutes socialization.

2) What material and non-material culture did Ms. Sullivan use to teach Helen? Material Culture

Non-material culture

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dolls

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love

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food

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sign language

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clothing

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facial expressions

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water

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patience

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mug

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isolation (from her parents)

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grass

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table manners

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egg

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hunger

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chick

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desire

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bed

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kindness

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chair

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pain

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silverware

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persistence

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drinking glass

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stubbornness

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napkin

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needle

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thread

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hugs

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kisses

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fingers (signing)

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grass

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trees

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pump

3) Could she have learned these skills without the help of others? No, Helen could not have learned the skills she did without the help of others. As Helen stated in the reading, she was lost in a fog before Ms. Sullivan came along. This is an excellent metaphor because we as humans have no control over a fog. We can’t lift it or move it, and we require the guidance of other people and instruments to safely navigate through it. Helen had no means to understand that every “thing” in the world has a name, and that name makes it unique. Without the sign language Ms. Sullivan taught her and the constant efforts Anne made to connect the signed words with physical objects, she most likely never would have learned what she did. The same goes for her manners. Helen had no frame of reference to base her actions on when she was at a dinner table. She needed nourishment, so she grabbed what she knew would nourish her and shoved it in her mouth so she could be nourished. If Ms. Sullivan hadn’t come along and showed her that there was a proper, civilized means to eat, Helen most likely would have continued eating in that manner for the rest of her life. Because she could not hear or see what others around her were doing, she needed assistance to understand how to properly socialize with others.

4) Is the same true for a person who doesn’t have the handicap that Helen Keller had? No, the same is not true for regular, non-handicapped persons. As I stated above, Helen had no frame of reference from which to base her actions on. She could not see or hear the socialization that was taking place around her. But children who can see and hear observe others and their parents and learn from them. Simply put, normal children do not

have to deal with the fog that Ms. Sullivan helped Helen get through. There is an important distinction that must be made in reference to the previous question, however. While regular children do not require “help” from others to learn skills like language and communication, they still need to see and hear “others” in order to learn. We watch our parents eat at the dinner table and slowly learn table manners. We listen to our parents talk to each other and us and eventually start to speak our own words. Children are sent to daycare and kindergarten where they interact with other children and learn from them. We need others around us to learn, but normal people do not require the help of those around us during adolescence to learn from them because we do that on our own. What a regular child and Helen have in common is a desire to learn and become aware of his/her surroundings. The difference between them is that Helen lacked a means to satisfy that desire on her own....