Field of Adult Development, Parenting - Essay Example

?Week1 Mooney in the first article described the raging debate on the benefits of vaccination to children and ultimately to the entire population versus the negative effect of this same vaccine, in particular its alleged influence on autism in children and mercury poisoning. Although the scientific benefit of the vaccine appeared to have conquered the debate seeing that there was no solid proof that vaccination was the cause of autism or mercury poisoning due to the scare established by the debate the writer asserted the need to trust in the benefits of the vaccine left parents in the position of weighing the pros against cons of the usefulness of vaccination. Thus, it is hoped that the vaccination would win over the previously thought and totally debunked theories on its association to autism and mercury poisoning which would have an effect not just on the young child but grow with the individual continuously causing harm to the total development of the individual and society as a whole. In the second article, Stipek emphasized the need for attention to be given to the individual needs of children rather than a “one size fits all” approach. Stipek argued that the pressure put on elementary and secondary schools to improve the academic development of the child could possibly negatively affect their overall development if the implementation did not take place in a systematic manner. It is interesting to note that the government in trying to improve academics may in fact be stifling the overall development of our students the nation’s future. As Stipek noted care must be taken to ensure every dimension of the student’s development is taken into consideration when creating programs for the improvement of the child. The child, as a sponge in its early developmental stages is set for an enormous amount of teaching and learning to take place. Learning should therefore be fun and a focus on academics only would endanger development. Consideration therefore must be given to the physiological, emotional, social, behavioral and academic needs of the students. Finally, Stipek spoke to the self efficacy of the individual, if a child through praise and careful and systematic teaching believes that he/she is capable of completing a task then that task will be completed at a higher level than an individual who believes he/she cannot. The effect of self fulfilling prophecy on the learning of the child is therefore vital to the teaching and learning process. Further, all stakeholders must take cognizant of the fact that each individual develops differently and at different rates therefore one size does not fit all. Improvement of academics requires focus not only on the academic needs of the individual but all developmental areas in fact focus on academic success only will only cause more damage than good to the overall teaching and learning of our nation’s children. Week 2 In his article, entitled, An Educator's Journey toward Multiple Intelligences, Seider, presents a detailed account of his misconceptions about multiple intelligences (MI) on one hand and the reality of MI as addressed by Howard Gardner on the other. Seider appears to have had an intimate relationship with Gardner, thus most of his misconceptions as well as those of many other interpreters of MI were explained. The major misconceptions addressed were the wrong understanding that MI was made to fit students into at least one particular MI, secondly, that every child must be gifted in at least one of the intelligences and thirdly, every lesson should be presented in a manner that would incorporate the eight intelligences. Contrary to these misconceptions Seider made a point of highlighting the “real” purpose and intent of the widespread MI. Firstly, MI was intended to be an alternative conception of intelligence. Gardner presented his concept for psychologists but it was rejected therefore educators particularly, special educators took up the mantle and utilized MI to plan curriculum and identify the strengths and weaknesses of their students. Thus, the use of MI in order to attain and maintain the interest of adolescents who are overly occupied with their physiological changes could improve their willingness to learn. Likewise, young adults who may not yet be aware of their particular strengths and weaknesses could become enlightened on their specific skill in order to survive on their own. The second article, Interview with Dr. Craig Anderson: Video Game Violence, highlighted the research conducted by Dr. Craig Anderson on the effect of video game violence on the individual. The interviewers discovered that the research was inconclusive about the overall effect of violence in a video game on the violent behavior manifested by individuals. Whereas some researchers believed that the video games violence had no effect on individuals with high violence trait and that after participating in the games individuals with low violence trait tended to display more violent behavior, other researchers concluded that there may be a significant effect on individuals with the violent trait. Adolescents who sometimes go through self doubt and subsequent depression during their maturational changes may be prone to more violent behavior towards their peers but also towards themselves. Nonetheless, beyond the effect of video games on violence in the individual, the evidence was conclusive with regards to the negative effect of video games or television addiction which resulted in harmful effects such as attention deficit disorder and enduring injury to the brain in the young child and subsequently, continues into adolescence and young adulthood. Week 3 Challenger, in his article, Seek training, be flexible, and get hired in the fast-moving working world of the future, emphasize the need to be flexible in a dynamic and rapidly changing work environment. He highlighted several insightful means of analyzing a specific job into various specialized components. The young adult and subsequent middle adult grouping is not left hopeless but with hope for a future employment providing that they remain flexible and open to the idea of functioning within their job specification but perhaps in a different industry or location. Senior‘s article, All joy and no fun: Why parents hate parenting argues for and against the perceptions on happiness in parenting. Senior underscores the significance of parenthood which appears to be diametrically opposed to the process of parenting in relation to happiness. In particular, the researchers identified a plethora of joys in parenting on hindsight but equally numerous and perhaps more devastating were the woes and distress experienced in the actual parenting. Noteworthy is the apparent difference in the perception of parenting and happiness in different countries and previous eras although their experiences were similar. Senior identified a major factor which may account for the difference in research - the political and environmental climate. Scandinavia, the one country in which the results of parenting and happiness research had a positive outcome was known for its excellent support system from the government which helped to create peace of mind for parents. Should advocates then be hammering for political sensitivity rather than parental focus? Nonetheless, the general consensus is that parenting and happiness lies in the eyes of the beholder –you may be unhappy with them but you certainly will be “more unhappy” without them. Parenting usually occurs in adulthood and it is usually at the time that adults are becoming independent, therefore the additional burden of children may add to instead of detract from the already hectic and stressful process. During middle adulthood when children have become adolescents both the parent and the adolescent is grappling with physiological change. Senior concluded that it is this very dynamism between the joy of the parent in children’s improvement and their simultaneous struggle to adopt strategies to improve their children that makes parenting worthwhile and propels the progress of generations. Both Senior and Challenger presented challenges that every adult must face – the challenge of life. Life as an adult may begin with independence from parents culminating with the relocation to a new home, intimate relation with a significant other and the start of a career. Concurrently with these events may be the expectation and eventual manifestation of parenting, a job in which there is no manual, no step by step guide, and no preparation. Adult life is spawned with endless trials. It is the acceptance of these challenges that makes life worth living Week 4 Onedera and Stickle, in their article, Healthy aging in later life, expounded on a plethora of positive factors which may influence the older adult in spite of society’s stereo-typical negative thinking. Above all the authors identified four main factors or mantra to live by, namely, no self pity, independence, activity and sociability. Thus, the authors refuted the traditional disengagement theory and suggested a new theory - active theory to address the perception of aging and the needs of the older adult. For the individual who believes that one gets wiser and therefore adds value to the life of the next generation as one increase in age is the one who will undoubtedly live the most rewarding and fulfilling life. In addition, the authors stressed the need to build a social support system and engage in an active life style from early in life. Begley’s article, This is your brain.Aging, highlights the plight of the older adult in relation to scientific findings. Begley demonstrated that a number of findings which represented the older adult as losing brain cells and mental capacity were not backed up by empirical evidence. In fact, modern scientific evidence proved that only 20 percent of the brain’s executive function changed as a result of age. There were other factors to be explored. One of which was a generational reference which was impossible to be investigated. Interestingly, scientist discovered that there is the possibility of the older person’s capacity to improve memory and reasoning and hence brain capacity. The antidote was exercise. Exercising regularly then according to Begley improves not only physical functioning but brain functioning as well. Both articles emphasized the ability of the older adult to rise above societal negative claims as well as scientific biased conclusions. It is imperative then that society and science be thorough in their definitions of the capacity of the older adult to function adequately in their daily lives. The older adult indeed experiences cognitive, emotional, physical and psychological adjustments but the phenomenon called wisdom allows each individual to adjust to the varying demands of life in the twenty-first century. Read More