Children Learn about Society through the Environment - Essay Example

Your Sociological Imagination Memoir Childhood and Sociology: Children Learn about Society through the Environment As life stages go, I think childhood is the most important one. Not only it’s the first life stage on has to experience as a person, it sets the foundations of one’s personality as well as the attitudes of the person. This is where the paper starts. My childhood. My childhood was, I think, a normal one. It is a cherished part of my life as it is happy and worry-free. It is a time of my life wherein I enjoyed a carefree and innocent existence. There were no prejudices at all, which is understandable because as a child, you are a clean slate. Childhood is where you form values, have yourself aware to societal rules and norms; it is actually a time when the norms influence people unconsciously and most effectively too. As child, I knew I was lucky, but then I didn’t know why. I can say now that I was never devious as a child or teenager. I never had those inclinations to go into the rebel stage or whatnot that the other young people engage in. I am an athlete and I think that’s a big factor in defining what I am and my personality. Maybe the reason for such disinterest in “rebelling” is because of the society’s expectations of me as an athlete. Whether we like it or not, whether we are aware of it or not, athletes in this society are expected to be role models. Athletes are supposed to be the epitome of discipline and sports, that’s why we have to act that way. We are conditioned to think like that ever since we were born; ever since we are aware of the roles we have to play in each of our societies. I was not also aware of any social or racial differences when I was a kid. I am probably sheltered, yes, but this particular awareness came to me when I was a bit older, but not during childhood. I am thankful for that because I learned to appreciate different kinds of people at an early age, and without anything to compare to or to look down to. It was innocent and free from social expectations and some unnecessary norms. However, kinda had an idea then that it mattered. If you look at me now, perhaps you’d know what my social background is. It is reflected through my fashion, my hobbies, and my behavior, generally. My passion is gymnastics and I believe that even passion and hobbies are still connected to the norms in some way or the other. I am an only child, born twenty one years ago. I came from a middle class family. My dad and mom had both steady jobs. My father is part of the Milwaukee County Parks System and mother worked for the Department of Aging. Both are government jobs and they are steady jobs. As a single kid, I could tell that we never had any difficulties financially. You are probably asking what the Department of Aging is for. As far as I recall, my mother worked around the city to help those in need, specifically the elderly. She and her team would also help the impoverished and those who had mental disorders. They would be there to assist and to help them be better since these people do not really live in good places or have enough food to get by. These people are then put in nursing homes. My dad, on the other hand, well he also worked hard. He couldn’t go to all my baseball and soccer games as a kid because he was so busy at work. I understand though. He was quite busy but I know he tried his best at being a good father; and I knew that he wanted to watch me play too. As a consolation when he missed some of my games, he used to take me go-karting and mini golfing which I totally enjoyed. Those are my memories of my parents. They are loving people and I am glad that they are my parents. They are very supportive in every endeavor that I undertake. As a child, I had many interests, most of them involved sports. Through sports, I met several people and games are really a good time and place to meet new people. Because of sports, I became more exposed to people and I am more understanding of others. I enjoyed and at the same time I learned from them. I think sports is a nice way of keeping the people, especially the youth, from doing dangerous stuff like drugs. Seen in bigger point of view, sports is also a great way of controlling a certain part of the population, and in this case, it was the youth. I grew up in a rich suburb of Milwaukee. We were not rich but my parents stated that we “were well off”. Of course, since we can afford the things that we need but not really everything that we want. Our house was nowhere near the size of some of the other houses in the neighborhood which were really big; it was an old farm house with a garage that used to be used for farm animals which was completely detached from the house. The interesting thing about the neighborhood is that there was an ordinance put into effect saying that no homes could be built in River Hills with any less than five acres of land. Because of this, we barely had neighbors. I lived on a dead end street and was the last house before the end. A main freeway was the reason for the dead end. I lived across the street from the River Hills police department and I probably knew the faces of the police men and women more than I knew any nearby neighbors. The neighborhood typically kept to themselves. Houses were surrounded and covered by trees for privacy purposes but if you were ever going for a walk or a bike ride, if you passed someone you were sure to get a smile, wave, or hello. The police would also wave anytime you drive pass them in a car. Even if the neighborhood was quite private, it gave me a sense of community as a kid. It was a place that nurtured my understanding for people and the rules. Even if they do not go out a lot from their houses, I know that they are watching. Then there are cops who are also very strong guardians and keepers of social norms. They are actually keeper of the laws! This consciousness probably also triggered my respect for the law. Our neighborhood was predominantly white. Although there are some races too, but it’s not that diverse. Before you judge me as an underexposed individual, I went to schools that other kids from surrounding suburbs also went to, though there was a system the school developed called the "420 program" where they would bring in kids from the inner city to attend my schools as well. My school system had money and good teachers. It was highly diverse too, but I had to admit that there weren’t really impoverished kids in our school. I am white, and that’s not really considered a minority. I know I am more privileged than most children of other ethnicities but that did not stop us from making friends with each other. We are kids and we just played, although, as kids, we knew that something mattered even if we can’t place it yet. However, social consciousness was instilled in me by my mother’s job. Her job, which made her go around places in the city and help the poor and the sick, requires a lot of openness and understanding of their disposition. You can never judge, and that’s what happened. I grew up with the idea that not many people are as privileged as us, but then not many people are as rich as our neighbors (and we are one of those). This taught me to be humble and not look at people by their social class. I was raised as an athlete. Growing up from age 3 until age 11 I was a gymnast. It took up much time of my childhood. There were 3 hour practices 5 times a week and a 30 minute drive each way on the way to training and back. I loved it though. It was my favorite pastime, and still is up to this day. I don’t know but I’m hooked; must be the endorphins that the body releases when I do it. I didn't have much time for friends from school, though I did have many. I used gymnastics as a way of spending time with friends. Gymnastics was physically demanding and as a result, I would get a lot of injuries. It started getting bad when I broke my back from overuse. This was in high school. When I got all healed up, not too long after, I tore both my wrists and ended up having to get 3 surgeries for them. That was when I knew my time was up and I had to quit. But I loved it too much to leave completely. I started coaching gymnastics. My injuries did not stop me from using my acrobatic abilities to my advantage either. I began diving as a junior in high school and made it to state my senior year, which I was very proud of. I decided to not pursue any sports in college, but later decided to take up cheerleading there. In my junior year I transferred to University of Minnesota where I currently am enrolled and cheering and love it. It's physically demanding but I have a great team and love the friends I've made. Hopefully, there would be no more injuries. I know acrobatics is not a popular sport for many people but cheerleading is and this made me more attuned to the needs of my team, who happened to be racially and socially diverse. They are actually the microcosm of reality and I like it because they provide me the honesty that most people deny each other. I know that society has a deceitful way of classifying social classes or personalities but not in my team. You can observe people well and they are pretty honest about themselves, which make them better than most people. It must be due to the fact that we’re all athletes and all good sports. I do not remember going church. Although I know (and I have learned) that religion is a big part of one’s personality and a big factor in determining one’s behavior, I do not remember it figuring out in my life. Religion is also one of the big powers in the society that can control people, or at least certain people in a given population. Religion does not work for our family, I guess. I don’t even know if I believe in God or any form of it of some sort. I know, I am young, and maybe I’ll discover my beliefs sometime in the future but as of now, nothing. I don’t think it makes me any more or less than any other person; I don’t think it makes me sinful either. It’s just that, religion is not for me. It’s a need for some people, sure, but it’s also quite constricting because it has so many rules for one to follow when you’re in a religion. This is understandable because they need to have an orderly congregation. They have holy books that need to be interpreted in some way or else many people would get confused and mad. Religion, for me, is a good way of appreciating a society. This religion thing is probably due to the fact that I do not need much. I have everything at my disposal and I do not really hope for something more. I do not need a God to give me the things I want because I already have the things I want. Sociologically speaking, if you have a community that has everything, the people would not seek for anything more. They are content (like me) and would not make demands, really. Even though I have lived a sheltered life most of my life, I believe sports and my mother’s job have exposed me to the problems in the society. I know that ethnicity is one of the more heavy factors in determining one’s fate; even gender too. Then again, at this point in my life, I am hopeful that certain things will change for the better. As a whole, I know that I owe my personality to my social class and to my race. I know that I am far off better than others and I know this because of my exposure to other people. I have friends from many places and situations and sometimes, you can’t help but compare yourself from them. However sad this is, we just have to admit that sometimes, race and social class determines ones chances at life. Reference: Schaefer, Richard. Sociology. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2005. Print. Read More