A New school year has just begun and already children are being suspended. At one particular local school two grade 12 students were suspended for paddling a grade 9 as an initiation. The same thing happened in the woods off of school grounds and the police officers were called to treat it as an assault. The principal of the school looked at it as an assault, but the children did not, they saw it as harmless fun. Therefore no charges were laid.
Whether it was an assault or not, I’m not positive, but I do know that there are some angry parents out there saying that the schools should be putting a stop to this, and that everything is happening because of television and bad music. I could go on and on with a list of what is supposedly ruining our children and their futures, but I won’t.
Let’s just say that the paddling was an assault, did the child do it because of the way he was brought up by his parents, because of his surroundings, or was he merely born an angry child?
When you were a baby, you knew to cry when you were hungry or wet. You knew how to laugh, how to move your fingers and toes. This would be the Nature side. You were born knowing these things. Nobody had to show you how to swallow, not like they had to show you how to tie your shoes. Your parents taught you right from wrong, they acted as your role models, and when you were smaller you probably mimicked them every chance you had. This is the Nurture side.
Scientists have debated this for years, whether we are who we are because of where we are brought up and how we are brought up, or because we were just born that way. Some people say that a person did something because he was sick while others would say that his parents didn’t raise him right. I myself have debated for hours with friends about it. Personally, I believe that it’s a bit of each. I know I was born with certain instincts, that I am my own person, but I also hold some of the same traits that my parents do as well. Such as my father’s entire side of the family when eating only eat one thing at a time leaving meat for last and I do the exactly the same thing. Have a look to see exactly what you have in common.
