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Philosophy of Child Development
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The Philosophy of Child Development It took thousands of years for human beings to develop language, and thousands more to create the cultures and societies that so define individuals today. These achievements were not the creations of one person, or one group of people, they are the product of generations of learning and teaching; sharing information and ideas, inspirations and challenges. In essence it is the relationships between people that is the conduit for this information and therefore the infrastructure supporting this achievement. Taken in isolation no single human child or adult has the capacity to develop language, or indeed any other of the myriad skills considered necessary and normal in today’s society. The qualities and capabilities that today define our humanity are very much products of a shared history and development: They are essentially emergent properties of the human race as a whole - an integrated and inextricably interrelated system. A child joins this system as a blank slate or tabula rasa. The degree to which that child has access to potential learning opportunities ultimately defines their ability to share in and contribute to the overall system. There is a true story of a young child, Victor - who spent the first decade or so of his life with virtually no access to such opportunities. Surviving alone in a forest from early toddlerhood until he was found / captured, and brought into 'civilization' at the age of about 11 or so. Called the wild child of Aveyron this story provides a tremendously vivid illustration of this phenomenon. His isolation effectively deprived him of thousands of years of cultural and social development. And yet later through his relationship with a foster family he was able to grasp at least the fundamentals of this information in a fantastically short space of time. This achievement is as much a testament to the intensity and commitment of their relationships, as it is a reflection of the sheer plasticity and raw potential of the human mind. Perhaps the most important of societies great achievements is the capacity to form relationships, and thus to develop access and opportunities for learning. From this perspective one might suggest that it is skills such as friendship, love, nurturing and trust that build cultures and civilizations, for without them all inventions and developments would die with their originator, or at least within a few generations of them. There would be little if any opportunity for sharing, and so barely any chance of cumulative advancements. With this in mind one might reconsider the relative importance of intellectual learning and emotional learning. Indeed in the context of Victor's progress and development little if anything would have been possible were it not for the love, nurturing, affection and commitment that he received and learned from his foster family. |
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