Effects Of Individualism On Children And Young People

2.1 Explain how children and young people’s development is influenced by a range of personal factors

In modern-day society, there are numerous people who take pleasure in separating themselves from the typical standards of society; however, there are also people who feel uncomfortable expressing themselves in the own, distinctive ways. Because they feel this way, many adolescents believe that by camouflaging themselves into their peer’s behaviors and beliefs that they will fit in with social norm, accepted beliefs and behaviors in a social group or society, and the reason why they have this mentality, is because of the lack of confidence to express their ideas in their own unique ways. The belief that students and kids have to live up to social norms, are implemented on them by social influences, more specifically, their peers.

Individualism in today’s society is the “belief that each person is unique, special, and a ‘basic unit of nature’.” The individualism concept puts an

Expansion of education is closely related to idealistic views of democracy. In developing and wealthy nations, education is valued because it helps the individual mind to develop capabilities. In contrast, education has also been seen as a way to promote equality. Having access to public education, in theory, has the potential to reduce poverty and promote equality. If all are entitled to the same public education, not to mention they are required by law, why do school systems seem segregate their students? Researchers have searched for the answer and have theorized that economic background, tracking, and hidden curriculum are a few things that help contribute to the imaginary lines drawn between students in society.

2.1. Explain how children and young people’s development is influenced by a range of personal factors

It allows people to flourish as individuals instead of forcing them to be identical in every way. Individualism celebrates differences such as levels of creativity and ability or interest in certain areas. Because of this, individualism moves society forward and allows for advancements (unlike in Anthem, where science and technology had in fact regressed).

Ever since its inception, human civilization has been run by a pecking order; a small group of elitists on the top of the chain of command dictate the social norms for the remaining individuals on the antithetical end of the spectrum. Individuals with traits outside these norms are ostracized and looked down upon by the hierarchy. Cathy Davidson’s, Project Classroom Makeover, promotes the use of customization in the education system to accommodate every students’ learning habits over the current use of standardization and curriculum based teachings. On the other hand, Karen Ho’s, Biographies of Hegemony, is about how one’s environment is engineered by institutions, which in turn establish hierarchies who set standards for society. However, Son by Andrew Solomon describes how horizontal identities, traits influenced by peer groups that separate individuals from their families, are seen as abnormalities and those with such identities are on the bottom of the said hierarchy. Based on Davidson’s, Solomon’s, and Ho’s works, individualism does into question because society forces individuals to conform to the standardized norm in which they are not allowed to have unique identities.

Individualism is a core value of American culture. It has been influencing all the fields of society, economics, politics and culture. It has played an immense and extensive effect to shape the character and mindset of the American nation. In the colonial period of 1607 - 1776, these Europeans had come to a new land to find new opportunity. The Colonists knew nothing but the rule and culture of England, thus bringing traits of it into their new society in the New World. They did not have a keep grip on societal development until people started to speak up about new ideas and meanings of life. But they feared from straying from the past traditions of England because of a possible chance that England would see that they were not able to thrive and settle in this new place. Thus, when different opinions, ideas, or anything opposing current societal ways, it was to be banished, killed, or in some way rid of before society was able to change in any way other than what the entire group of the community wanted. This time focused on groups of people and the entire population’s views and conformity rather than the individual’s beliefs and principles. The rationalism period between 1750 and 1800 focused on major changes in society especially through religion and government life. Acts and plans imposed by the British government enabled Americans to realize the lack of true freedom and liberty they had being under control of England. This era sparked numerous new mindsets and attitudes

Imagine yourself in the following situation: You sign up for a psychology experiment, on a specific date at a given time. You believe you are partaking in the experiment with fifteen other participants, however they have been given specified scripts that have been written out for them prior to the experiment. You are the only real participant. The experimenter arrives and begins to ask a series of true or false questions that aren't particularly hard. People begin to raise their hand for the inaccurate answers.

These singular pieces must match and intertwine to create a scenic picture. Individuals must realize that they are part of something bigger than themselves, for the wellbeing of society. Education, along with a diploma, is physical proof that you can succeed in your profession as a functional being, fitting perfectly in an operative society. Moreover, with education, the idea of a good society will be further enforced. A good society as defined by Draper and Ramsay (6), is a society that can prosper by giving its citizens basic physical rights such as security and health. Furthermore, a good society should lend its citizens a political voice and give its people access to education that will help they make their own conclusions. To emphasize the last point, the essay states, “People who are illiterate are said to be ‘blind’”, which is an interesting allusion to Plato’s allegory. By stressing individualism through

Mass public schooling has traditionally proclaimed among its goals the following: (1) to help each student gain personal fulfillment and (2) to help create good citizens. The two goals they claim here are for the betterment of the individual and the other for society that have an odd relation with one another. These two goals are what put schools at tough ends. The schools do not want to limit the students’ individuality but also want to encourage conformity to allow for students to mingle with other students. The issue that causes most tension in schools is the strict scheduling students must follow which by allowing the students to choose several electoral courses in their schedules levitates. Individualism is also encouraged in the school system with allowing the students the freedom to represent themselves through their own clothing. These points will be further and thoroughly discussed through the remaining of this essay.

In Paul Willis’ Learning to Labor, his study focused on several working class boys and their view on the academics. During the interview, most of the lads(or non-academic working class boys) considered themselves fairly successful in terms of having a blue collar jobs. Having a basic career was enough for them, and their aspire for education was significantly low. With opposition and resistance towards School authority and academic pursuit, lads exercised dislikes and feelings of supremacy both in and out of school to present themselves as an “independent” being. Boys rejecting schooling placed themselves into a working class category, and this surely mirrors the hidden purpose of education system in sorting individuals into certain place in

In 1891 primary education became free and compulsory for all children between the ages 5 and 13. Although some may see this as a great step towards equality, many found this an inconvenience as their children could no longer work for them; this in some cases meant families lost out on money and business. A Marxist would explain this as the Bourgeoisie transmitting the ideology to the Proletariat that capitalism is just and reasonable. Marx (1848) considers this ‘exploitation of the many by the few’. This can be seen in the schooling environment as it teaches you to compete with your fellow pupils by trying to achieve higher than them for a grade or position, similar to that society. They would also see it as training

Bowles and Gintis felt it was important to write this article, because they believe that the politics of education are better understood in terms of the need for social control in an unequal and rapidly changing economic order. This point is illustrated on page 396 when the authors say, “The unequal

Education is an important structure in society that shapes the most important years of your life, and therefore many theorists have ideas about what is wrong with education, what is right, and what needs to change or develop. Education is confined a lot by social control and social reproduction. Social control is a concept that refers to how social systems control the way we feel, think, behave, and even how we should present ourselves. These can appear openly, shown as rules and laws, or they could be not openly acknowledged and just appear as the “common” thing to do. Social reproduction is the reproduction of inequalities throughout generation-to-generation, one way education does this is how it supplies “wealthy” schools more and “poor” schools less. Michael Apple and Maxine Greene both define Social reproductions and Social Control. Throughout this text, I will explain the theories of Greene and Apple, as well as comparing and contrasting them against one another while applying some of my own experiences of education.