Nature versus Nurture

When I first heard of the debate "Nature versus Nuture", probably while studying psychology at SFU in 1967-68, I tended to side with the "nature" camp. My rationale was that if a person did not possess the innate qualities, talents, and abilities within him or herself, no amount of nuture could enable them to achieve a particular goal. I also believed at that time that if a person truly wanted to achieve a goal, all that was necessary was determination. I was young and naïve then - 18 years old, and since I was brought up in a middle class home and my adoptive father had the means to provide me with all my basic needs, including his love and attention and encouragement, and my mother was always there for me as well, it did not occur to me the importance of this financial and emotional security. It wasn't until I entered my 30s and had been married to a working class boy for 10 years that I learned how the "others" lived. I also had acquaintance with some fairly wealthy people, as before he was killed, my natural father had a home built for us in the British Properties, West Vancouver. Mom and my adoptive dad maintained the friendships they had made with the residents of the British Properties all through my growing up years. In fact, several of these people attended my wedding.

Throughout my adult life, I have learned that if a child is born into a working class family in a rural town, his or her chances of obtaining a university degree were greatly reduced in comparison to me. For one thing, few of the child’s cohorts would aspire to obtaining a university education. They would not be as aware of the various careers that a university education could open up, apart from the usual doctor, lawyer, teacher, dentist etc. There are many more careers that take place in a city environment and city children are exposed to people who have these careers as they are their neighbours. Most rural children would know about farmers, fishermen, loggers, perhaps carpenters, and the rare electrician or plumber. They might know one lawyer or notary public and a few pastors of churches. By far most of their acquaintances would be blue collar workers and proud of it. Many working class parents feel threatened if their children have aspirations that are too high for fear that their children would grow away from them and move to a larger city if they had the power to do so, through education. It is the exceptional parent that would truly be able to encourage his or her child to pursue an education and career that would move them up to the middle or upper class.

Another factor that cannot be underestimated is the power of peer pressure. If a teenager aspires to greater things than his or her peers do, he or she risks rejection of many who are jealous or threatened by these goals. It takes a person with a lot of self-esteem and assurance to pursue a university education, in spite of the separation from his friends that this may involve. There is also the aspect of housing in a larger town, which would be an added expense for the parents, let alone the cost of university education. Only working class parents who were in an occupation that brought extra income would be able to pay for the child’s education and board. In many cases the student would be required to work a part-time job as well as attend school and study.

So you get the idea of what I am saying here. I no longer put much stalk in nature over nuture. In fact, I think it is actually more the opposite that is true. Obtaining a university education doesn’t necessarily require a lot of brains. It takes discipline, determination, money, and hard work. Many university graduates (at least at the bachelor level) are not particularly brilliant students. They are people who figure out how to study for exams and how to write exams. Many only learn the bare necessity of what is required of them and quickly forget much of what they learn, especially for fill in the blank, multiple choice, and true and false questions, which require specific skills. They do not necessarily require creative thinking. Essays and essay-type questions require a bit more thought in my opinion. If one knows nothing at all on a topic in an essay question they will fall flat – with the other types (except fill-in-the-blanks) a person stands a one in four or five chance of accidentally getting the right answer. This is why I have always preferred essay questions, as I felt that they were more fair. Since I was a good student and enjoyed most of my courses and enjoyed studying and doing well on exams, I preferred essay questions where I could “strut my stuff” on paper.

As usual with my blogs it is getting late and I am getting tired (late for me at least) so I will be lazy and just say goodnight and sign off. (Not at all a proper ending for an essay, but this is my leisure activity).