Research Prospectus

   In my first blog, I explored different theories of human development.  I would still like to explore this because I am very passionate about children and their development, but I believe that my previous blog was too general.  I would like to make it more specific.  I would like to look at children’s environment at home, and parents direct influence on children.  One of the theories that I wanted to explore in my first blog was that of nature vs. nurture.  As I learned more in my Human Growth and Development, I finally took a stance on this theory.  My stance is both. Although I would like to argue both, I will argue on the stance of nurture.  Basically, because it is easier to prove, and there is more evidence on the stance of nurture.
    In childhood development, the environment is vital to create a stable and well rounded child, and a more acceptable and substantial adult.  To create an acceptable environment we should first examine the adults of the family, and decide their magnitude of success in parenting.
    I believe it would be much easier to argue the point of nurture.  I will obviously need research different studies of environments and the effects on the children.  There are several types of research one being natural research.  To achieve data, one must go into the natural environment of the child.  Another type of research that I will use is clinical research, which is also important because, the factors are controlled to eliminate any lurking variables that could be present in the child’s natural environment.
    The counter arguments of nature vs. nurture, would obviously be nature.  This will be tough, since I believe that both are necessary to create an individual’s personality.  I believe that there is more substantial evidence on nurture, for the simple fact that we are just now researching the alleles and the genomes that make up our DNA.  Biologist are just now unearthing what the purpose of certain strands of our DNA reflect in our being.  There is hard evidence for the argument of nurture, because we are able to physically observe and report behavior.
    The main source that I will be using would be my textbook for Human Growth and Development.  I suspect that I will get the majority of the information for my paper from this source because it has such a wide array of facts, studies, theories, and explanations.  The textbook Development Through the Lifespan.  The second source is a book that I found on Google Scholar, From Neurons to neighborhood: The science of early childhood development. The whole book is available through Google.  The last source that I plan on using is a source that I found through UFlib, this source is an article from Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education.  The article is about the development of children in their birth environment (that they are still living with both birth parents)vs. children living in a broken home or an adoptive home.
    I am really excited to research this topic, because I am genuinely interested in childhood development.  I believe that it is critical in order to create a better society to start with our youngest and more pliable generation.  That is our children, also every child deserves a promising future.

"Your parents must be very proud..."

    Richard Rodriguez explores his success in The achievement of desire.  Rodriguez believes that the more education he received, the further he alienated his parents and culture.
    As a college student I can relate to this.  When I was eighteen I took the biggest step of my life.  I did this for the achievement of desire.  In order to achieve my desire I had to move away from my friends and family.  My desire was to educated and get out of my dead-end small town.  Five people out of my graduating class went to a university, only three of them went back for a second year.  I am very proud of the fact that I am on of the people that went to a university, and succeeded.  This has alienated me from my friends and my family though.  I live such a different life than my old friends.  Many of my peers got married right out of high school, and already are building on their family.  When I go back, I am on a totally different level than what were once my best friends.  It is hard, because I also feel alienated from my family.  I am the oldest, and while I am not perfect for some reason they see me this way.  My younger sister who is in high school is resentful of me because of my success.  She is very intelligent, but it is a different intelligence than me.  She sometimes is very short with me when I try to encourage her.  This is hard for me because we used to be very close when I live at home.  She said she feels like I abandoned her.  
    I am at the University of Florida, and I am a very different person than I was two years ago.  This is because my education and my success.

"Aristotle, for one, did not believe in zero." - Eula Biss

Is there a zero?  Zero does not act like a number, so is zero the absence of a number? Can there be an absence of pain.
I believe that pain should be defined:
"Experiences which resemble pain but
are not unpleasant... should not be called pain."
If there is an absence of pain, is there a pain cap?
the pain scale goes 0 to 10
10, the worst pain imaginable... What is the worst pain imaginable. The worst pain that I can imagine is a natural child birth. 
Child birth is an 8.  (http://www.tipna.org/info/documents/ComparativePainScale.htm)
"There is no tenth circle to Dante's Hell."

So, what would be the worst level of pain?  Is the absence of pain the absence of everything.  I believe that one must feel pain to appreciate joy, or good health.  I pick zero.  I believe to feel no pain, would to feel nothing at all.  Through your day, you feel emotion, you see a sad movie, you touch and feel the emotional bond between you and another being, you feel the heat, you feel the cold. 

Why Bother?

   In "Why Bother"  Pollan asks the question is it even worth it to change your everyday life in order to reduce the carbon foot-print. "Let's say I do bother, big time.  I turn my life up-side down"(89)  Pollan asks "what would be the point when I know full well that halfway around the world there lives my evil twin, some carbon-footprint doppelganger" (89).
   In the second part of his essay he asks "so do you still want to talk about planting gardens?"(90). At this point in the essay he is changing his argument.  He uses logos and ethos at this point to make his argument.  The graph at the top of the page is an example of logos in Pollan's essay, it is evidence that the U.S. and many other countries do not view global warming as a serious problem.  He uses ethos when he says "if you do bother, you will set an example for other people, If enough other people bother, each one influencing yet another in a chain reaction of behavioral change"(92)  He wants people to think seriously about global warming, because global warming is a serious issue.  While not everyone cares about global warming at this point, one day they will and we just need a chain reaction to start it all.

Pollan, Michael. "Why Bother?" New York Times 2008
Ramage John D., Bean John C., Johnson June. The Allyn and Bacon Guide to Writing
New York: Pearson, 2006 (88-94)

Exploring ideas -- Research Blog

I have three different ideas, they all kind of are alike. 

The first idea that I have I got from my Human Growth and development class.  The first theory that I am possibly interested in would be childhood development.  One issue in childhood development is the theory of continuous  development, and discontinuous development.  I am not sure which one I agree with more.  I think maybe if I research and explore more I could develop a side.
 Along with my first idea I would like to explore other theories that have two sides.

My second idea is: the idea of republican motherhood which was important during history and it was the idea that we should educate our women and mothers, teach them how to read write, even teach them politics so they could educate their children especially their boys to be better members of society 

My third idea  is: The development of childhood after WWII many factors led to the development of childhood and its importance in a persons adult life.  To list a few, the factories that were created during the war to create weapons were now converted to make toys( which is ironic).  Another factor is the baby boom, this led to a huge generation of kids.