MART 450
Tobin Addington
Week 2/Due 09/10/16
Op-Ed Essay: How Does a Child become a Successful Adult
The issue: Many children are not being taught life lessons to develop needed tools going forward in life to become successful adults.
The successful adult: Are there specific parameters parents could follow in raising their children so they become successful adults and not burdens on society? Wow! I have to stop already and first get my head wrapped around the definition of “The Successful Adult”. I found there are many definitions floating around, some based in psychology, sociology, philosophy, and even spirituality. Through all the research I’ve done I humbly report it lies in all the above, and then some. Basically the definition depends …show more content…
Paul Tough, author of the book Helping Children Succeed has learned through his years of studying human behavior, most successful adults have acquired a few specific traits in common in early childhood. These traits come from a basic set of skills learned early on in life. Adults who are educated, have good jobs, are mentally and physically healthy, and have great relationships (recognize the “circumstance” list from above?). They all hold the same skills of persistence, creativity, curiosity, conscientiousness, self-control and optimism which were all cultivated in their early years.
Now we have a list of traits, if acquired through childhood and held onto into adult years will give children high statistical probability of becoming a successful adult! How are children acquiring these traits? Do their parents sit these children down and tell them to be curious, creative, persistent, have self-control or be conscientious? They may try it this way but it has been discussed and agreed traits cannot be taught through schooling, they are best acquired through example, trial and error. A good example of forming the persistence trait would be if a child were trying to learn to whistle. A parent could show her how they whistle, but couldn’t stick their fingers in her mouth to emulate how to hold her tongue and cheeks. The child will have to persist with different contortions until the first little twill. Encouraged by the slight successes she will soon be whistling down the road. Someone once said the single greatest predictor of children who would become successful was how much time they were willing to put into an
Tobin Addington
Week 2/Due 09/10/16
Op-Ed Essay: How Does a Child become a Successful Adult
The issue: Many children are not being taught life lessons to develop needed tools going forward in life to become successful adults.
The successful adult: Are there specific parameters parents could follow in raising their children so they become successful adults and not burdens on society? Wow! I have to stop already and first get my head wrapped around the definition of “The Successful Adult”. I found there are many definitions floating around, some based in psychology, sociology, philosophy, and even spirituality. Through all the research I’ve done I humbly report it lies in all the above, and then some. Basically the definition depends …show more content…
Paul Tough, author of the book Helping Children Succeed has learned through his years of studying human behavior, most successful adults have acquired a few specific traits in common in early childhood. These traits come from a basic set of skills learned early on in life. Adults who are educated, have good jobs, are mentally and physically healthy, and have great relationships (recognize the “circumstance” list from above?). They all hold the same skills of persistence, creativity, curiosity, conscientiousness, self-control and optimism which were all cultivated in their early years.
Now we have a list of traits, if acquired through childhood and held onto into adult years will give children high statistical probability of becoming a successful adult! How are children acquiring these traits? Do their parents sit these children down and tell them to be curious, creative, persistent, have self-control or be conscientious? They may try it this way but it has been discussed and agreed traits cannot be taught through schooling, they are best acquired through example, trial and error. A good example of forming the persistence trait would be if a child were trying to learn to whistle. A parent could show her how they whistle, but couldn’t stick their fingers in her mouth to emulate how to hold her tongue and cheeks. The child will have to persist with different contortions until the first little twill. Encouraged by the slight successes she will soon be whistling down the road. Someone once said the single greatest predictor of children who would become successful was how much time they were willing to put into an