Jacques Cousteau Research Paper

Jacques Cousteau was born on June 11, 1910 in Saint-Andre-de-Cubzac, France. His father, Daniel Cousteau,was an international lawyer, and his mother, Elizabeth Duranthon, was the daughter of a wealthy wine merchant. At just the age of four, Cousteau learned how to swim and at the age of 10, Cousteau and his family moved to New York, where he learned to speak English. In the U.S., he improved his swimming and snorkeling, and learned how to dive. After two years Cousteau and his family returned to France, living near the Mediterranean Sea. Around this time, Cousteau began to show a strong interest in mechanical objects, so he brought a movie camera with him from the U.S. Cousteau began taking videos while he snorkeled in the Mediterranean. …show more content…
Jacques Cousteau grew up in a wealthy family, his mom was the daughter of one of the wealthiest wine merchants and his father was a legal advisor. According to Gladwell, concerted cultivation is defined as, “It's an attempt to actively "foster and assess a child's talents, opinions, and skills"(Gladwell 104). The goal is to help the child express themselves, and learn tools that will be helpful later in life. A more detailed definition of concerted cultivation is seen when Gladwell writes, “Lareau stresses that one style isn't morally better than the other…But in practical terms, concerted cultivation has enormous advantages. The heavily scheduled middle-class child is exposed to a constantly shifting set of experiences. She learns teamwork and how to cope in highly structured settings. She is taught how to interact comfortably with adults and to speak up when she needs to. In Lareau's words, the middle-class children learn a sense of "entitlement" (Gladwell 104-105). This method of parenting is stressed with middle to upper-class parenting, and the kids learn to get along in teams and with adults, how to speak up for themselves, and given additional experiences and opportunities. The first example of concerted cultivation that comes up in Cousteau’s life was when his parents were, “Concerned at their son’s lack of academic progress and lack of discipline his parents sent him to a tough boarding school in France’s Alsace region.” This is an ideal instance of concerted cultivation because Cousteau was struggling in school his parents had the money to send him to a prestigious boarding school. At this school, he received discipline and social skills that would go on to help him. Later in life, “The young pilot borrowed his father's Salmson sports car to attend a wedding and had a horrific crash when the headlights shorted out on a dark road.” After his