On page 217-218, it says that in 2000 Ellen Winner responded to the idea that hard work and training does not outrule the role of innate ability in a person. Ericsson's research said that "intensive training is necessary for the acquisition of expertise, but not that it if sufficient" in regard to replacing innate ability.
Winner argued that gifted children have a deep intrinsic motivation to achieve, are independent, and have naturally hard-working parents. She said that these gifted children all had these abilities due to innate ability or nature over nurture.
Do you agree with Winner about how innate ability may play a larger role over nurture and working hard to learn? Due you believe that children are born "gifted", or does their environment and upbringing control their "gifts" or talents? Or do you think it is a mix of both? Explain.
I believe that innate ability does not play a larger role than nurture and working hard to learn. Innate ability gives children a base to start from and then progressively improve, but without nurture and working hard, the children will remain at that slight advantage they were given and not advance to become something better. A great example of this is Nate Wood who is a drummer. He began drumming at an early age, even using his food as drumsticks. His parents had been in show business and readily encouraged his behavior and passion instead of criticizing which helped him to become a well known drummer today (http://articles.latimes.com/1997/sep/24/entertainment/ca-35469). The encouragement he received from his parents allowed him to continue to develop his ability and passion. He worked hard and was paid hardly anything to perform, but each performance allows him to play and make changes so that he can become even better.
ReplyDeleteI think that children can be born with some slight advantages to others with height or coordination at an early age which continues to help them in life, but I think the majority of children are influenced by their environment. The choices, encouragement, and activities their parents, siblings, and relatives make, say, or do ultimately affect them and they may learn how to be great at something from them. An example of how the environment can affect a talent is shown on page 45-46, where children in different houses or communities were exposed to different environments. The difference in vocabulary of these kids was amazing in only four years. Psychologists found a gap of 32 million words between different communities and so children in professionals’ homes may become very well known for their vocabulary or skills because of that vocabulary they received where as the kids in welfare will have less of a chance of being as successful in the same field. As I said earlier, kids look to their relatives for inspiration and encouragement and so it is not surprising if many siblings have the same interests or activities. I think this may be because younger siblings imprint upon their older siblings and try to follow in their footsteps or close by. Imprinting is where young lean basic behaviors of their parents or relatives in this case (Campbell 1126). Younger siblings trying to follow the footsteps of older relatives are at more of an advantage because they begin the same activities at a younger age and are able to improve their skills through encouragement and teaching from older relatives which I think contributes to exploiting a child’s “gifts”. (Regan Frieling, regan1995@yahoo.com)