From the Desk of the Superintendent...
August 24, 2020
OCTOBER 2020 DISTRICT DISPATCH
You have probably heard of the “nature” versus “nurture” debate before. Are children shaped mainly by their genetic inheritance or by their cultural experiences? The “naturists” argue that our innate capacities and dispositions dictate the course of our lives…that our destiny is in our DNA. The “nurturists” counter that we become who we are because of the environment in which we develop and the life experiences we have. This debate has gone on for years and seems to have ended in a tie. A recent landmark study headed by Dr. Macrina Cooper-White entitled Nature or Nurture? The Long-Running Debate May Finally Be Settled (2015) tracked over fourteen million sets of twins in thirty-nine countries and examined more than seventeen thousand traits. It concluded that our genes contribute about 49 percent to whom we turn out to be and our environment contributes about 51 percent. If that is so, we should not be talking about nature versus nurture, but rather about the relationship between nature and nurture according to Dr. Ken Robinson in his book entitled You, Your Child, and School (2018).
From the moment they are born to the day they earn their first paycheck, children go through a miraculous metamorphosis. Providing they have the correct nutrition, rest, and exercise, they change physically in size, strength, and appearance. They evolve emotionally as their brains and neural systems become more sophisticated. They develop cognitively as their knowledge and understanding of the world increases. They grow socially in their ability to relate to other people. And, hopefully, they develop spiritually as they find meaning, purpose, and compassion in their lives.
It’s one thing to distinguish these processes, but it is misleading to separate them. As Dr. Robinson notes: “Children’s development is not organized into separate compartments. Their physical development affects their cognitive development, which is wrapped up in their social experiences, all of which is interwoven with their feelings about themselves and the world around them.”
As school-age children, they refine their motor skills and attain more mastery over their physical environment. Then adolescence hits and their bodies and brains take off into previously uncharted territory. The mature ability to control emotions is related to multiplying connections in the brain…especially in the prefrontal cortex. In most people, that takes until the mid-twenties. Finally, adulthood arrives with a relative sense of equilibrium, control, and maturity.
Please note that we will be having a 2:30 p.m. dismissal at the end of the first quarter on Friday, October 16, 2020. Parent-teacher conferences will be held on Tuesday, October 27, 2020, and Thursday, October 29, 2020, from 4:30-8:30 p.m. There will be no school on Friday, October 30, 2020.
