Category: Adult

The use of good language that is used between parents and with young children has actually used a good and correct choice of words. The choice of words used by parents is definitely more formal and usually more free in the choice of words, but if the choice of words chosen by children is a language that is still childish. Why? because they do not know the use of good and correct language that is polite or not, parents must also choose positive word for word so that when it is delivered to young children it does not cause negative side that occurs to children or for example dirty or inappropriate words conveyed to children child. and then I will explain the good word choice between parent and child.

Firstly, in my p1 there is a sentence that shows Use actions, sing, make noises and funny faces. this shows the child why it is like that. because for children learning languages is a very important thing in using actions surely children feel entertained and with these small things young children are able to follow and at the same time learn something. sing, in my opinion this is a very interesting thing for a small child with a small child to love a song, certainly the child tries to imitate and make the child understand and learn many languages that he did not know before. and using sound, or funny fave so that the child feels comforted by the behavior of the parents and also knows it.

Secondly, in p2 they were told me to use a fun way because it used a fun way to make the children follow the environment and from there they would definitely learn and get to know. I can give an example like the following, Use the method of observation to introduce one type of plant to children. For example, you can choose an object of interest and invite them to get to know their parts one by one. Next, invite your child to grow crops. Invite them to choose a plant that interests them. The initial stage, let the child see you first plant the seeds in a pot or soil. After the child feels interested, give space so that your child can get involved and give an explanation of the growth process of the plant and how to care for it. With this they must be interested and learn the use of language that is good and right and so should parents also help correct the correct spelling of words.

Thirdly, If the choice of words used by parents is usually not used for small children because if the children are small children, the average child does not understand what is meant by parents, then parents differentiate the use of the language. And parents usually speak to children more comfortably and if parents usually talk more about fantasy to little children, then if parents talk to parents they usually talk about life, usually economic, social and work.

Students and adolescents all over the world use YouTube as a form of entertainment, and learning. With growing usage of YouTube by students, it has become an addiction with many students using it an unhealthy amount which comprises their academic performance and ability to complete assignments. Adolescents will use YouTube primarily as entertainment and will find specific youtubers to watch and will begin to take head of their various life experiences and stories in the form of their own identity Excessive and compulsive YouTube use shows a decrease in academic motivation and performance that correlates with personality traits. You Tube’s influence has caused identity issues among adolescents through its content creators.

Students various personality traits dictates whether they have increased or decreased academic performance when using social media. The use of YouTube for entertainment over academic purposes can lead to compulsive use since YouTube recommends videos through an algorithm. Students who view videos that are merely for entertainment, will be more inclined to get side tracked when working on academic tasks. Compulsive usage of YouTube is associated primarily with personality traits that exhibit anxiety, depression and low mood. These personality traits are strongly attributed to compulsive internet use, and closely related with an inability to multitask and use YouTube for educational purposes, and as a result their motivation to complete academic tasks declines. Excessive YouTube usage combined with negative personality traits leads to students using YouTube as an outlet to escape stress and anxiety but makes it worse.

Personality traits determines a student’s ability to use social media responsibility and is the difference between increased or decreased academic performance. Students with personality traits exhibiting anxiety, low mood, and worry, also known as Neuroticism, had decreased academic performance and were more inclined to use YouTube compulsively and excessively than those who did not have those same traits. Those high in Neuroticism traits used the internet in excess to avoid loneliness, as well as using it as a manner of acceptance. The use of YouTube and social media irresponsibly can cause academic issues, but someone’s personality traits are the dominating factor in determine how someone will utilize their time online.

Adolescents primarily use YouTube as a form of entertainment and will choose a specific set of Youtubers to watch and engage with. Adolescents who use YouTube will base their own identity around the youtubers they choose to watch and engage with. Youtubers are able to connect with the adolescents because they will discuss subjects with the viewers that they are currently going through, which allows them to relate to the Youtuber. The experiences the Youtubers share and explain to their audience is coming from a post adolescent stage viewpoint, yet their current audience is still in the stages of adolescents. This can lead to the adolescent having issues thinking for themselves, as well as basing a lot of their own decisions around what their favorite Youtuber did. The use of YouTube by adolescents to connect with their favorite youtuber can compromise how they view their own identity since they are watching the video from only one perspective.

Adolescents perception of their own identities are warped by the youtubers that they choose to engage with and watch. The use of YouTube for entertainment purposes combined with negative personality traits leads to unfavorable academic performance and decline in motivation. Excessive use of social media, primarily YouTube, as a form of entertainment can result in a significant drop in one’s academic performance and motivation. The compulsive uses of social media are dictated by one’s personality traits with high levels of Neuroticism being the main one that results in unhealthy amounts of online use. Adolescents own identities are influenced based on the Youtuber they choose to engage with, and are influenced by their advice, and experiences. The use of YouTube and social media is not an issue as much as how someone utilizes their time with it. Excessive usage creates more problems than it attempts to solve, students and adolescents alike must find different ways to avoid excessive usage by finding other means to spend time.

We live in a society where people, especially young adults, are constantly striving to be original. Many go so far as to denounce the original, classifying it as ‘mainstream’, while those perpetrating unoriginal acts are deemed as ‘posers’. Whether we like to admit it or not, we live in a society where almost every aspect of our lives is somehow influenced by mass media. One area that is particularly affected by media is self-image. Many people form their own standard of what constitutes beauty and the type of person they would like to be stems from their exposure to media. Young adults are particularly susceptible to this. The affect media has on young adults who are striving to find themselves is generally as negative as the media images the young adult chooses to base themselves on.

For many of us, young adulthood can be a very confusing time. We reach an age in which we’re considered too old to act too childishly, yet we’re not old enough to be taken as seriously as an adult would be. It’s at this point many young adults struggle to find their place between the two. Establishing one’s identity during this period is not easy. “Young adults are striving daily to formulate their identity…Young adults, perhaps more impressionable than they would like to admit, use the media as a major source of identity formation. The media also represents a common ground that young people share. From the media they acquire a set of guidelines to follow, both moral and stylistic” (Ornstein). As Ornstein claims, many young adults establish guidelines for themselves based on what they absorb from media. It can be argued that there are many more sources in which young adults learn from. Deciding what they like and dislike from the morals they have been raised with is how many young adults establish themselves. Not working from the ground up, instead, they make alterations to their already established foundation. However, when it comes to stylistic preferences and values, this is not the case.

There are millions of media images bombarding us these days. In fact, the definition of media has expanded so much in the last decade that the term media seems to be an umbrella term. With all these images, it is practically impossible not to be influenced. As I said earlier, young adults are especially susceptible to the influence of media. Because they are in such a transitional period in their lives, young adults soak up information from anywhere they can get it. Using this information, they ‘try on’ different personas, seeking out what works for them. Aesthetically, this holds a number of possibilities almost as large as the number of media influences available to young adults today. With luck, young adults will model themselves after a worthy role model with an admirable image, leading the young adult to develop into a similarly admirable person. As we all know, however, many times this is not the case. There are many media images that are available to young adults which glamorize otherwise negative physical traits.

There are many ways in which the media images of beauty can negatively affect a young adult. One of the most common instances which this occurs is with body image. Magazines are a typical example of this. According to a study of 104 adults on media use, “Magazines were read for information on current fashions, recipes, and health issues…Reading magazines gave respondents feelings of sexiness, self-esteem, luxury and creativity” (‘Survey Asks Young Adults About Media Use’). One can gather that if young adults are accrediting their self-esteem to reading magazines, that the images in them naturally must be influential. There are a wide variety of images in a magazine targeted toward young adults. Many of these images are advertisements that are geared at selling products to these young adults, many times by young adult celebrities. Couple the controversy surrounding the premature sexualization of young adult celebrities with the survey results that associate sexiness with, it isn’t a stretch of the imagination to believe some of the same things are passed on to young adult readers. These readers go on to adopt the belief that in order to be more like their favorite celebrity and be sexier, they must dress a certain way, wear a certain outfit or a certain kind of makeup, all in the name of achieving this glorious beauty, that realistically only celebrities with full-time makeup artists can achieve. This is a fact that goes unrealized by many, as Robin Givhan points out in her article ‘Glamour, That Certain Something’. Givhan writes: “Hollywood attracts people of glamour – as well as the misguided souls who confuse it with mere good looks – because that is where it is richly rewarded”. The misguided souls in this case are these adolescents who look up to young Hollywood’s biggest celebrities.

Sexualization is not the only way in which young adults are affected by media images. The body image of young adults in relation to the media images that are has also been a topic of concern. Despite the United States being a country riddled by obesity, there are also a dangerous number of young adults suffering from eating disorders. This idea is examined in ‘Media Exposure, Current and Future Body Ideals, and Disordered Eating Among Preadolescent Girls: A Longitudinal Panel Study’, where it was found that “…extreme dieting and exercise aimed at weight loss are done in the service of an internalized thin body ideal that was learned via exposure to social sources espousing that ideal, one of which is the collection of mass media depictions of thinness as the epitome of female attractiveness…implicit in media effects research on body image and eating disorders from a variety of theoretical perspectives, including social comparison theory (e.g., Botta, 1999), social learning theory (e.g., Harrison and Cantor, 1997), and self-discrepancy theory (e.g., Harrison, 2001)”.

If all of these psychological processes have proved that young adults are ruining their self-esteem by consuming these media images, then what has been done to stop it? The answer is unfortunate: not much. In recent years, however, this very issue has come to the attention of many throughout the country. “There’s a definite trend going on in society and the marketplace of self-acceptance and being comfortable in your own skin, said Glamour VP-Publisher William Wackerman (Thomaselli). This refers to recent campaigns, such as those of Dove and Nike and most recently Seventeen Magazine, which are embracing real girls and women with real bodies.

No one person or group can be held accountable for the media images that are being put out there. If we expect change, however, we must consider certain things. The companies putting out harmful media images are not the only ones to blame. As consumers, we are responsible for holding the companies that we buy from to a certain standard. If we simply choose not to feed into the glorification of the overly sexed and underweight, the images will be replaced by others that we will instead consume. Keeping this in mind, we are not entirely to blame either. As Givhan puts it in her article, “Glamour taps into a universal fairy tale… it celebrates the surface gloss. And sometimes, a little shimmer can be hard to resist”.

We also must remember that young adults make mistakes as part of the learning process. While they might not choose the right role models, it is important not to denounce every idea they have in building their own persona. We must allow them to build their own identities, make mistakes, and learn from them. While we must monitor and make sure a mistake does not go so far as to be physically or emotionally harmful, we also must allow young adults to grow up. An integral part of the process is making these mistakes and learning lessons from them.

Having reviewed all the negative effects of eating disorders on young adults, we must look ahead. What can we as a society do to break this seemingly endless chain? It is important that as a society, we emphasize to young adults the importance of choosing positive role models. It is also important to find a way to do this without threatening or compromising the young adults’ quest to find their own identity. By arming these young adults with the tools necessary to choose positive role models, we won’t have to worry about negative media effects, as they will be filtering these out themselves and deeming them unfavorable. While it is impossible to entirely rule out negative media effects entirely, we can help young adults make better choices that will allow them to make better decisions through this transitory time in their lives.

What is child-directed speech

“In comparison to adult-directed speech, CDS or motherese talk is characterized by a drastically altered vocal pitch, amplitude and speech rate. The vocabulary is simplified, and melodic patterns are noticeable (Broesch and Bryant 2015: 1). The main features that makes child different from adult-directed speeches are its short utterances and its omission of past tenses as well as the fewer disfluencies in sentences. It is known that infants prefer child-directed speech more as it includes shorter sentences, more repetition and a basic grammatical structure which makes learning more memorable.

What is adult-directed speech

Adult-directed speech is our everyday use of language; the language that we use to converse to our colleagues and family. “The main difference between children and adult speech is the fundamental frequency response. For children, they have shorter vocal track and smaller vocal fold. That is why children utterance have higher fundamental frequency than adults.” (Research gate)

Introduction

In this assignment, three different studies are discussed and critically analysed which helps emphasises that child-directed language is simpler than adult-directed language. These three studies are: Content words in Hebrew Child-directed speech (Tubul-Lavy, G.T. (2015)), Mothers’ “Baby Talk” Is Less Clear Than Their Adult Speech (APS) and An Acoustic comparison of vowel systems in adult-directed speech and child-directed speech: Evidence from French, English and Japanese (Dodane, C.D., 2007). The first study examines whether the “noun-bias” phenomenon exists in both the child and adult-direct speeches; the second study discovered that caregivers spoke less clearly in child-directed speeches whilst the third study conducted an acoustic comparison of the vowel sounds in child and adult-directed speeches.

The first study was by Tubul-Lavy, G.T. (2015) and his goal was to examine if the “noun-bias” phenomenon exists in both the child and adult-direct speeches and compared the different uses of content words when speaking to a child in comparison to adults conversing with each other. To do this, thirty infants (8;5-33 months) were “divided into three stages according to age; pre-lexical, single-word and early grammar” whilst the adult-directed speech corpuses included eighteen Hebrew-speaking parents of children at the same three stages of language development as in the Child-directed speech corpuses. Child-directed speech corpuses were collected during spontaneous activities at home; playtime, mealtime whilst adult-directed corpuses were collected from parent-experimenter interactions “including the parent watching a video, then being interviewed by the experimenter”. “Two hundred utterances of each sample were transcribed, coded and analysed qualitatively and quantitively respectively.” The results showed that in child-directed corpus, when speaking to infants of all ages, parents’ use of verbs and nouns was similar and significantly higher than their use of adjectives or adverbs whereas in the adult-directed corpus, verbs were the main lexical category.

Although this paper is well-researched and written clearly, however, a disadvantage is when experimenting adult-directed speech, the process was not as naturalistic. The child-directed speeches were collected during spontaneous activities at home, meaning that the outcome was done in a natural, unforceful way whereas, the parents were forced to watch a video, then being interviewed by the experimenter which meant parents knew that they were being watched, which therefore may change the way they talk. For both results to be spontaneous, the experimenter should allow parents to interact with their close family instead of interviewing them. Thus, this may make the experiment to not be fully accurate.

As children have a smaller range of vocabulary knowledge; there are fewer utterances per conversation, so caregivers tend to focus and stress on the key lexical items for the children to be able to remember it faster. This is known as vowel hyper articulation, “a speaker’s tendency to exaggerate the articulation of vowels in their speech, has been proposed to serve a didactic function in Child-directed speech.” (Santos, A.S. (2016)) “Such exaggerated intonation in parental speech is thought to serve several functions related to language development, including marking turn-taking episodes in mother-infant dialogue (Snow, 1977), helping the infant track and parse the speech stream, and acoustically highlighting new linguistic information. (Fernald & Simon, 1984) “As opposed to the average adult-directed speech (ADS), their voice becomes higher in pitch, it has a wider pitch range and the pitch contours are exaggerated (Naoi et al. 2012: 1735).” The reason why the use of verbs and nouns appeared significantly higher in Child-directed speech was because adjectives and adverbs are only terms that can further help to describe something whereas verbs and nouns are a common feature of everyday grammar. Therefore, caregivers teach children the basic rules of grammar to allow the infant in starting to become advanced once they go past the basic stage. When speaking to children, they tend to slower their speeches as well as pausing more between utterances and lexical items whereas the speech and articulation rate in adult-directed speeches tend to be faster. “It was found that children tend to prefer child-direct speech over adult-directed speech which shows in attention paid to the different speech registers”. (Cooper & Aslin, 1990). This shows that child-directed speech is simpler than adult-directed speech as during conversations and utterances, caregivers only focus on key terms whereas adults, having a broader knowledge of grammar and vocabulary, when conversing with each other, they tend to use a more complex set of grammatic rules that children would not understand.

The second study was by Association for Psychological Science whom also stressed that adult-directed speech is more complicated than child-directed speech. “The researchers first recorded twenty-two Japanese mothers talking to their children, (ages eighteen to twenty-four months) and an experimenter”. They then annotated the fourteen hours of speech, marking specific aspects of the speech including the beginnings and ends of consonants, vowels and phrases. “Next, the researchers applied a technique they had developed to measure acoustic similarity between any two syllables, for example, “pæ” and “bæ” as well as “pɒ” and “bɒ””. As the analysis is automated, they examined one hundred and eighteen most frequently used syllable contrasts that appear in both the child and adult-directed speeches. They discovered that mothers spoke slightly less clearly when talking to their child in comparison to when speaking to the experimenter. Alejandrina Cristia, a researcher at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in Paris stated, “This finding is important because it challenges the widespread view that parents do and should hyperarticulate, using very robust data and an analysis based on a study of ten times as many syllable contrasts as previous work”. Furthermore, he also states that “our results suggest that, the fact that they are able to pick up sounds from input that is less clear than that used by adults with each other makes this accomplishment more remarkable”. Thus, this study also further emphasises that child-directed speech is simpler as caregivers tend to use a sing-song voice when communicating with the children which is why, caregivers are not clear when speaking to infants. Another common feature of child-directed speech is omitting past tenses and inflections. “In a recent systematic review of this literature, 85% of studies reported slower tempo and/or longer vowel duration; 92% found higher fundamental frequency (F0); and 82% documented larger vowel peripherality”. (Cristia, 2013).

The analysis of this experiment was automated which meant it was analysed by equipment’s which may not be fully believable as using technology to conduct analysis cannot be as accurate as doing it by hand. Thus, there may be mistakes that the technology may have not picked up which therefore makes the results of this experiment not fully believable. Also, the process of this experiment is vague and does not go into depth nor are they clear about the outcomes of the result.

One main reason why child-directed speech is simpler than adult’s speech is due to involving more pragmatic features; as children’s range of vocabulary is still very limited. During the early stages of childhood, caregivers tend to use body language and exaggerated gestures when communicating with the child to either mime a use of an object or an action. “The utterances are short, which lightens the memory load imposed by utterances”. (Traxler 2012: 338). Thus, this further emphasis the simplicity of child speeches compared to the adult as due to the wide knowledge of vocabulary, adults tend to use many adjectives and adverbs when communicating with one another. The reason why mother tends to speak less clearly to their children is because they believe that by speaking this way, children can acquire language more easily as it is simpler to understand than adult-directed speech.

The third study was conducted by Dodane, C.D., 2007 and he did an acoustic comparison of the vowel sounds in child and adult-directed speeches. He used five native speakers of British English and their babies, ages ranged from six to twenty-two months and conducted a naturalistic experiment in which the mothers were recorded at home by the father or a familiar person. “They had to read the same story to a familiar adult and to their child, which were recorded over two sessions for modalities to be clearly differentiated”. “Recordings were sampled at 22 kHz, 16 bits, mono and the data were segmented manually, and acoustic measurements of the first three formant frequencies were carried out with Praat, at the temporal mid-point for the corner vowels; /i/, /a/ and /u/. Overall, one hundred and eight-four vowels were made in adult-directed speech and one hundred and eighty-three vowels for child-directed speech. The results showed a “significant prosodic exaggeration from adult to child-directed speech”, with a slower speech rate found in the child-directed speeches; 4.14syllable per second in adult-directed speeches in comparison to the 3.26 syllable per second for child-directed speeches. They also discovered that the tones between the directed speeches are different with a four semi-tone higher pitch when parents are speaking to their children. The study observed that there was a downward shift of the vowel triangle in F1, from adult to child-directed speech, especially, the high vowel /i/ is more open, meaning there is a higher f1 value in child-directed speech. However, there are no differences found between /a/ and /u/. “On the front-back dimension (F2), there is a shift of the vowel triangle to the right of the vocalic space; /i/ is more backed, meaning that there is a lower F2 value and no significant effects for /a/ and /u/ are noticeable”. It has been discovered that the vowel area size increases as the child gets older and that the F1-F0 differences are more reduced in child rather than adult-directed speeches for the three vowels discussed above, /i/, /u/,and /a/. “this difference could be explained by an important increase of f0 from adult to child-direct speech as for both modalities, if the f1-f0 distance is greater for the low vowel /a/, this distance is much more reduced for the closed vowels /i/ and /u/ because of their lower F1.”

This image represent the vowel chart showing which part of the mouth are used to pronounce the certain vowel.

The reason why in child-directed speeches, the f1 value is higher is due to the caregiver carefully pronouncing and spelling the sound for the child to memorise. In adult-direct speech, f1 is lower due to the sound gliding through the mouth as vowels are sometimes used to elicit the endings of common words. As children are still unfamiliar with many speech sounds, they tend to acquire the vowel sounds the fastest as it is easier to pronounce and produce. “By highlighting the structure of speech, such as the differences between the vowels “a” and “o,” motherese helps babies translate a torrent of sound into meaningful units of language.” (Washington Post, 2018) Therefore, it further argues that child-directed speech is simpler as there are less grammatical rules than there are in adult-directed speech.

However, one disadvantage of this study is that it uses the front close vowel /i/ and the back-close vowel /u/ but it also includes the front-central open vowel /a/. Instead of using the front-central vowel /a/, it should use the central close vowel /ɨ/ as when pronouncing these three vowels, the mouth stays the same; it is slightly closed. Therefore, this would make the experiment to be more interesting and fair.

Conclusion

In conclusion, child-directed speech is simpler than adult-directed speech due to the basic forms of grammar, pragmatic, morphological uses as well as focusing on specific key words to ensure children know which words to learn. Furthermore, instead of using language to converse to infants, many caregivers tend to make use of body movements and gestures to imply an action. Therefore, infants learn quicker by using child instead of adult-directed speech.

Introduction

Curiosity has led me to a love of learning and to share what I have learned. My belief that interests and experiences play a key role in learning and my openness to learn and grow, might be why I lean into the progressive and humanistic philosophies both as a learner and an educator (Spencer &Lange, 2014). Most of my adult ‘teaching’ experience is in the field of crafting – I have taught painting, sewing, and card making. The context of this learning is primarily traditional, providing an end product. The instruction follows a sequential pattern that builds on knowledge and requires the learner to listen, observe a demonstration of techniques, and then apply this to their project (Reid, 2020). My goal is to teach early childhood educators (ECEs), and parents about outdoor education, forest school, and the benefits of time in nature. My passion for sharing, encouraging, and promoting time in nature has influenced my beliefs, values, and attitude towards an emphasis on a holistic, experiential approach. I am only at the beginning of my journey as an adult educator. I will share my philosophy of learning and teaching, my journey from a learner, early childhood educator to adult educator utilizing The Story Model (Drake, 2010), and explore curriculum models that fit within the context of outdoor education.

Old Story

My experience as a learner followed the traditional curriculum model, complete with summative assessments of learning. from Kindergarten to College. The teachers set out the expectations, lectured, and demonstrated what we needed to know. We then applied our knowledge and were assessed based on summative assessments such as exams, essays, and lab work (Drake, Reid, & Kolohon, 2014). Our grades and learning outcomes were based on provincial, institutional, and program discipline objectives (O’Neill, 2015, p. 14). During my ECE studies, I was introduced to hands-on learning and applying theory to practice through practicums in the ‘real world’. The college believed that as ECE we would learn best by doing. I didn’t realize at the time that I was part of a movement in adult education that was applying the cognitive theory of constructivism. I took the knowledge that I learned and applied it in the field. These experiences challenged my learning and my beliefs.

When I started college, I believed that I would be filled with a wealth of knowledge that would enable me to go out into the world and be an amazing teacher. At graduation in 1991, I was challenged by the changing landscape of education, reflecting on how and where I fit in, and what I valued as an educator. I found myself looking at the dual role I played, a learner and an educator, and the shift from traditional to constructivist instruction.

Filled with knowledge, excitement, and a diploma in hand, I landed my first job teaching at a private education center as a JK teacher. There I was, in front of the children, sharing all I knew, rewarding positive and negative behaviors, and assessing children’s knowledge with worksheets and drills. The Traditional curriculum model in action! It was a tall order and one I struggled to fill. It wasn’t until I moved to another location that I realized the struggle to fit in was due to the misalignment of beliefs. While I found some comfort that it was measurable and predictable, and expectations were clearly defined, there was a nagging inside me that longed for extended periods of outdoor play for exploratory learning, trial and error, and teaching the whole person. Looking back, it is this reflection that was a catalyst for change, both as a person and an educator. I was beginning to view my role as an educator beyond the traditional model and leaning more toward a holistic, experiential approach. At this time in my career, I was not familiar with the research that was happening in the field of education. I felt a great conflict between the expectations of an educator at the time and how I believed that all learners should be seen as capable, competent, curious, and rich in potential (Ministry of Education, Ontario, 2007). I began to question my career choice and so I left the ECE field and education for five years. But what I didn’t realize, I never really left teaching behind.

My first brush with adult education was as a creative instructor. My role as store manager was to promote and create classes based on customer’s interests. I had to ensure that the classes were project-based: relevant, engaging, hands-on, and provided an opportunity to master skills. Utilizing the concept of backward design (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005), I looked at the big picture: what outcomes did the students want to learn, and what skills and knowledge did students need to have before attending the class? Secondly, embedding formative assessment throughout the instruction provided valuable feedback to the students to understand what concepts they were grasping and which ones they had to practice. Lastly, I had to think of what activities were needed to achieve these goals. Throughout my years in retail, I led on-the-job training and led several work-related workshops. I felt energized in the workshops. I felt I was providing an environment for adults to learn that was comfortable, recognized their apprehension at learning new skills, and encouraged them along the way by providing positive feedback. I understood that some of the principles I learned working with children, worked with adult learners as well. I wanted to go back to get further education, but after much research, it appeared my only option was to quit work and go back to school full-time. I groaned about the lack of online options – how can I support myself and go back to school? I parked that idea for a very long time!

Present Story

In 2018, I had the opportunity to attend a Forest and Nature School Practitioners Course (FNSP). I continually reflect on the five-day in-house training and online self-directed learning modules that followed. I find myself using the experience as a meter stick to measure my role as an educator with children and adults. It follows the instructional design principles of effectiveness in the delivery of skills and knowledge, appealing in capturing the learner’s interests and enduring in the ability to apply the knowledge in the future (Gagne, R., Briggs, L. & Wager, W, 1992). This experience was life-changing for me and is what led me to complete my Adult Education degree (and the fact that I can complete all or most of my courses online and still work). FNSP encompasses the theory of social constructivism, evident as we worked collaboratively in groups to understand and apply the principles of forest school and learn from one another. FNSP incorporated experiential learning as the best method for learning and sharing new skills (O’Neill, 2015, p. 22). I found this way of learning built on my experiences as a creative instructor and made the connections of experiential learning as a student and educator. I reflected on my old story of struggling with the strict implementation of the traditional curriculum model in my JK classroom and realized that the adults, myself included, in this course seemed motivated, engaged, and validated.

The online learning component lends itself to the product model that is illustrated in The Product and Process Models of Curriculum Development (O’Neill, 2015, p. 27). The curriculum has thirteen learning modules, that clearly define learning outcomes, the layout of how the assignment is to be completed, and how it will be assessed, and resources related to each module. The learner is expected to share a proposed work plan and check in with the facilitator every month to discuss progress or challenges. The modules are self-directed learning and require a lot of self-motivation. The only deadline we were given to complete the thirteen modules was one year from the start of our course. Working through the modules, I realized that I worked better with consistent deadlines. For example, in my current coursework, we expect to complete our critical discourse work on Wednesday and Sunday. I find it helps me to plan my time more efficiently and to get the work in on time. Whereas the FNSP’s one-year deadline was so far in my future that it was difficult to manage the time and order in which to complete the assignments.

The process model was evident in my training, taking into account skills acquired, critical thinking, social interaction, and collaboration (O’Neill, 2015). I feel this is important to incorporate within an adult learning setting as it places value on past experiences and knowledge and builds on them to formulate new learning. The training involved hands-on skills that we would use with children in our programs. There were opportunities to explore the forest school principles and how they fit in with our views of nature education. One aspect of the curriculum that I found informative was when we were put into groups based on how we would be implementing the program: as an administrator, a field educator, or an educator within the school board. The opportunity to interact with one another, discuss what we are learning, and how it can be applied when we return to work was valuable in gaining insight into differing perspectives.

A holistic approach to curriculum has been developing in my field as an ECE through inquiry-based, student-led learning. In a recent forest school workshop that I co-facilitated; I was able to observe adult learners leading their learning through the choice of activities that sparked their interest. They gained new skills and knowledge that could be used in their classrooms. I am starting to see how my values, beliefs, and experiences both past and present are influencing my teaching philosophy.

In a previous course, I participated in Pratt’s Teaching Perspective Inventory (Pratt, 2000). The developmental perspective, suggests I am looking through the learner’s lens to promote complex thinking and connections. The apprenticeship perspective implies that I have a strong knowledge of the skills, as learners gain confidence in their skills, I become more of a guide and encourage more independence. The third perspective, social reform, talks about fostering critical thinking that may promote social change (Pratt, 2000). reform. These perspectives combined with progressive humanistic philosophies fit with the context of outdoor education and my teaching philosophy statement (so far):

I feel that my holistic experiential approach to curriculum allows me to look at the learner as multi-faceted, complex, capable, and curious. I believe that learners bring their own set of beliefs, interests, needs, and experiences. It is important to be mindful of this and offer a variety of delivery methods to aid the learner in developing to their potential. I believe learners are independent, self-motivated, and ready to be challenged through relevant, engaging, hands-on experiences.

Emerging New Story

A new story is emerging. One that is built upon learning within a traditional curriculum model in my youth and moving towards a more holistic approach that incorporates project-based and experiential learning. Much of my experiences teaching have been with children. However, upon learning a few key principles of andragogy, I can see how my past experiences, willingness to learn on my own, understanding why I am learning, and being an active participant in the process can connect to adult education. The student is part of the learning process, working as partners to set goals for acquired learning. This assessment for learning is one way to promote collaborations and to view the student through a multi-faceted lens.

I feel that as an adult educator, it is important to understand the old story, the history, and the theories that are the foundation of adult education that help form the basic building blocks for the future. As Reid (2019), states in her PowerPoint presentation titled What is Curriculum, “the past is always part of the present”. I feel this understanding helps us to connect to the learner, in knowing they will also come with their stories.

Conclusion

The process of learning about adult education has started a new story in the way I view teaching from the perspective of the learner and the educator. I am comfortable with the principles of student-led, inquiry-based learning styles as they closely align with my experiences and philosophies. I wonder if we are drawn toward certain disciplines based on our beliefs. I have discovered that self-reflection plays an integral part in success as an adult educator, as we must continually reflect on what we are teaching, how we are teaching, who we are teaching, and why we are teaching.

As I pack for my journey ahead as an adult educator, I reflect on how my early experiences as a learner helped me to formulate an opinion of what I liked and did not like. I feel this insight can help me consider what learners may be carrying with them. I can see how my range of opportunities as an adult educator, as limited as they may be, is helping to guide me toward understanding what kind of educator I would like to be. The knowledge and theories that I have learned have challenged my practice and my perspectives. The new story that is developing is changing my view on education, both as a learner and as an educator. I am excited to see that as I continue to follow the path of adult education, it is taking into account learner’s needs how best to deliver programs to meet their needs, and how the learning can be relevant, effective, and meaningful.

References

1. Drake, S. M. (2010). Enhancing Canadian Teacher Education Using a Story Framework. The Canadian Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 1(2)., 1-15.
2. Drake, Reid, & Kolohon. (2014). Toward a New Story of Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment. In Interweaving curriculum and classroom assessment (pp. 13-23). Don Mills, ON. Oxford University Press.
3. D. Pratt, D. (2000). The Five Perspectives. Retrieved from Teaching Perspectives Inventor: http://www.teachingperspectives.com/tpi/#/reflect-items
4. Gagne, R., Briggs, L. & Wager, W. (1992). Principles of instructional design (4th ed.). Fort Worth, TX: HBJ College Publishers.
5. Lange, E., Spencer, B. (2014). The Purposes of Adult Education. Toronto: Thompson Educational Publishing.
6. Ministry of Education, (2014). How Does Learning Happen? Ontario’s Pedagogy for the Early Years. Ontario, Queen’s Printer for Ontario.
7. O’Neill, G. (2015). Curriculum Design in Higher Education: Theory to Practice. Dublin: UCD Teaching & Learning.
8. Reid, J. L. (2020, January 2). What is Curriculum? Retrieved from YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXqYoKrYy6k&feature=youtu.be

The way a teacher interacts with a student is important in every child’s life. Teachers have to be willing to be fair and to show equality, not just one kid should get something over another student. It’s either all or none of the students. Having a respectful tone of voice allows the child to be able to trust you as their teacher. Building a bond helps communicate with a child that the teacher is there to teach them and to be as helpful as they can. A child and adult interaction are important because it’s how the child develops. From personal experience when being in a classroom a child looks up to you as the adult they will listen and do what you tell them if it’s in a respectful tone. Most children repeat what they hear adults say and will communicate that back the same way it was spoken. When I become a teacher I can see myself talking in respectful language and having someone on one time with some of the kids to see how they are learning in my class.

When being a teacher you are a positive role model for kids. Dressing professionally sends a message to the students that the way you dress influences your character. When dressing professionally it demonstrates the way you view your job and how others will see you. Ethical practices influence an individual’s behavior and allow them to make better choices for themselves. Ethics in education set important standards for a child demonstrating what’s acceptable and what’s not in a child’s everyday life as they learn responsibility or gain maturity. Interning at an elementary school for a year I was told to dress comfortably in some jeans that were not ripped and a regular shirt. I noticed lately teachers are not dressing professionally they are wearing clothing that they would wear outside with friends or family. In my career, I would like to dress professionally since it shows how I view my work and how my kids look at me as being all business-like.

Communicating with a child allows them to have the opportunity to practice learning from those around them who are using respectful language. Making them respectful and responsible children. Effective communication allows people to become better thinkers and help them understand one another better. Having better communication skills allows a child to have a conversation with the teacher to express how they are feeling. This communication demonstrates a teacher and student bond with one another allowing for the child to grow as an individual with the help of a professional. Reflecting on the past from 2018 to now being a teacher assistant I had to learn how to talk to my mentor to create a bond with her in case anything was wrong or I needed help understanding an assignment. Coming up with a lesson plan and having to work on the teacher’s schedule I had to demonstrate effective communication to get tasks done.

Effective teaching involves understanding how students learn, and process information and what helps exceed their expectations to make them better learners. To maximize student teaching a teacher should first get to know their students by doing an activity that involves their names and fun facts about them. If the child has a question try to listen and understand the child’s needs. Expectations of a teacher include having clear expectations of what you want the child to get done and at what time. The expectations should be fair teachers should not have favorites every child should be getting equal opportunities. Teachers should have a positive attitude when going to work a child can tell or feel the vibes the teacher gives off whether they are angry or happy it’s written all over their face. Patience is the key and number one skill a teacher needs if they want to work with kids from 6 weeks to 14 years of age. Children will drive you crazy but that’s the point of being a teacher you have to be able to control how you feel toward one child while still controlling the rest of the class. The lesson plans take lots of time and should not be an overnight thing. Lesson plans should be thorough allowing the child to have a clear understanding of the lesson plans and skills necessary to complete the work. Some important teaching strategy are having a discussion that incorporates real-life events into their knowledge. There should be debates where the child feels one part of a discussion is wrong while there’s a right. Envisioning my life as a teacher I can see myself developing the necessary skills to teach second graders. Working all year with kids teaches them important lessons that they’ll need in life to help them grow and become better human beings.

Multiculturalism in a classroom benefits a child. Having the experience of being around different ethnic groups allows the child to build the necessary skills of accepting everyone. This reminds me of something I learned in education in a diverse society that culture is adaptive, culture is changing, culture is shared, and culture is learned. A child learns from the people they are around when developing life skills and getting to know each one based on their background. Being exposed to culture allows for a child to be able to identify with their identity and who they are as a person. The nine cultural identifiers are religion, exceptionality, age, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, language, and location. Teachers have to be able to influence other cultural ideas while respecting the different cultures in their classrooms. In the future, having the personal experience and learning the necessary skills to being a teacher I have been able to further understand what makes a good teacher. Taking these classes also helps me understand my identity and be accepting of other cultures.

Evidence from a rising number of epidemiological and neurobiological studies show that adverse childhood experience (ACE) such as abuse, neglect and related adverse experiences show long lasting impacts on brain function and physical health, resulting in a predisposition to physical and mental health disorders throughout their lives. Community surveys from Europe and worldwide show the great prevalence of physical (22.9%), mental (29.1%) and sexual (9.6%) abuse in addition to physical (16.4%) and emotional neglect (18.3%) (Sethi et al., 2013) within the general population. Individuals who accumulate ACE have been shown to be at a higher risk of mental and physical disorders throughout their lifespan due to the possible compromise of cognitive and affective brain function. These changes can be observed through functional and morphometric changes in key stress and emotional centers of the brain (amygdala, hippocampus) and may result in heightening or diminishing sensory responses to salient stimuli. The result of the prevalence of ACE and the associated mental and physical disorders may reduce the individual’s ability to integrate within society, such as by receiving inadequate education, unable to form lasting relationships, and unemployment, thus reducing the level of support and economic ability to provide sufficient nutrition and safe housing. Thus, self-propagating the effects of social extradition, developing mental and physical disorders in adulthood resultant of the effects of ACE. Within this essay, the effects of ACE upon the body and its implications on adult health will be explored, in addition to how social circumstance may also facilitate later life health implications via disruption to education and job prospects.

Structural and Functional Brain Alterations Resultant of Exposure to ACE

The introduction of ACE into early childhood induces the action of compensatory mechanisms to adapt to the possible trauma received. The three-hit concept of resilience and vulnerability acts as the central hypothesis to understand the evolutionary reasoning behind such plastic changes to the brain’s morphology, and how mismatch in the phenotypic outcome of the adaption and the ability to cope with environmental stimuli is thought to raise the risk of psychological and somatic disease (Gluckman et al., 2009). The three-hit model acts to understand the pathogenesis of ACE upon the developing brain by linking the interaction of genetic factors (Hit 1) with early life environmental factors (Hit 2), via altered endocrine regulation and epigenetic modification, and then exposing this programmed phenotype to later life environment (Hit 3) where these adaptions to early life trauma are mismatched, compromising mental functions, inducing possible psychiatric symptoms (Nederhoff et al., 2012). Certain exposure to ACE results in functional changes to sensory systems involved in the trauma experienced. Such examples include the reduced visual cortex and right lingual grey gyrus grey matter in young adults who were exposed to witnessing domestic violence at childhood (Tomoda et al., 2012) and the thinning of the somatosensory genital field and brain regions associated with self-awareness and self-evaluation in young adults who were exposed to childhood sexual and emotional abuse (Heim et al., 2013). The changes in brain functionality and the resultant desensitization can be seen as a possible compensatory mechanism which can accumulate over a period of time, inducing epigenetic changes via elevated glucocorticoid release from the HPA (hypothalamus-pituitary axis), regulating gene transcription resulting in behavioral and psychological adaptions.

The manifestation of such functional brain changes in the face of salient stimuli confers mirrored morphometric changes in the offended regions of the brain in response to the altered cortisol levels and epigenetic alterations. Especially effected areas include the hippocampus, amygdala, and the ACC (anterior cingulate cortex) of the stress regulatory circuits, which contain a high density of glucocorticoid receptors, increasing the vulnerability of these regions to the effects of glucocorticoids (cortisol) (Calem et al., 2017, Sapolsky, 2003). The amygdala, a region of the limbic system responsible for fear association, anxiety, and aggression, in response to stress stimulates an increase in volume to facilitate an increase in activity in response to stress induced by the ACE. This hyperactivation, facilitates a greater level of fear conditioning, where amygdala neurons during a period of emotional turmoil promotes synaptic plasticity increasing the individuals ability to recognize and anticipate harm for certain stimuli, which in an environment where physical and mental abuse alongside other ACE are present would be beneficial, but when applied to daily living these hyperaware fear responses may induce social anxiety, OCD, post-traumatic stress as well as borderline personality disorders. We can therefore observe a correlation between an increase in amygdala activation and the development of social phobia, which results in extensive implications regarding social integration.

Psychosocial and Somatic Alterations as a Result of ACE

In addition to the heightened awareness to threatening stimuli, the physical and chemical alterations to the brain can result in changes to the behavior of the individual in addition to inducing widespread somatic changes in body chemistry disturbing homeostatic mechanisms inducing disease. Resultant of altered cognitive and affective processing, those who have experience ACE tend to show heightened experiences of loneliness (Boyda et al., 2015), increased aggression and reduced social cognitive functioning inducing an increase in risk for depression and PTSD. The development of such mental health disorders shows a correlation with the type and time of the ACE, with evidence suggesting the advent of depression is more likely in those exposed to emotional trauma, whereas a higher odds ratio for drug abuse in later life can be seen in those who experience physical abuse (Norman et al., 2012). This association may hark back to the topological changes within the brain whereby the introduction of these salient stimuli induces compensatory mechanisms which become redundant once the stimuli is removed and thus the euphoria induced by narcotics may act to counteract these hypersensitive neural loops, and thus provide a more desirable and addictive affect in those who experience physical trauma. Additionally, the timing of the ACE within an individual’s life is shown to have implications on mental health symptoms in their adult life. Earlier exposure to ACE has been shown to increase the risk of depressive symptoms, whereas similar trauma after the age of 12 are more likely to experience symptoms of PTSD (Glod et al., 1996). Similarly, dissociative symptoms were associated with emotional abuse at a peak age of 13-14 years old, and risk of PTSD and suicidal thoughts show an increased risk of development in those who experience ACE between 3 and 5 years old (Kaplow et al., 2007). The patterning of the development of certain phycological conditions at certain years of age indicates moments of vulnerability within the brain’s development where a certain region is particularly plastic to external stimuli, thus showing that later life mental health disorders may have a basis in early trauma at a specific point in development. The penetrance of such psychological defects and the variation in severity of the presented symptoms may be a product of the severity of the ACE, as well as the genetic and epigenetic resilience of the individual. Emerging evidence suggests that genetic variants and adverse social interaction can interact (via epigenetic modification and resultant gene silencing mechanisms), and that the genotype of an individual may be a determinant in the risk and resilience to any later life psychopathology (Luoni et al., 2016). Thus, this highlights the possibility of induced resilience, where genetically high-risk individuals in a supportive environment can epigenetically promote resilience by silencing of risk associated genes (McCrory et al., 2012).

Additionally, a wide range of chronic disorders such as obesity, diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease, Crohn’s disease, have been attributed to the increase in proinflammatory markers within ACE affected individuals (such as IL-6 and TNF-alpha). In addition, an enhanced perception of pain induced by a heightened sensory ability can result in long term chronicity of pain, especially that of the lower lumbar spine. It has been reported that an increased level of pro-inflammatory markers, most notably TNF-alpha and IL-6, during critical phases of development, resultant of high stress environments attributed to ACE, can augment the development of neurobiological systems relevant for IBD with the type and timing of the ACE being critical to the possible disfunctions, developed in later life (Baumeister et al., 2016). Subgroup analysis for differing categories of ACE (physical, sexual, or emotional abuse) has been shown to have a differential impact on the level of proinflammatory cytokines, inducing ACE specific inflammatory profiles which has the ability to potentiate autoimmune and chronic disease. Pain perception is also differentially altered, enhancing pressure pain sensitivity (Tesarz et al., 2015). Recent experimentation has shown that stress is able to sensitize nociceptive neurons within the ascending tracts of the spinal cords and that neural responses are accompanied by changes in pain-induced behavior. Models further suggest that social rejection (ACE) produces long lasting effects in sensitivity of pain and results in altered social behavior that persists into adulthood (Schneider et al., 2016). Furthermore, parent-child separation has been shown to be associated with alterations in reproductive traits, prenatal maternal distress, and labor pain with women who experienced childhood sexual abuse, finding pregnancy often more frightening than in controls. Additionally, the experience of ACE alongside a possible low socioeconomic status of the mother plays a role in predicting a low birth weight of the offspring (Smith et al., 2016). Looking to historical records of periods of socioeconomic depravity and the associated birthweight of those born during that period, the Dutch Hunger Winter (1944-1945), we can observe various patterns, where the state of food depravity the mother experiences during the pregnancy period has a role in determining the offspring’s weight at birth and in later life. It was elucidated that offspring whose mothers had a low caloric intake at the end of the pregnancy period, but not the start, had a lower-than-average birthweight, whereas offspring whose had mother with a high caloric intake during late pregnancy, but experienced starvation initially had a higher than birthweight. This ACE experienced by the offspring prenatally is thought to have an epigenetic effect on the child’s ability to gain weight with those initially starved epigenetically adapted to retain much of the dietary intake in food stores such as fat. This effect has continued implications on the individual into adult life where their body is predisposed to weight gain, and thus more susceptible to obesity, type 2 diabetes, and other chronic illnesses.

Influence of Socioeconomic Status on Later Life

Alongside the biochemical alterations which may determine adult health, the socioeconomic situation of a child and the network of support placed around the individual has great influence over the opportunities available for the child to obtain, which therefore determines future job prospects and living situations which have a great influence over the health of the individual. Link and Phelan’s idea of fundamental causality of later life disease explores how stopping damaging social conditions such as smoking only has a partial influence over the health of the individual, and that there is a great wealth of factors which arise from substandard early living which determines the derivation of such habits and future susceptibility to illness. For example, smoking appears to be much more common within areas of a low economic income with possible habit induction from environmental peer pressure, resultant of smoking being seen as a positive value within social relationships (Lewis et al., 2013). The idea of smoking seen as a bonding and social activity suggests both differences in values held between groups which are more or less affluent. Therefore, looking to the incidence of smoking, it is common to observe other habits which are unhealthy and contribute to a lower later life health, such as a reduced precedence placed on exercise or healthy eating (which may be resultant of reduced free time from socioeconomic hardship forcing longer work hours), suggesting how negative salient stimuli typically occur as a group, and therefore, elimination of an accumulation of ACE requires grassroot social change. Furthermore, early exposure to such environments, via possible effects of secondary smoking can have extensive effects on lung health later in life, as shown in one of my PfP sessions where a patient had severe COPD and respiratory distress even though they have never smoked a single cigarette, but during childhood they spend a substantial amount of time in their parents pub, which, due to a lack of air ventilation, resulted in local atmospheric accumulation of noxious chemicals, and thus the accumulation of damage to their lung tissue.

In addition, reduced quality of education for the child and their carers can have a substantial impact upon the future opportunities the child has available. Direct consequences of a poor education can predispose an individual to reduced opportunities regarding employment and their economic situation, which both has an effect on the stress the individual may experience throughout life (which increases the allostatic load promoting chronic disease), alongside directly altering the living situation of the individual such as the area in which they live: in terms of infrastructure quality, the particulate content of the surrounding air which may predispose an individual to later life chronic lung disease, and the local social habits which may be beneficial or act to hinder overall health. Additionally, the economic security enhanced by education provides time for more self-care regarding the ability to attend health appointments and create a healthier lifestyle which may be both unattainable economically and temporally for someone who is forced into working a greater number of hours a day. Such situations (as I observed during work experience at a local GP practice) can be aided by the by working with relevant services signposting the patient to receive aid in planning healthier meals and finding time to exercise, however due to a greater number of individuals in similar positions the selection criteria for certain support has become more stringent, resulting in a vast number of individuals not receiving adequate care. In addition, the educational standard of the child guardian can result in ineffective and possibly harmful parenting and care, which may increase the incidence of ACE towards the child and result in a lower quality of health due to possible malnutrition and lack of support received from the parent due to longer working hours. The effect of wealth on the health of a child in later life was studied by Costello et al. (2010), where in 1996 a casino was opened on an Indian reservation, resulting in an increase in annual income from $500 to $9000 for each family. A representative sample of children aged 9,11 or 13 years in 1993 were assessed for psychiatric and substance use disorders through till age 21 (2006), and a lower prevalence of psychopathology was detected in the children whose family received the income supplement compared to those who did not. This we can possibly attribute to the higher quality of food the children would receive, altering the effects of possible malnutrition, which have long lasting implications on health into adulthood, as well as a reduced employment burden placed upon the parent facilitating a greater ability to spend more time with the child and aid their education, as well as their well-being. Thus, reducing the incidence of emotional trauma and resultant neurological and somatic effects on their child in adult life.

With the recent outbreak of Covid-19 and its associated socioeconomic impacts, the education and nutrition provided by schools has been severed, and thus a reduced educational and nutritional quality will be experienced by a large group of children. A study by Marmot et al. (2021) discussed the impacts of Covid-19 on the early years of a child’s development and found that due to the reduced social contact provided by nursery services and full-time education, children are reaching physical, social, intellectual, and emotional goals at a later age, which are shown to be linked to poorer later life outcomes. Before the advent of the 1st pandemic 68% of parents with children aged 3-4 years were accessing educational or childcare services, with only 7% of parents accessing the same facilities during the lockdown period. This placed great importance on the home learning environment, and thus children who have families who are less economically stable and thus are unable to work from home, due to possible implications of the parents’ educational upbringing, may be unable to keep up the rate of development, compared to those in full time care or have parents who are more economically stable. This has had the reported effect of when children returned to education, some children returned less confident, more anxious, and less independent reverting back to the use of nappies. In addition, an increased time spent at home has resulted in an increase in mental health issues in those who have been exposed to greater violence at home, greater stress and on increase in the incidence of malnutrition in disadvantaged students, leading to lifelong somatic and psychological health issues.

Conclusion

Adverse childhood experiences have a vast effect on later life through manipulating neural and somatic pathways, predisposing the individual to later life disease, as well as manifesting its effects through reducing later life opportunity, placing the individual into unhealthy high stress circumstances, implicating an increase in allostatic load or directly influencing the actions of the individual in terms of diet and social factors, which may promote the development of chronic disease. Additionally, it is important to consider the fundamental causes predisposing adult life illness, and how the linkage of multiple differing negative effects can lead to the great accumulation of possible factors, inducing disease leading to a reduced outlook of health in later life with the incidence of exacerbating factors such as the Covid-19, further aiding the accumulation of these adverse life experiences. Overall, there is a great wealth of evidence describing the vast pathways where adverse experiences in early life can shape an individual’s mind, body, and social circumstance, accumulating to reduce their quality of health in adult life.

Historical Perspective on Juvenile Conviction and Moral Development

The United States is one of the few countries where minors can be transferred from the juvenile court system to the adult court system. When working with juveniles, the question tends to revolve around knowing right from wrong. The legal system wants to know at what age can they assume children have fully developed their moral compasses. However, the problem is that there isn’t a definite answer to this question. Children learn at different paces based on their environments (Martinez). When analyzing an adolescent’s brain, it becomes obvious the brain is not matured in areas that allow them to control impulses, effectively make plans, and avoid risky situations (Edgar). Having this knowledge, it would be unfair to treat a minor as an adult. However, as a society, the United States still tries juveniles as adults in the legal system. Convicting juveniles in the adult court system is ineffective in helping adolescents reintegrate into society.

The Establishment of Juvenile Courts and Shifts in Juvenile Justice

Throughout history, the question of knowing right from wrong has been difficult to answer, which has caused many changes in the United States government. The issue of convicting juveniles began in the late 1700s. In this period, the public viewed any child above the age of seven as capable of criminal intent. As technology advanced, individuals started to look at the issues surrounding violence and youth crime (Edgar). People began to rethink how they treat juveniles who commit crimes. Scientists revealed that adolescents did not have the same ability to process decisions as adults do. This discovery had a major effect on prisons and jails, separating juvenile and adult inmates in several facilities (“Children Tried as Adults”). However, at this point, adults and juveniles were still being tried in the same court system.

As adult court systems continued trying to accommodate juveniles, the Juveniles Court Act of 1899 was passed in Illinois. The act would create the first court system only for juveniles. The courts encouraged the rehabilitation of juveniles rather than punishment (Edgar). The juvenile court system would allow the state to distinguish between adolescent and adult sentences. In the years to follow, the court system spread throughout the United States and began to save many adolescents from being tried in the adult criminal system.

Challenges in Differentiating Juvenile and Adult Court Systems

In the late 1960s, the public started to question the system’s effectiveness in rehabilitating youth offenders. This resulted in several changes to the court system. In response, in 1974, the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act was passed. This act required all prisons and jails to separate their juvenile and adult detainees. The act strived to encourage public-based service opportunities rather than institutionalization (Edgar). Regardless, many citizens were still concerned that this would not be enough to control the youth offenders.

After the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Act was passed, the public became worried that the court was becoming too lax. In an attempt to please their voters, state representatives took action (Edgar). Many states transferred specific classes of offenses from the juvenile court system to the adult system, resulting in juveniles facing an automatic waiver to adult court. Whether the adolescent was tried as an adult in many cases was decided by the state’s prosecutor (“Children Tried as Adults”). In my opinion, the idea of one individual sealing my fate is terrifying. However, this is too often the case when adolescents are waived to the adult court system.

In the beginning, it was difficult to differentiate between the juvenile court system and the adult court system. Currently, in most situations, the juvenile court system has jurisdiction over those under seventeen. Older teenagers are sent to the adult court system. The adult court system tends to focus more on the actual crime that was committed, not the individual who committed the crime (Hudson). This means that an eighteen-year-old can be treated the same as a grown adult, no matter the circumstances. The older criminal trials don’t acknowledge that there is a higher chance of rehabilitation and healing in minors (Martinez). I believe that this is a problem within the court system. For many people, including myself, it is hard to imagine sentencing a child who cannot even drive a car or vote as an adult to life in prison.

The Role of Judges in the Juvenile Court System

On the other hand, the juvenile court system tries to focus on why the crime was committed, not what the crime was (Martinez). This approach is a much better alternative when dealing with adolescents because it allows for discussion. A more conversation-based approach allows for the court to be a learning experience, rather than only a punishment. When there isn’t a chance to learn, there is a higher chance for repeat offenders who commit worse crimes. Therefore, education must be a vital aspect of the juvenile system.

In the system, a judge can either be a convict’s best friend or worst enemy. Several judges have been around long enough to form relationships with the adolescents who they work with. They know that the cases have much more to them than what appears on the surface (Bell). One Florida judge who works on juvenile cases stated, “I ask them why they did it and they say, ‘I don’t know,’ and I believe them” (“Children Tried as Adults”). A judge has a very important role within the juvenile court system. They have the job of looking over the case while recognizing the juvenile’s family life, living environment, and room for potential growth within the adolescent (Martinez). Most importantly, these judges must see past the mistakes that a child made on the worst day of their life.

Controversies and Debates on Brain Development and Juvenile Sentencing

As the topic has been an issue of debate for a while, there are multiple points of view. Almost everyone can agree with the statement that a child’s brain isn’t as developed as an adult’s brain (“Children Tried as Adults”). However, there is disagreement with how the legal system can tell when the brain is fully developed in order to properly try a person. The reality that citizens of the United States often forget is that many people struggle to find their identity until their twenties (Scialabba). With an undeveloped sense of self, I believe that concluding a person’s goodwill is nearly impossible.

There are a great amount of controversy surrounding juveniles given life sentences without parole. Professor Wayne A. Logan, who has written about adolescents’ lives without parole, states, “Life without parole can be considered as a death in prison or penultimate sanction” (Hudson). I have always been a believer in hope and optimism. However, an adolescent who has been served a life sentence has little to nothing to hope for. They do not have the opportunity to improve their character or amend their errors. Many believe that if the function of the juvenile system is rehabilitation, it is vital to look at the success of the adolescents charged as adults. During their time in prison, minors have a high risk of witnessing or experiencing violence, abuse, and sickness (Scialabba). They become an entirely different individual. Their childhood is ripped away and they become a robot in the system. Research has proven that juveniles prosecuted as adults are 82 percent more likely to be rearrested when released (Scialabba). With this data, I cannot find a decent reason why an adolescent should be charged in the adult court system.

Once waived into the adult court system, juveniles are impacted in various ways due to long delays, pre-incarceration periods, exposure to hardened adult criminals, and juveniles being denied services. There has been researching that revealed adolescents in the court system have increased rates of trauma, depression, suicide, and psychological disorders (Martinez). By witnessing so much violence and trauma within prisons, juveniles often find themselves dealing with psychological disorders, such as anxiety and PTSD (Edgar). Minors’ mindsets and actions are affected by income and feelings of community within their environment. If a minor is in a low-income or impoverished household, it can often create stress while they are incarcerated (Martinez). The majority of state jails have a requirement to screen adolescents for mental health disorders, but many prisons have a gap between their procedures and intervening (Edgar). As a society, the United States must take strides to change the narrative because all children deserve the chance to have a good quality of life.

Impact of Adult Court System on Juveniles and the Need for Rehabilitation

Often, families are kept away from the court process within adult court systems and cannot guide their children. The distance causes emotional and mental harm to both the family and children (Martinez). This is damaging to children who need their families for stability and emotional support. It creates an environment where the child is feeling scared and alone. A 16-year-old admitted into an Alabama prison has seen extreme violence and has been threatened multiple times sexually and physically. He has learned to never let his guard down or relax. “They really get lost in the system,” said Michelle Stephens, whose son was prosecuted as an adult and incarcerated in Florida five years ago after accepting a plea agreement. “And all their inmate peers become their family. They join gangs in prison. They’re worse off than they were before they went in prison” (“Children Tried as Adults”). In most adolescent cases, those who enter the adult justice system do not improve their behavior (Martinez). Immersing juveniles in an environment where any role model is a hardened criminal is in no way a good idea.

After serving their sentences, many people have a false idea that juveniles can continue the life they were forced to put on hold. This is not the case at all. Many missed their opportunity for education, and it will be very difficult to obtain a job (Scialabba). However, there are several solutions to the epidemic that is taking over the juvenile system. Many people believe that prevention is key to stopping the “cradle-to-prison pipeline” (Martinez). Early intervention can promote the development of a moral compass and allow children to grow in maturity and responsibility. Research has proven this to be the most effective approach to eliminating juvenile delinquency (Scialabba). Although, the justice system must begin to focus on prevention, not locking away juveniles.

Incarcerated juveniles who are given the possibility of parole remain hopeful. They believe they have another chance. Knowing this, the youth spend time in prison to obtain skills and rethink the way they act (Hudson). Emphasis must switch back to what is best for the adolescent when juveniles are charged with a crime. They need resources to help them succeed once they are released, instead of being locked up in an adult prison (Scialabba). A valuable resource to have is available education and neighborhood-based healing approaches that are meant to be a different choice than the court systems. Another solution is to alter educational funding to offer more culturally appropriate learning within all different types of ethnic and income groups. Communities should also make sure that there is an equal spread of education and learning materials (Martinez). Every child deserves the same opportunity to succeed in life.

Proposed Solutions for Reforming the Juvenile Justice System

In order to help families, the United States must create support systems for relatives as they explore the court system and teach them how to navigate it. For those without a support system of relatives or allies, it can be extremely difficult and harmful because families are a key aspect of rehabilitation (Hudson). In history, minors who are sentenced as adults take a much longer time to reform. However, some juveniles never can reform (Edgar). Jeff Bell, a retired police officer, says, “I believe that rehabilitation is valuable when dealing with young kids in the system. I have been working in criminal justice for over 15 years and we (police officers) all know that kids aren’t getting by sitting behind bars for life. They deserve a second chance” (Bell). Rehabilitation is incredibly important, especially with juveniles, because making errors is all a part of growing up. Adolescents should be allowed to grow and learn from their mistakes.

As a society, the United States must reform the court system because it is a disaster. America needs to go and sweep up the problems within the legal system in order to create an atmosphere where one crime will not define a child for the rest of their life. Convicting adolescents within the adult legal court system has been proven to be unsuccessful in helping adolescents improve and mature. America should be focusing on programming, rehabilitation, and improving the lives of impoverished at-risk youth. When a community gets together, it becomes easy to fix big problems. I believe that if there is a child sentenced to life in prison, the citizens of the United States have a duty to rise up and speak out for the child who is not able to.

Works Cited

1. Bell, Jeff. Personal Interview. 17 Feb. 2019.
2. “Children Tried as Adults Face Danger, Less Chance for Rehabilitation.” Southern Poverty Law Center, SPLC, 30 Oct. 2014, www.splcenter.org/news/2014/10/30/children-tried-adults-face-danger-less-chance-rehabilitation. Accessed Feb. 15, 2019.
3. Edgar, Kathleen. ‘Crime and Punishment.’ Youth Violence, Crime, and Gangs: Children at Risk, 2004 ed., Gale, 2004. Information Plus Reference Series. Student Resources In Context, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/EJ3011390106/SUIC?u=assumptionhs&sid=SUIC&xid=f0ed6aa6. Accessed 18 Feb. 2019.
4. Hudson, David L. “Adult Time for Adult Crimes: Is Life without Parole Unconstitutional for Juveniles?” ABA Journal, vol. 95, no. 11, 2009, pp. 16–17. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/27849640. Accessed 18 Feb. 2019.
5. Martinez, Martha. “Juvenile Injustice: Charging Youth as Adults Is Ineffective, Biased, and Harmful.” Human Impact Partners, Feb. 2017, humanimpact.org/hipprojects/juvenile-injustice-charging-youth-as-adults-is-ineffective-biased-and-harmful/. Accessed 17 Feb. 2019.
6. Scialabba, Nicole. “Should Juveniles Be Charged as Adults in the Criminal Justice System?” Should Juveniles Be Charged as Adults in the Criminal Justice System?, American Bar Association, 3 Oct. 2016, www.americanbar.org/groups/litigation/committees/childrens-rights/articles/2016/should-juveniles-be-charged-as-adults/. Accessed 17 Feb. 2019

Obesity among adults is a rampant problem worldwide. Being obese means a person has an excessive accumulation of body fat. It can be very dangerous and even life threatening to some. It’s not just being fat. Obesity is a major contributor to preventable, fatal diseases such as high blood pressure, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and more. All of these diseases could have more than likely been prevented if said person took better care of himself or herself. People are consuming too much processed, sugary, fatty foods and its causing a major problem worldwide. This obesity rise among adults is due to their unhealthy diets and over consumption of processed food.

Doctors define obesity based off a person’s body mass index. Body mass index, also known as BMI, is a weight-to-height ratio. It is a formula that divides a person’s weight by their height to calculate obesity. If an adult’s body mass index is equal to or greater than thirty percent, that person is considered obese. A BMI of twenty-five to thirty percent is considered overweight and a healthy body mass index is 18.5 to 25 percent.

Metabolism is an internal process that happens within the body. It converts the calories and carbohydrates a person eats and drinks and turns it into energy. If a person is consuming more food than their body can burn off in that day, it causes an energy imbalance. Prolonged energy imbalances will lead to weight gain and potentially obesity. It is important to keep a proper energy balance within the body to avoid becoming obese. “Many Americans eat far more than the recommended number of calories and get little or no exercise. This creates an energy imbalance that leads to weight gain.” (Murphy). Eating too much with too little physical activity is causing obesity. Implementing a proper diet will help keep a person’s metabolic energy balanced.

This continuous rise of obesity is happening because people are indulging in unhealthy foods. There is too much sugar in the diet of most adults. According to the book Adult Obesity : Obesity Rises among Adults, one out of ten adults drink at least one sugary drink per day. Some people do not have easy access to places that provide healthy and affordable food. Most food that is being advertised to the public is high in fat and sugar, which is also a contributing factor to the weight gain among adults. It is catching the eye of the community and enticing them to buy and consume it. That would fall under the societal changes that are attributing to the rise in obesity. The convenience and low cost of fast food contribute to the obesity rates as well. Eating less processed foods should be a main goal for adults; making more meals at home instead of giving into the convenience of fast food. If adults could implement a proper and healthy diet, obesity rates would fall.

In order for a person to overcome obesity, they will need to make lifestyle changes. The most important change that person will need to make is what and how much they are eating. If someone only diets for a little while solely to lose weight, they will eventually gain all of their weight back, and possibly more, if they do not stick to a healthy way of eating. Once someone is an adult, his or her body weight only fluctuates a little. It is known as the set point, which your body maintains naturally making weight loss a bit more difficult than it would be for an adolescent. “Resetting the set point requires maintaining real changes to eating habits over several months” (Murphy). In the beginning of a diet, weight seems to come off generally easy, but your body realizes that it is famished and starts to slow down its metabolism and stop shedding pounds so easily. That is why it is important for one to change their eating habits permanently, rather than dieting to only lose weight.

Your body needs food for energy. Carbohydrates, fats, proteins, and calories provide all the energy that your body needs for the day. Foods such as candy, potato chips, sodas, essentially all junk food make a negative impact on someone’s body over a long period of time. Junk food provides no nutritional value to the body and are basically empty calories. People need to consume things that have caloric benefit, such as fruits, vegetables, and protein. Those junk foods also contain unnecessary chemicals that are added to be aesthetically pleasing and are not good for someone to ingest. To live a healthier life style, a person needs to consume things that have nutritional value. Breaking bad eating habits can be a hard thing to do, but it is essential for adults to do to lose weight or to avoid becoming obese.

Nutrition is important. It has a major impact on a person’s overall health. “If we can make one choice to improve our health, many experts say, it is being more aware and careful about what the choose to put – and not put- into our bodies.” (Karwath). Exercising is important, but what a person eats and consumes is what matters the most. It is much harder to burn the calories put into the body than it is to just eat them. Therefore, gaining weight is much easier to do than losing weight. Teaching yourself to eat better simply starts with being aware. If a person is just mindful of everything they eat and drink it will help them live a healthier lifestyle and lead to weight loss. Once someone gets used to eating healthy, it just comes natural and takes less thought and effort to grab an apple instead of a candy bar or a bag of chips.

The obesity rates in adults are rising due to their poor diet and nutrition. Eating healthy starts with a choice. Adults need to choose to be healthy and make better choices when deciding what to eat and drink. Whether it be a snack or a whole meal, said person needs to consume something that has a positive impact on their health instead of empty calories. A person simply being mindful of what they eat and consume would drastically affect the obesity rates. Obesity rates would fall at a substantial rate if people implemented a proper diet.

One century ago, obesity was scarce. Today people all around the world are gaining weight, in America, over 35 percent of adults are currently suffering from obesity or overweight, it has become a serious problem in many countries. Obesity is most commonly caused by a combination of excessive consumption of food and lack of physical activity. Obese people consume more energy than the usual consumption of energy that what we really need. You can prevent obesity by changing your diet and exercise. Improving the quality of your diet like consume less high fat and sugar products, and increase the amount of fiber intake like fruits, but medicine can also reduce fat consumption.

Obesity is a disease that can be prevented, and you can be healthy again. Obesity means that having a BMI of 30 or over, whereas a BMI of 25-39 classifies as overweight. Commonly, nutritionists and doctors’ categories people as obese, overweight, healthy weight and underweight. Being obese can also be 20 percent over a person’s ideal weight. The perfect weight of a person is determined by using the individual’s age, height, and gender. There are ways to measure obesity by measuring the body fat in your body, it is hard to be measured directly. This is often measured by BMI (Body mass index). BMI is a measure of body size; it combined the person’s weight and height. The result gives an idea about whether the person has the perfect weight for their height. BMI is interpreted differently for children and teens because there will be changes in height and age. For adults, BMI is interpreted as weight categories whether your overweight or fine.

So far, obesity is catching up to smoking as the number one reason for preventable death. According to the American obesity association insurance companies increase coverage for obesity care and prevention and the person’s life may be shortened by obesity. Being fat holds the risk of having diseases like heart disease and diabetes and some cancers. The good news is that it is a lot easier to prevent obesity than to treat it. Some of the medicine and drugs make great to keep weight gain, knowing your BMI, and maintain a healthy weight and getting regular physical activity are all the things you can do for yourself to fight against obesity. The key to maintaining a healthy weight isn’t a short-term change. It’s about keeping a healthy lifestyle which includes eating healthy and having a regular physical activity.

In the united states, obesity is a serious health problem; nearly 35% of Americans suffer from obesity. Obesity rates in America are the highest in the world. This is not just a weight problem it can have serious and dangerous effects on a person’s body in many ways. Holding extra body fat is linked to different long-term health effects. Overweight may increase the risk of lots of health problems including type 2 diabetes, heart disease, kidney diseases, fatty liver disease, high blood pressure and even more… one of the deadliest impacts is heart disease. In America, over 610000 people die from heart diseases, that’s one in every four death. Obesity is one of the major factors for heart disease this means that obese people have a higher risk of heart attack. ‘Atherosclerosis is a disease in which plaque builds up inside your arteries’ said by the National Heart, lung and blood institute. This disease is present ten times more often in obese people compared to Normal people. Artilleries filled with fat will reduce the blood flow to the heart which will cause a heart attack. although people all around the world started to notice the problem with obesity, particularly in America, the Problem of obesity is getting worse.

The USDA (US department of agriculture) announces that the Average American ate almost 20 percent more calories in the year 2000 than they did in 1983. Americans today eat 500 more calories than in 1980. they are noticed for their love for fast food. Fast food makes up about 11 percent of the average American diet. 3 in 4 Americans consume fast food monthly. Another favorite that Americans likes is a soft drink. Drinking soda has a lot of negative health effects of drinking soda. For example, soda increase the risk of getting diabetes because it contains a high level of sugar. Drinking one or two sugary drinks per day increases your risk for type two diabetes by 25 percent. But the major issue with drinking soda is that it is high in calories. For example, 600 ml of coca cola has 17 teaspoons of sugar and 240 calories. It would take an adult over an hour of walking to burn off that much calories of just one bottle of coca cola. 35% of US calories is solid fat or added sugar. 40 years ago, sugary drinks made up 4 percent of the US’s calories, but now, 11 percent of calories come from sugary drinks daily. Americans are less active only 1 in 3 adults gets the daily exercise that they needed. Kids in America started to become obese, they spent 7.5 hours daily on computers, televisions or video games which means that they barely exercise or even come out of their homes. Not to mention the poor US community, low-income neighborhoods, fast food Is twice as right10885common compared to fresh food, the reason may be that 23.5 million people don’t have access to a supermarket within a mile from their home which they can buy healthy and fresh ingredients. Nowadays, over one-third of normal class Americans that earn under 15000 per year are obese. Less can a quarter of higher-class American are obese. To solve this monumental problem in the US, they need to promote access to fresh foods and lower the density of fast food companies. A study shows that neighborhood with the low fast food chain and have a high amount of grocery stores have the lowest obesity rates. The government should build more parks around the community, so they can go got and exercise and finally educate children at school about nutrition. This helps children to learn the difference between healthy and nutritious foods and unhealthy foods. At home, parents can teach their kids about the importance of having a balanced diet. There are various kind of diets that supports weight lost, for example nuts, and grains is highly nutritious, an example of a nutritious nuts is the brazil nut. The brazil nuts are a delicious type of nuts that come from South American tree. It contains loads of protein and have a surprisingly high content of healthy unsaturated fats.

Nowadays, you can see fast food advertisements everywhere, whether on the internet or in real life. These ads will become a major risk of child obesity. After watching the fast food advertisements on tv or on their computer, they will precisely remember them. Teenagers spend more time in front of screens than doing other activities excluding sleeping. The fast food companies promote their products to us by only showing the bright side which makes kids believe that there is nothing bad which is literally ‘killing’ them. What these children do not know is that the advertisers will only continue to encourage them to consume their products which contains bad calories and in larger quantities. The junk food ads will severely affect their choices of making a healthy diet. and their eating behavior. I believe that if the countries government really want to protect children from eating junk food. They must limit the adverts that promote junk food. They should pay attention to the idea of healthy diet.

In conclusion, obesity is becoming a threat. People are gaining weight unhealthily. It is becoming common in children or adults all around the globe. It is not easy to lose weight but if you set your mind to it, it will not be a big deal, exercise, eat healthily and think healthy.