The myth of the Western, a genre that is best known for the movies it has produced, is prevalent in American culture and has influenced it throughout the concept’s existence. First appearing in 1902, the writing movement has firmly rooted itself in the culture of the United States, surviving through a variety of periods (Dulska 2017, 73). The western has changed its themes and preferred subjects to suit the interests of the audience, particularly after World Wars I and II, but the core themes have remained unchanged (Anderson and Chamberlain 2008, 310-331). As the United States is a nation that mostly consists of descendants of European immigrants, the frontier is among their few claims to unique historical experiences, which may explain the nation’s preference for the genre.
The emergence of the Western is closely associated with the development of American literature, which culminated in the romanticization of the period and its traits. The complex storytelling of James Fenimore Cooper combined with increasingly popular dime novel themes to transform the central conflict into one between people, particularly the West and the East (Dulska 2017, 74). As a mix of several well-received trends, the Western genre quickly became highly demanded by American citizens. It featured classic heroic conflicts that were easy to understand, an environment that evoked interest and nostalgia, and humor that softened the impact of the events. However, the popularity of the genre would soon see a decline as regional writing from other regions emerged.
After World War I, which introduced an era of scientific and technological progress, people became more interested in perceptions and feelings. The rapid change ushered in a number of genres that detailed the responses to the new realities by long-standing social groups, concentrated on the wilderness, and attempted to view cowboys in a more realistic light (Anderson and Chamberlain 2008, 310). Nevertheless, the idealized form of the western retained some of its popularity, and some of the codifying works in the category as well as films that display the popularity of the theme come from the period between the two World Wars (Langford 2003, 27; “A Dude Ranch” 1930). The second instance of the tragedy brought about another significant shift to the genre.
World War II has seen the rise of postmodernism, an approach to art that calls prior beliefs or practices into question. As the most recent popular movement before the war, modernism received a particularly harsh critique. Postmodernist writers used a variety of existing forms as mediums for their messages, and westerns were no exception (Sinowitz 1999, 147-148). Nevertheless, demand for classical or slightly altered works in the genre persisted throughout the 20th century, declining towards the end despite attempts at a revival (Langford 2003, 26). Currently, there are not many new works in the genre, as it has passed its peak and ran out of ideas.
There is a school of thought that holds that the development of the western was not coincidental and that it was related to facts about frontier exploration Americans wanted to forget. Westerns provided mythology, an origin story for the nation that allowed them to fictionalize parts such as the conflicts with Native Americans (Christensen 2008, 310; Savage 2018, 7). The factual history featured numerous wars, exploitation, and behavior that could be considered immoral on both sides (“Out West: Beyond the Myth” 2006). Westerns ignored history and rehashed a number of tropes, which contributed to their popularity, but also led to their inevitable decline later on (Langford 2003, 27). Ultimately, the genre created a positive image of the country’s history, which came under scrutiny and was debunked after the disillusioning experiences of the World Wars.
The Lone Western Hero and Cold War America
Wyatt Earp is a historical personage and a well-known protagonist of numerous westerns. He personified a number of the core traits of a traditional main character in the genre, as he was a drifter who tried himself in multiple trades. He also participated in several famous large-scale gunfights, providing an excellent foundation for writers to create their interpretations. Earp became famous as an ideal of masculinity and devotion to the law in the early stages of the Cold War, a shift that was not coincidental (Isenberg 2009, 140). He had spent time in jail at one point and worked for the police at another, and his reputation as a result of a propaganda campaign.
However, the man was not the perfect example of the ideals and norms of Cold War America, and the interpretations failed to hide that fact completely. Isenberg claims that “his interpreters have shied away from understanding Earp’s emotional and sexual life in its context” (157). The drifter had been in numerous intimate relationships with both men and women, and the implications did not match the heterosexual nature of the masculine ideal promoted by popular culture. At the same time, the authors could not omit Earp’s personal life or fabricate female companions instead of male ones, as the story was well known.
Isenberg presents Earp’s case as an example of significant differences in the cultural norms of the nineteenth and twentieth century. In the earlier period, homosexuality was considered a choice that people could abandon at will, and close same-sex relationships were acceptable and commonplace, though sexual behavior in public was not permitted (Isenberg 2009, 146). In the twentieth century, however, discrimination based on homosexuality and, by association, what Isenberg calls homosociality intensified. Nevertheless, the government required figures who could be used to represent the masculine ideal. It did not want to admit that Wyatt Earp had close relationships with men but lacked an explanation for why he spent much of his life without a female companion. Thus, it created the image of the Western hero as an aloof loner who rejects companionship as a whole.
Bibliography
Anderson, Gary Clayton, and Kathleen P. Chamberlain. Power and Promise: The Changing American West. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson, 2008.
Christensen, Paul. “The ‘Wild West’: The Life and Death of a Myth.” Southwest Review 93, no. 3 (June 2008): 310-325.
Dulska, Anna. “The Significance of the Frontier in the Evolution of the Western Genre.” Beyond Philology: An International Journal of Linguistics, Literary Studies and English Language Teaching 14, no. 2 (2017): 69-83.
Isenberg, Andrew C. “The Code of the West: Sexuality, Homosociality, and Wyatt Earp.” Western Historical Quarterly 40, no. 2 (Summer 2009): 139-157.
Langford, Barry. “Revisiting the ‘Revisionist’ Western.” Film & History 33, no. 2 (2003): 26-35.
Savage, Jordan. “’There Was a Veil upon You, Pocahontas’: The Pocahontas Story as a Myth of American Heterogeneity in the Liberal Western.” Papers on Language and Literature 54, no. 1 (2018): 7-24.
Sinowitz, Michael Leigh. “The Western as Postmodern Satiric History: Thomas Berger’s Little Big Man.” Clio 28, no. 2 (Winter 1999): 129-148.
Nationalism can be perceived in many ways. On one hand, it may connote the historical process of establishing nationalities as political units, or the construction of modern national states while on the other hand, it may indicate the theory, principle, or ideal implicit in the historical process or ‘nationalism’ may be used to express a condition of mind among the members of nationality, an attitude in which loyalty and devotion to one’s nationality are considered to be of prime importance.
If we perceive ‘nationalism’ in context with the problem that Europe has encountered between 1815 and 1850, we would analyze that Nationalism, during this era of kings and tyranny rejected the cosmopolitan aspects of liberalism, its rational spirit, its emphasis upon natural rights, its preference for the individual, and its aversion to state authority. From the nationalist point of view, freedom was not considered the right of the individual, and so the individual was not supposed to live according to his own will, but he was subjugated by his sense of freedom to that conferred upon him by group authority. Nationalism, in contrast to liberalism, often discards humanitarianism in favor of national interests, advocates a system of national economic protection, regards imperialistic expansion as desirable, and looks favorably upon war as a means of promoting national prestige.
While talking about European nationalism, German nationalism elucidates that it was not accompanied by the beneficial results that had been expected at the time. Germany remained beyond the periphery of European civilization, acquiring a unique character of her own and playing a unique role in the European history of nation-making. The synthesis of nationalism and liberalism was especially pronounced in England, with its parliamentary monarchy and its strong middle class. A similar development may be noted in France, although the timing and character were different. In both countries, nationalism and liberalism were allies in the struggle against absolutism and caste.
In Germany, however, where the appearance of the nation-state and national sentiment was delayed for more than three centuries beyond that of England and France, the synthesis was never effectively achieved. The result was therefore a politico-cultural lag with the building of German nationalism as artificial as the construction of the Panama Canal. German nationalism was created under the tyranny of Napoleonic despotism where it experienced means of forgetting their degradation, while Germans turning their eyes back to a great legendary past when the old imperial Germany had been the cockpit of Europe. German nationalism while busy seeking their salvation in romanticism, attempted to draw strength from German antiquity, from the German landscape, and the German language, customs, and art. Later the German nation in its youth the ‘eternally striving’ was indeed far from being aggressive, intolerant, and imperialistically-minded, all features which darkened its image from the late nineteenth century onward.
According to Michener (1993) “It is often forgotten that in the early decades of the nineteenth-century German nationalism was a liberal movement, very much in tune with the European Risorgimento nationalism of the age” (Michener, 1993, p. 84). Nationalism and liberalism were terms used almost synonymously by contemporaries and followers of the nascent national movement, they were a single cause. Nationalists in that era were called liberals and vice versa. Around 1800 Germans, regardless of which of the then numerous German states they belonged to, developed a cultural and political awareness that, despite the difference of detail, can be described as an early form of German national consciousness. It combined national and liberal elements which spread first among intellectuals and the educated middle classes before it reached other strata of society. Much was needed to instill a sense of German identity and common political ambition, a feeling of belonging together as one nation, into the populations of the central European states, Protestant and Catholic alike, the ideas and upheavals of the French Revolution of 1789, the revolutionary wars of the 1790s, the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, the collapse of Prussia on the battlefields and, finally, the Napoleonic occupation of almost the whole continent of Europe.
The Germans were led to believe that they had found their identity by resisting Napoleon and his armies and adopting the dazzling ideals of the French Revolution as guidelines for their future national existence. They began to see themselves above all as a cultural nation that had so far been denied freedom and political organization in a unified state. For this reason, the advocates of rising German nationalism called for a nation-state founded on the self-determining nation as the sole source of legitimate government. They claimed that a strong common state would protect the Germans against foreign aggression and, at the same time, provide unprecedented prosperity, internal peace, civil rights; democracy, and individual liberty a Utopian dream come true.
The German national consciousness began to emerge at the turn of the eighteenth century through culture and literature as tools for making the German language and culture a common national bond. However, there was no unified stance on how the German nation should be incorporated into a state structure, nor was it politically viable until 1848. Initial calls for national unification, such as Johann Gottlieb Fichte’s famous Addresses to the German Nation in the winter of 1807/8 and Ernst Moritz Arndt’s German songs did not enjoy widespread support (Herb, 1997, p. 8).
German Folklore: The Grimm Brothers
In such an era where German romanticism was largely a counter-reaction against the French Enlightenment, the French Revolution, and Napoleon, resorted back to an idealized medieval era or even prehistoric mythology (Kent et al, 2000, p. 16), Grimm brothers (Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm) promoted German linguistics and literature by collecting variations of the traditional ballads from unschooled country people. The brothers Grimm initiated a new era of folklores by compiling German fairy tales, an activity which eventually led ‘Jacob Grimm’ to publish his Deutsche Grammatik (1819-34), in which he formulated his well known ‘law’ that highlights the concern that changed laws have no exception (Kent et al, 2000, p. 178). Among their famous works are fairy tales like Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, Rapunzel, and Hansel and Gretel.
The Grimm brothers were the founders of scientific Germanistics and were best known as the pioneers of German folklore and fairy tales. They were among the small group of dedicated scholars who fashioned a popular national German literature with simply no intention of advocating a narrow nationalism, yet it would seem that in venerating national indigenous, anonymous folk poetry in the belief that it contained a pearl of primitive folk wisdom, they helped set the stage for a type of nationalism which became progressively more and more extremist. This holds not only for their lifetime of philological research, which has aroused the admiration of scholars throughout the world but also on a more popular level for their famous collection of fairy tales. There is evidence to show that they were designed originally as a means to stimulate national sentiment, to glorify German national traditions, and, in short, to bolster the rising force of German nationalism (Snyder, 1952, p. 45).
Although the Grimm sought to advertise their tales as products of the ‘folk’, recent research tells us that they relied on sources at least at one remove from peasant culture (Tatar, 1987, p. 24). The Grimm initiated with the process of compiling tales just when German folk stories started ceasing to play a vital role in the day-to-day activities of adult life, they received from their informant’s versions of the tales that already had been dramatically revised. Grimm readers ranged from children to adults and from lower class to those literate audiences who were aware of the basic content that is helpful are shaping deviation sharply from what was told at harvesting time or in the spinning room, but off-color details along with crude language had no doubt been toned down or eliminated. The Grimm informants were mostly unlettered German peasants who spoke the inimitable language of the ‘folk’ but still were literate enough to understand the influence of those folks. Also, the Grimm was by no means opposed to resorting to literary sources for their ‘folkloric’ texts.
The Grimm understood the influence each culture or community has on its moral and national values therefore Grimm, categorized the process of recasting folktales unfolded into two stages. First, as audience Grimm used to influence the telling of a tale simply by their physical presence, social standing, age, sexual identity, and body language. According to Tatar (1987) “Grimm brothers claim about Dorothea Viehmann to possess an infallible memory for detail corrected herself if for a moment she deviated from the standard phrasing for a story, it is hard to believe that her narrative tone and style remained the same whether she was rehearsing her repertory for the Grimm or telling a tale to her grandchildren” (Tatar, 1987, p. 26). No matter how precisely the Grimm recorded the oral renditions of those tales, they were still the receivers of texts shaped by their presence. Therefore the physical presence of the tales in the first stage elucidated the verbal dimension of a performance where gesture, facial expression, along with all the other vital components of a live performance, escaped their recording efforts.
In a second stage, the Grimm altered the texture of the tales narrated to them just like the early collectors of folktales, particularly those working before the age of the portable tape recorder, they could not resist the temptation to improve on what they heard, to render readable what might be pleasing to the ear alone. Wilhelm Grimm not only created a homogenous, stylized language for the tales, but also introducing messages, motivations, judgments, morals, and other often pedantic touches. A prisoner of his passion for order, logic, and instrumentality, Wilhelm Grimm unfailingly smoothed the rough edges of the tales he heard and read, even as he imbued them with the values and pedagogical demands of his time.
Though with an assistance of a typical form, it is not always easy to determine which aspects of a fairy tale are culture-bound and which elements function as part of its timeless, universal structure, it is easier to visualize the German cultural boon Grimm Brothers presented as a nation. Grimm’s fairy tales were unique in their notion to represent the German culture of that era in the light of harsh social climate where child abandonment, king’s tyranny, lack of morals, and other extreme situations were the common problems. European folklore operated as a system-oriented toward conventions that were sanctioned by a cultural community and literature driven by the oppression of rulers. The strictures imposed on folkloric inventiveness and made it easier for the nationalists to identify the strict and uniform laws to which folkloric performances were subjected. Therefore we can conclude that German folklores made a significant attribute towards the collective activity of serving towards German nationalism.
References
Herb Guntram Henrik, (1997) Under the Map of Germany: Nationalism and Propaganda, 1918-1945: Routledge: London.
Kent Conrad, Wolber K. Thomas & Hewitt M. K. Cameron, (2000) The Lion and the Eagle:Interdisciplinary Essays on German-Spanish Relations over the Centuries: Berghahn Books: New York.
Michener Roger, (1993) Nationality, Patriotism and Nationalism in Liberal Democratic Societies: Paragon House: St. Paul, MN.
Snyder L. Louis, (1952) German Nationalism: The Tragedy of a People Extremism Contra Liberalism in Modern German History: Stackpole: Harrisburg, PA.
Tatar M. Maria, (1987) The Hard Facts of the Grimms’ Fairy Tales: Princeton University Press: Princeton, NJ.
Consciousness is one of the main properties of the brain, which is a complex psychological mechanism. Consciousness allows people to exercise control over their behavior, explain the motives of their actions, interpret current events, and weigh and evaluate their consequences. Consciousness is called upon to reflect the essence of the personality and its inherent characteristic individual features, reflecting the reality surrounding the personality, both emotionally and rationally. Consciousness is characterized by constant activity since people learn about external reality throughout life and form their opinions and ideas about it. From the point of view of physiology, consciousness includes two components: wakefulness, that is, the ability to open the eyes spontaneously, and the content of consciousness, that is, the ability to perceive information coming from the outside world consciously. The work of the cerebral cortex determines the content of consciousness. Wakefulness is provided by the work of the ascending reticular activating system of the brainstem.
A disorder of consciousness involves a complete or partial loss of the ability to concentrate attention, orientation in place, time, one’s personality, and the implementation of other processes that make up the content of consciousness. Disorders of consciousness arise from brain activity disorders caused by injuries and diseases of the central nervous system, intoxication, mental disorders, and somatic diseases. People with a disorder of consciousness may be in a coma, in a vegetative state, or a state of minimal consciousness (Wilson et al., 2016). From both an ethical and a medical point of view, it is necessary to ensure proper care and the availability of rehabilitation for such patients.
Diagnosis
Diagnosis of disorders of consciousness is sophisticated since it can be complicated by the complete lack of reactions in the patient. Diagnosis includes analysis of complaints and anamnesis of the disease, neurological examination, blood test, toxicological analysis, and MRI. Neuroimaging studies have demonstrated functional interactions between autonomic and brain structures involved in higher brain functions, including attention and conscious processes. The interactions between these structures are based on the two-way interaction between the brain and the heart. Heart rate indicators can be reliable for describing the functioning of the autonomic and central nervous systems and a marker of higher brain functions. Autonomic function mediated by the autonomic nervous system, reactivity, and interaction of the autonomic and central nervous systems is considered possible independent indicators of clinical and functional assessment and prognosis in disorders of consciousness (Riganello et al., 2019). Such an analysis is a simple, inexpensive, non-invasive approach; it can provide useful information for the clinical evaluation of patients with disorders of consciousness.
Treatment
Several treatments have been proposed for patients with impaired consciousness, including pharmacological and invasive. However, no single treatment has shown a sustained positive effect on consciousness or functional recovery in a significant group of patients. The basis of modern treatment of disorders of consciousness is medications, but they do not always have proven effectiveness. Classical psychedelics are currently undergoing significant research for various psychiatric disorders (Scott & Carhart-Harris, 2019). Due to their ability to increase the complexity of the brain, they could be a breakthrough in the treatment of disorders of consciousness. However, further research in this area will be hampered by ethical and moral norms. With a deep disorder of consciousness, connection with reality is lost, so psychotherapeutic treatment in such a situation seems unlikely. The relief of acute symptoms is carried out in a hospital under round-the-clock medical supervision. The list of drugs used, doses, and treatment duration depends on individual characteristics and diagnosis.
Most often, disorders of consciousness arise due to traumatic brain injury, especially in the elderly. Some of the most devastating consequences of traumatic brain injury include reduced levels of consciousness or impaired executive function. Pharmacological and rehabilitative therapies are limited; so, deep brain stimulation has been used to treat several conditions, including Parkinson’s disease, essential tremor, and epilepsy (Kundu et al., 2018). Deep brain stimulation offers a means to quickly trigger dormant networks or modulate activity in the right areas of the brain to make it work easier. Large prospective studies in patients with traumatic brain injury targeting specific areas of the brain that have demonstrated the ability to modulate cognition are critically important safely. Although many ethical issues must be considered when treating patients with disorders of consciousness, deep brain stimulation combined with intensive behavioral therapy may offer devastating traumatic brain injury patients a means to restore cognitive function and a meaningful quality of life.
Recovery
Monitoring the recovery of behavior in patients who developed impaired consciousness after severe traumatic brain injury is important for diagnostic and prognostic assessment. The degree of behavioral recovery in patients with traumatic consciousness disorders after discharge from the emergency department is not well understood and increases the risk of overly pessimistic outcome predictions. About 20 percent of patients recovered all six target behaviors within six weeks (Giacino et al., 2020). Patients with preserved language function recover most behaviors and have the least disability. Restoration of the high-level behavior underlying functional independence is common in patients with long-term traumatic consciousness disorder.
In recent years, significant progress has been made in identifying, predicting, and promoting recovery of consciousness in patients with mental disorders. New evidence suggests that latent consciousness is present in 15-20% of patients with impaired consciousness and may predict functional recovery one year after injury (Edlow et al., 2021). Some patients with impaired consciousness can regain consciousness, communication, and functional independence. Recovery of consciousness can occur anytime, from acute to subacute and chronic periods. Unfortunately, there are no reliable predictive tools at every stage of recovery. It is unlikely that any single therapy will be effective in all patients; instead, clinicians support a mechanistic approach to therapy selection that involves an individual assessment of each patient’s potential for a therapeutic response.
Ethical Issues
Patients with disorders of consciousness are at risk for misdiagnosis and inappropriate medical treatment, which can negatively impact their access to ongoing care, rehabilitation, and pain and symptom management. The dismissive attitude of society towards patients with a disorder of consciousness is a violation of the bioethical principle of rejection of patients. In the ethical analysis of a disorder of consciousness, awareness and ignorance should be taken into account. Ignorance is ethically significant because it has the critical characteristics of awareness. If consciousness is considered ethically relevant for assessing a patient with a disorder of consciousness, and the unconscious is the result of consciousness, then the unconscious is also ethically relevant.
Ever since disorders of consciousness appeared in the clinical setting, clinicians, scientists, theologians, and ethicists have begun to question what it means to be in a state of profoundly disturbed consciousness. In severe cases, it becomes very difficult to assess the patient’s quality of life, and it is also impossible to assess the level of pain. This kind of controversy is mainly related to how people feel about indefinite survival in such disorders.
The dissociation between personal preferences and general opinions underlies differences in views on disability and implies that healthy people who are not in direct contact with this patient population may have distorted ideas about what life is like in these severely limited situations. However, with the help of functional neuroimaging and electrophysiology, the gray areas of the unconscious are beginning to clear up (Fins & Bernat, 2018). These developments are promising for identifying and assessing the preserved consciousness in these conditions; they should be used in clinical practice. In terms of treatment planning, including pain management and end-of-life decision-making, patients with impaired consciousness are now being offered to express their preferences through brain-computer interfaces. A common ethical framework needs to be established to guide clinicians and caregivers regarding clinical outcomes, prognosis, and treatment.
Conclusion
Disorders of consciousness represent a complex area of neurological and psychological research. Diagnosis is complicated by the possible lack of reactions in the patient, treatment – by the lack of a single proven effective agent. The percentage of recovery after severe cases of such disorders also remains low. In addition, the treatment of disorders of consciousness is complicated by ethical issues. In severe cases, the decision for the patient must be made by a third party unaware of the patient’s real condition. Further study of effective methods, means of communication with patients, and assessment methods are necessary to provide quality care.
Kundu, B., Brock, A. A., Englot, D. J., Butson, C. R., & Rolston, J. D. (2018). Deep brain stimulation for the treatment of disorders of consciousness and cognition in traumatic brain injury patients: a review. Neurosurgical focus, 45(2), 1-8. Web.
Treating people is a difficult job, and even the most competent doctor will not manage to do it alone. Nurses are an essential link in the work of the medical system and the process of saving the lives of the population. Thinking about my past, I find events that led me to the profession of nurse. The people’s experience significantly forms their character and thoughts, which determines many life choices (Woźniak, 2019). My experience in various circumstances helped me realize my vocation. These situations in my life may seem ordinary, but for me, they have become pivotal and those that prove that all events are not coincident at all.
Issues of difficulties and challenges people face, for instance, global problems and similar concerns, have occupied my mind since childhood. I kept wondering what could be done to change something. In response, thoughts arise about changing the world, environmental protests, the invention of technologies that will save the ocean. However, although these activities are critical, they seemed unsuitable for my character, and I wanted to do something more practical and influential. These thoughts are the first reason that led me to the profession of nurse. For me medicine and care change the world for the better. Moreover, without them, humanity would have never reached the modern standard of living. Changing the lives of even one patient for the better is also important as changing the whole world.
Many of us had some experience of illness and even being in hospitals in childhood. Such a situation happened to me – I had to stay in the medical center for treatment for several days. Being a child, I was terrified and worried, especially at night. However, there was a nurse who managed to calm me down and support me. She even let me call her by her name, Tina, and I felt that we became friends. I always recalled her with joy, and when I grew up, I realized how valuable and important her actions were for a little child. This situation was the second reason that led me to the profession of a nurse – I understood that there are many people in the world who, like me then, need the same support and comfort, and I can give them.
We have to deal with diseases and injuries not only in hospital conditions but also in emergencies in any circumstances. Family members, friends, and even strangers may suddenly become ill or injured, and it is necessary to take action quickly – after all, saving a life can depend on a few seconds. As a teenager, I witnessed my friend break his arm. We were lucky, and there was a person nearby who could provide aid, and the ambulance reached quickly. However, for a few minutes, I felt helpless and confused – I strived to help but did not want to harm. This event was another reason that prompted me to decide to become a nurse. First aid skills, and even simple help in measuring pressure, can be life-saving.
Thus, several important events and long reflections when making decisions are behind my decision to become a nurse. I see many advantages in the work of nurses and believe in their particular importance. Saving lives and giving comfort and care to many people is what I want to do. Kindness, attentiveness, and support are what our world needs, and these features can bring wellbeing to the population.
Reference
Woźniak, M. (2018). “I” and “Me”: The Self in the Context of Consciousness. Frontiers in Psychology, 9(1656), 1-14. Web.
Diversity refers to the dissimilarities that exist among people based on aspects such as race, gender, political affiliation, and sexual orientation among others. The topic has become popular in many institutions globally. This situation has instigated moves to encourage diversity consciousness in not only workplaces but also schools among other social environments. A school setup is a representation of a socially diverse institution as it accommodates diverse people.
As a result, it becomes a pool of individuals with wide-ranging mindsets concerning various spheres of life. Accommodation of learners from different cultural groups can enrich the academic accomplishment of the students’ academic accomplishment and well-being besides motivating inter-ethnic acceptance among them. Such variations provide them with different opinions, unique experiences, and perspectives of life. This paper provides an insight into a personal action plan for diversity consciousness by examining the benefits acquired through the process.
Personal Growth
Students take particular courses based on various motivations and needs. Some of them pursue their courses of choice to fulfill dreams and aspirations while others aim at appreciating their quest for knowledge. The commencement and completion of this course were both motivating and enthusiastic. My dream to join this course was guided by the desire to acquire knowledge applicable to real-life situations.
The application of the skills learned in class to solve real-life problems is the fulfilled vision. The course has heightened my awareness of diversity and its importance. Indeed, the knowledge about diversity is an excellent tool that correlates with academic prowess, achieving self-esteem by sharing experiences, developing individual identity, and gaining inter-ethnic tolerance. The course has also led to the awareness that diversity can cause discomfort among peers where rough interactions are experienced.
This situation leads to the development of mistrust and conspiracy. Other uncomplimentary effects of diversity are interpersonal conflicts, lower levels of communication, and disrespect among peers. By pursuing this course, I have learned to diminish such hostile situations through dialogue and mutual respect. With the understanding that each person is talented with dissimilar abilities, I have found a synthesis of social diversity.
The learning process washes away and replaces our previous misconceptions with a quality understanding of diverse life spheres. Before enrolling in this course, my knowledge and understanding of diversity were skewed. I viewed it as an approach that infringed the differentiated cultures, values, and beliefs among other aspects people. However, I am now in a better position to spearhead the advancement of social diversity in the school.
The process of learning is continuous. For this reason, its effectiveness must be given room for self-development. Diversity consciousness demands a live spirit. By maintaining a proactive approach to appreciating the diverse groups in the school, there will be the creation of a sound learning environment that underpins the development of mutual respect amongst the teachers, students, and parents. Moreover, the structured lessons have fostered diversity consciousness amongst classmates as they acknowledge varied cultural perspectives. Personally, the course has helped me erode the misconceptions about the opinions of other students at school. The diversity class has also sharpened my skills in handling diversity issues.
Diversity Benefits
Various benefits accrue from the awareness of diversity. In light of the perspectives of each participant in my group, I have learned to appreciate the importance of diverse people in almost every aspect of life. At the outset, diversity is a crucial factor that has improved my creativity. A multicultural and multiethnic environment brings about a plethora of unique skills that originate from particular societal groups (Pettigrew & Tropp, 2008).
This state of affairs has led to the understanding of various problems such as racism that exist in human society. Many confrontational problems that occur in multicultural environments require us to make proper decisions each day. Early this year, I met two ethnically different students quarreling. The cause of disagreement was linked to their discomfort in class. With the skills gained through social diversity, I gained the courage to solve the problem amicably. Secondly, the value of diversity has underpinned the formulation of informed decisions. At one time, I was about to defer my studies to seize a job opportunity in a city restaurant.
However, sharing my problems with my group members encouraged me to make a sound decision continuing with the studies whilst seeking alternative solutions to the predicaments. This move led to innovation and the discovery of several ideas. At the beginning of the year, my science club was involved in a number of projects that aimed at encouraging innovation in the college (Pettigrew & Tropp, 2008). Having been an active member of the association, I was awarded a sponsorship to advance scientific innovation.
Diversity Communication
Cheng and Xie (2013) posit that communication is an imperative tool that fosters diversity awareness. Through communication, different issues are raised. This situation leads to the generation of diverse viewpoints that are shared amongst the students taking the course. Consultations are also accomplished either in writing or verbally through communication techniques. The primary role of passing information from one party to the other is promoting diversity by providing a platform to seek perspectives on issues that matter to all people. For instance, the mass media is used in the transmission of values (Cheng & Xie, 2013).
This practice explicates the theory of the socialization function that entails the methods in which individuals embrace the conduct and standards of a particular group. They portray different values, beliefs, and attitudes that characterize diverse societies. By watching, listening, and reading, people gain a lot of information about others. Therefore, the media provides role models whose virtuous behaviors should be observed and/or imitated.
Successful diversity consciousness requires the exemplification of effective communication by the leaders of any institution; hence, proper language should be used to overcome the barriers to the promotion of diverse settings. Next, in cases of disagreements, individuals should react friendly to avoid rough interactions that can kill the spirit of diversity. The two ways can improve communication between people thereby increasing productivity.
According to Cheng and Xie (2013), communication helps attain a consensus that is highly valued in diversity consciousness. There is a need to ensure a common language during the communication process to avert possible barriers to the passage of important information. In addition, proper channels need to be in place for the effective delivery of messages.
Diversity Goals
The chief goal of the action plan is to pledge allegiance to foster diversity awareness with a view of avoiding stigmatization of the minority groups in society. This practice will make their differences a part of the majority. This situation will encourage diversity tolerance (Pettigrew & Tropp, 2008). Another vital goal is to conduct a frequent evaluation of the diversity program, especially in the schools, to identify possible drawbacks and methods of mitigating them.
Diversity Action
Planning is a prerequisite to the success of any activity undertaken since it highlights the steps of achieving the layout goals and objectives (Pettigrew & Tropp, 2008). Therefore, realizing diversity awareness depends on the understanding of goals that guarantee a healthy environment. Diversity involves the interactions and contacts between people of dissimilar backgrounds. A social and psychological process should be put in place. The social process will enhance the interaction to offer a platform for self-assessment and discovery of strengths and weaknesses. On the other hand, the psychological process will prepare and help them diminish inter-ethnic tensions and anxiety; hence, it will promote knowledge (Pettigrew & Tropp, 2008).
Secondly, there is a need to engage inter-ethnic peers in constructive events that cut across both cultural and denominational divides. In so doing, new values will be acquired. In a school setup, healthy teacher-student interpersonal relationships can be aimed at achieving diversity by building quality bonds and reciprocated trust (Pianta, Hamre, & Stuhlman, 2003). Lastly, strengthening peer norms and networks to promote virtuous attitudes, sociability, and experiences will ease the prospects to know and learn from each other. Personally, gaining skills in decision-making, problem-solving, exposure, innovation, and teamwork will be great achievements.
Communities that host us will also get all-around leaders who view issues with global perspectives to provide valuable decisions. The benefits will be viewed from a global dimension. Innovation and discovery resulting from the interactions and contacts will provide solutions to global problems such as vaccines or cures for some diseases such as HIV/AIDS. The scenario that is exhibited during the construction of a house involves the cooperation of a structural engineer, architect, land surveyor, and construction managers among others (Pianta et al., 2003). This blending ensures a perfect completion of the building. If one of them is not consulted, the consequences become unfavorable.
The same spirit can be integrated into our social lives to yield the fruits of diversity. For the result to be realized, certain resources must be present to honor the pledges and commitments to diversity. In this spirit, I will be motivated to participate in community building activities to deliberate on issues affecting society with a view of formulating lasting solutions. Another valuable resource to help stick to my commitment is building standard networks with diverse people ranging from the rural to urban populaces, desert to island dwellers, moderates to radicals, and leaders to subjects in an attempt to encourage them to appreciate their experiences of diversity.
Conclusion
In summary, diversity of race, color, ethnicity, political affiliation, sexual orientation, and geographical locations provides make individuals unique. Mixing up such people brings about diversity that helps in the achievement of objectives not only in the school setting but also in the workplace among other social places. Enrolling in this course has taught me significant diversity values that will be useful throughout my life.
This paper has highlighted my personal developments and benefits that have resulted from learning diversity. Communication has been deemed paramount to achieving diversity goals. People should embrace social integration and advance the call for diversity in all spheres of life. Interracial marriages can also help bridge the gaps existing among varied communities to ease the ethnic pressures experienced in the present day.
Reference List
Cheng, S., & Xie, Y. (2013). Structural Effect of Size on Interracial Friendship. Proceedings of the National Academy of the USA, 110(18), 7165-7169.
Pettigrew, T., & Tropp, L. (2008). How does intergroup contact reduce prejudice? Meta-analytic tests of three Mediators. European Journal of Social Psychology, 38(6), 922-934.
Pianta, R., Hamre, B., & Stuhlman, M. (2003). Relationships between teachers and Children. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Disasters result in severe disruption of society because of the many casualties and losses (economic, environmental, and social costs) incurred. Obtaining knowledge of the history of tragic events has proven to be the most effective strategy for preventing them or reducing their effects on the community. Disasters serve as references to explain the causes and consequences of catastrophes in society today. Valuable data collected during a disaster can inform future practices and lower the risk of losing lives and resources. Therefore, understanding the history of calamities is significant because the knowledge gathered can be used to increase the effectiveness of risk and hazard assessments, leading to better decisions.
Communicating About Disasters
First, understanding the history of past disasters enables communities to know the best way to communicate to others about the tragedy. Based on the week eleven reading, influencers have the power to drive others to help in a crisis or make them withhold their assistance because of how they present their cause. According to Scott (2015), celebrities are relatively “successful in connecting spectators and faraway strangers.” For instance, music was used to convey information during the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. The musicians wanted to address the real issues related to the transmission of the disease. Therefore, they constructed a piece characterized by longevity and high cultural value to create awareness of prevention, thus restoring hope and rebuilding people’s trust in the health system.
Celebrities should recognize their influence on the willingness of people to help during disasters. Are (2018) acknowledges their importance when she argues that “celebrities play a crucial role raising awareness and representing the concerns of citizens.” Similarly, Colapinto (2012) recognizes the significance of celebrities and advocates for “the use of headline-grabbing celebrities as the only way for nonprofit groups to draw attention to unglamorous places such as Haiti, Darfur or Somalia.” Therefore, rather than spreading degrading news, influencers should evaluate the situation on the ground during a crisis and create constructive criticism that provokes people to want to help.
Learning from Past Mistakes
Secondly, understanding the history of disasters improves people’s critical thinking skills, enabling them to learn from past mistakes and make better decisions. Disasters can be caused by disease outbreaks, such as the coronavirus pandemic. In curbing the virus, vaccines, medications, and social-control measures were established to protect communities from contracting the disease and treat infected people. However, there were different attitudes concerning the value and authenticity of the vaccine. People in the opposition believed that the immunization introduced microchips into people’s bodies, making them zombies. Similar behavior was observed in the 1860s and 1950s when vaccinations against disease outbreaks were introduced. For instance, Italy banned unvaccinated children from attending school and fined €500 parents who did not obey this policy (BBC News, 2019). The resulting anti-vaccination campaigns led to a significant decrease in vaccination rates and some people were misled to believe the drugs would negatively affect their health.
According to the week three reading, people in the past did not believe in vaccines; they associated them with witchcraft as they did not understand how they work. History repeated itself during the COVID-9 pandemic and, therefore, stakeholders should be aware of the public’s resistance to the introduction of new vaccines during pandemics. They should avoid establishing mandatory policies as this will result in more resistance and distrust in the health system. Instead, interventions should “address the specific concerns in a given context, time and vaccine” (Dubé et al., 2015). Governments should create awareness of the drugs’ effectiveness and working mechanisms to influence people to get vaccinated willingly.
Compiling and Presenting Data on Disasters
Another significance of understanding historical consciousness is that it helps journalists and photojournalists know how to compile and present information to the public. The power of the internet has made it easy for people to access and pass messages through social media. Since the 1980s, photographers used to take pictures of victims of violence and displayed them in museums to create awareness of what is happening in the war. According to week seven, as time went by, disaster photojournalists increased their efforts to spread pictures of violence on the internet, saturating social media with these photos. The audience began getting used to these images, and, as a result, people are not emotionally aroused to want to help. Sontag (2003) contributes to this idea by claiming that “people can turn off not just because a steady diet of images has made them indifferent…” Consequently, this led to distrust among the public because people no longer trust the pictures circulated through the internet as a reflection of the actual events of the disaster.
However, to eliminate this menace, data collected during and after catastrophes should be standardized and coordinated to reflect the actual events of the disaster. Investigation teams should ensure that the images and news spread through the internet related to the social, physical, and biological phenomena resulting in the disaster. Rather than showing what every photojournalist wants people to see in their images, the pictures should be equalized to reflect reality. Consequently, this will restore the public’s trust in disaster photographs as they will create meaning that makes the audience them emotionally charged. According to Barnes (2012), “Emotion is not just a feeling. It can also move people to action.” Standardized pictures will make people picture themselves “against the scene of trauma or tragedy,” thus recognize the adverse impact of war and resolve to settle fights amicably (Ibrahim, 2017). Subsequently, successful efforts to prevent the loss of lives and reduce property damage will be initiated. Additionally, coordination of the type of images taken and the format they will be presented to the public is likely to drive the translation of lessons learned from the past into enhanced calamity preparedness and mitigation.
Conclusion
To conclude, knowledge of the history of disasters helps people understand the causes and effects of catastrophes and emergencies. The knowledge gained can be used in preparing for future disasters and establishing policies and practices that mitigate the impact of calamities. Historical consciousness helps people know the best way to communicate with others concerning the happenings of a disaster. Inappropriate conveyance of information can lead to people withholding support. Therefore, celebrities in society should recognize their value and significance in influencing people and critically compose constructive artistic pieces that communicate the actual situation of disasters to aiders. Lastly, journalists should standardize and coordinate their efforts to ensure they do not saturate the internet with violent photos, making people so prone to negative news that they do not feel the urge to help.
The need to preserve the environment has become one of the major concerns for modern societies. Currently, many public organizations implement projects that are supposed to preserve forests and wildlife; nevertheless, many of the existing practices and policies can infringe on the interests of people who live in the areas which may be transformed into conservation parks.
For instance, these individuals can be sometimes forcefully evicted. One can argue that this problem can be related to ecological conciseness, justice, and science. Moreover, this issue requires the cooperation of researchers, lawyers, as well as journalists. Overall, it is important to design policies that can reconcile the interests of different stakeholders.
In particular, public administrators and environmental agencies should pay more attention to the economic needs of vulnerable communities; furthermore, they should have an opportunity to use the lands on which they have lived for many years. The interests of these stakeholders must be considered by governmental and non-governmental organizations. These are the main questions that should be examined in greater detail.
The rise of environmental consciousness
On the whole, researchers attach importance to such a concept as environmental consciousness. In particular, people should bear in mind that they are a part of the planet; more importantly, their survival can depend on the preservation of the environment (Uhl, 2013). For instance, one can mention Christopher Uhl (2013) who lays stress on the idea that people should pay more attention to the impact of their activities on various elements of nature such as water, air, fauna, flora, and so forth (Uhl, 2013).
Thus, one should speak about a very important shift in the public opinion. Additionally, scientists are able to identify the locations in which there are many endangered species (Myers et al., 2000). For instance, one can speak about such regions as Tropical Andes, Central Chile, Mesoamerica, and Philippines (Myers et al., 2000, p. 857). Additionally, scientists should determine what uses of land can be compatible with the preservation of species.
In many cases, their assessment can be critical for resolving the conflicts between various stakeholders such as local communities, businesses, and governmental agencies. Furthermore, researchers should not overlook long-lasting economic implications of these policies, especially their impact on the welfare of various communities. Thus, scientists can play a pivotal role in reconciling the needs of different stakeholders.
The challenges associated with the conservation of lands
One should keep in mind that the preservation of the environment can also create several important challenges. For instance, it is possible to mention the arguments put forward by Mac Chapin (2004). He states that the organizations promoting the establishment of protected natural areas can often disregard the interest of indigenous people who have lived on these lands for many generations (Chapin, 2004, p. 18).
For instance, these agencies are not willing to assist indigenous people at the time when they need to struggle against logging, oil, and mining companies (Chapin, 2004, p. 21). Additionally, they do not pay attention to the idea that the exclusion of indigenous people from conservation areas can threaten their economic and social welfare in the long term (Chapin, 2004, p. 27). This example demonstrates that environmental protection can be wrought with injustice.
This is one of the problems that should be considered. Mac Chapin’s criticism has attracted the attention of many environmental agencies that can have conflicting attitudes towards the arguments of this author. For instance, the representatives of conservation organizations may believe that the forests owned by indigenous people can be eventually used for logging. Moreover, they are not willing to consider the idea that indigenous people are able to take proper care of the lands where they have lived for a long time (World Watch Institute, 2005).
Nevertheless, environmental scientists believe that these misgivings are largely unjustified (World Watch Institute, 2005). Moreover, they can simply be biased against indigenous communities (World Watch Institute, 2005). This is one of the details that policy-makers should not disregard.
Land-grabbing and its challenges
Overall, these policies have given rise to such a term as green land grabbing (Allan, 2012). This term is used to describe the acquisition of land that should be used as conservation parks. The main problem is that the residents of such areas are often excluded from the negotiation process. Thus, it is important to develop legal safeguards that can ensure that the economic interests of these people are not neglected.
Admittedly, one should not suppose that environmental organizations always disregard the interests of local communities. Some of them do attempt to empower these communities, especially when they need to resolve disputes with various corporations. Nevertheless, more attention should be paid to forceful evictions since they often give rise to many controversies.
It should be mentioned that environmental injustice has sparked protests throughout the world. For instance, such a movement as Via Campesina strives to support the communities that are dependent on sustainable agriculture. If many of their lands are turned into conservation areas, they can be brought to the brink of poverty. Overall, these communities have often been marginalized by various organizations.
In this case, much attention should be paid to corporations that try to gain control of the land that can be used for different purposes. The main problem is that sometimes environmental agencies can disregard the interests of these communities. Furthermore, it is possible to mention the Zapatista Army of National Liberation. This military group also strives to support rural and indigenous communities. Moreover, it is vehemently opposed to the practices of leading companies.
These examples indicate that many current policies can be questioned from an ethical viewpoint. Sometimes, they can even result in violent protests that can impair the development of the society. Therefore, these problems can have significant social implications.
Conflicting needs of indigenous people
One should keep in mind that many rural communities now have to resolve considerable dilemmas that have been illustrated in the documentary film Milking the Rhino directed and produced by David Simpson (2009). To some degree, they want to attract tourists, and they may use their lands as game reserves (Simpson, 2009).
However, at the same time, they face the dangers of droughts (Simpson, 2009). Moreover, they need get access to lands in order to ensure their food security. The problem is that many families are not able to influence the decisions of policy-makers (Simpson, 2009). This is one of the details that should be considered by various stakeholders such as legislators and businesses.
Discussion
While discussing these issues, one should pay attention to a wide range of questions. First, it is important to consider the need to preserve various plants and species. Moreover, the preservation of forests can be important for reducing the effects of global warming. Additionally, at the same time, one should not overlook the necessity for the public uses of land. Nevertheless, the needs of local communities should be regarded as the topmost priority.
It is critical to remember about significant political and economic inequalities. In many cases, they are not able to protect their interests in the court or mount protests. Moreover, much attention should be paid to the use of eminent domain or forceful appropriation of land. Certainly, in some cases, the government may have to use this method in order to bring improvements into the life of the community.
Nevertheless, this practice should only be the last resort. In many cases, it is important to seek alternatives to this practice. For instance, one can implement regulations regarding the use of lands that are of great environmental value. For instance, logging can be prohibited. This is one of the principles that can be identified.
Conclusion
On the whole, this discussion indicates that is necessary to design more inclusive policies that can include the needs of indigenous and low-income people who can be marginalized by the existing policies. The examples discussed in this paper show that the interests of these communities are often disregarded. Moreover, it is vital to design more inclusive policies that safeguard the economic livelihood of people whose lands can be acquired by the government.
Additionally, the use of forceful evictions and eminent domain should be reduced to the minimum. As a rule, this policy is not very effective and it can adversely affect many people who have fewer resources for protecting interests in the court. These are the main details that can be distinguished.
Reference List
Allan, J. (2012). Handbook of Land and Water Grabs in Africa: Foreign direct investment and food and water security. New York, NY: Routledge.
Chapin, M. (2004). A Challenge to Conservationists. New York, NY: World Watch Institute.
Myers, N., Mittermeier, R., Mittermeier, C., Fonseca, G., & Kent, J. (2000). Biodiversity hotspots for conservation priorities. Nature, 403(111), 853-858.
Simpson, D. (Executive Producer). (2009). Milking the Rhino. [DVD]. Chicago, IL Kartemquin Films.
Uhl, C. (2013). Developing Ecological Consciousness: The End of Separation. New York, NY: Rowman & Littlefield.
World Watch Institute. (2005). From Readers. New York, NY: World Watch Institute.
Nature is probably one of the most valuable gifts given by God that provides people with all the necessary resources for living and enjoying. Unfortunately, with time, people stop appreciating a chance to be a part of an amazing natural world and prefer using the current technological progress that does not make the life more captivating, just easier. The most terrible thing about this natural neglect is that parents do not find it necessary to talk about the importance of the natural world with their children; this is why the child’s relation with nature is under a threat nowadays.
The importance of environmental consciousness is huge indeed, and people have no right to neglect it at any stage of life. Even if many people still prefer the technological world to the natural world, this fact does not provide them with a right to ignore the role of nature, its impact on human lives, and its actual worth. Researchers have come to the conclusion that people, and children at first, are under a threat of a kind of nature-deficit disorder (Louv, 2008).
Children’s understanding of nature has been dramatically changed, and the idea of constructivist environmental education seems to be one of the possible solutions to be made in order to try to change the situation and explain children how it is necessary to treat nature in spite of all temptations available nowadays.
Children’s relationship with nature is an urgent concept that undergoes considerable changes during the last centuries and numerous discussions by such researchers like Turner, Louv, Kahn, and Dean; the importance of environmental consciousness is evident, still, people continue to ignore it and minimize the function of constructivist environmental education as it does not change the way children treat nature due to the existence of such factors like parental influence, technological progress, and the role of surroundings.
Human-nature relationship is a very controversial topic. On the one hand, humans remain to be a part of the natural world and continue interacting with it in a variety of ways. On the other hand, people do not find it necessary to believe that they are lower than nature, they depend on the natural world, and they have to respect it in spite of trying to tame it. It seems that people cannot allow themselves admitting the fact that they do not have enough opportunities and powers to gain control over nature, this is why it is easier for them to neglect it as well as any kind of environmental consciousness starting from childhood.
Turner (1996) mentions that “most of us do not “talk about of normal and abnormal or good or evil; we talk about what we like and dislike” (p. 24). This phrase proves that people do not want to adjust to something, but consider their own feelings and interests in order to choose the most appropriate issues and conditions for living. This is why human-nature relations are usually based on people’s attitude to nature, their awareness of the natural world, and their abilities to learn what to expect from nature and how to take the best from it.
Unfortunately, nature is usually considered as a good means to relax, get refreshed, be healed, etc. A human does not want to think about the necessity to heal nature and show respect for it. As a result, children suffer a lot from grown-ups’ inabilities to create appropriate relations with nature and teach them the basics of the natural world, its impact on human lives, and the abilities to improve the whole world.
In fact, children-nature relationships depend on a variety of factors such as parental inabilities to promote environmental consciousness in time, technological progress and its impact on how children understand and accept the world, and surroundings that define the level of children’s knowledge and skills. Children relations with nature have been changing over time, and each of the above-mentioned factors played a considerable role in these relations. Recent investigations show that “there are strong indicators of an absence of direct experience with the natural world in many children’s everyday lives” (Charles & Louv, 2009, p. 1).
Several decades ago, children got an access to various natural resources: farms, woods, forests, summer camps, etc. Children were eager to learn better this world and become its part. Nowadays, the questionnaires demonstrate that children want to have a personal computer, iPhone, or iPad in order to become the part of the modern world. They do not find it necessary to remember about nature and its gifts. What they really want is to follow the current achievements and be in trend.
And those children, who find it interesting to observe nature and its components, are defined as strange, abnormal, or simply not interesting for a society. So, it is interesting to learn how parents, technologies, and surroundings may define the essence of the relations between children and nature, conclude whether something may be changed and how children’s understanding and values of nature can be structured and developed.
First, the relations between children and nature are predetermined by parents. It is not a secret that parents are one of the main and first sources that introduce new information about the world to their children. They inform how to behave, become the examples of how to treat different things, objects, animals, and people, and say what is allowed and what is forbidden. Louv’s investigations offer a variety of ideas on how parents may introduce nature to their children.
For example, parents may not feel safe when their children try to go deep into the woods (Louv, 2008), and some parents use the world of nature as one of the possible distractions for their children that cannot last forever. Fortunately, there are still many adults, who find it an obligation to explain their children how to treat the environment, how to keep an order with nature, and how to use the sources offered by the natural world (Kahn & Friedman, 1995).
It is clear from the interviews that parents want to explain their children how crucial environmental consciousness can be for children and how interesting the surrounding world can be. Of course, there is no necessity to be obsessed with nature like it was introduced in Hunting a Christmas Tree, when the author compared her desire to have a fir for a holiday to a hunting process and suffered from the necessity to take a tree’s life and the development of such feelings like “sorrow, guilt, anticipation” (Dean, 1992, p. 12).
Relations between children and nature should not be special. They just have to be, and parents should become successful guides to the world of nature for their children. In this case, environmental commitments and sensibilities will be properly formed in childhood.
Second, the role of technologies should be taken into consideration when the idea of children-nature relations is discussed. Many children think it is enough to use their computers and TV to learn the peculiarities of nature. They truly believe that 3D TV-sets make them closer to the world of wild nature and become a considerable part of wildness. Probably, children, who think this way, have not read Turner’s story about wilderness, where he defined the place as wild only “when its order is created according to its own principles of organization” (Turner, 1996, p. 112).
Technologies can hardly make children closer to nature and improve their understanding of the environment. Though children may know a lot about the environmental threats, the ozone holes, and the lack of oxygen in the developed countries, their real contact with nature is minimized due to the possibility to learn all this from the Internet, books, or TV. Children do not want to check their knowledge on practice but use what is available 24/7 (the Internet or other type of media). At the same time, it is wrong to believe that technology destroys the relations between nature and children.
People do it. People cannot understand that technologies may become the best providers of children to the world of nature. Instead, they are fascinated with the technological opportunities got. For example, children admire a picture of a magnificent tree and enjoy its beauty, size, and colors that are perfectly introduced by means of a professional camera. At the same time, they fail to realize that a tree is a natural gift that is more important than the beauty transferred. In other words, a technological device makes nature closer to children, but a person destroys or perverts its true function.
Finally, it becomes clear that children cannot develop appropriate relations with nature because of wrong interpretation of the surroundings. So, surrounding is another important factor that defines the way of how children value nature and develop environmental consciousness. Louv’s research identifies lack of time, dependence on a public opinion, and an access to special environmental programs as the main barriers to the development of good children-nature relations. Louv’s story teaches the reader about the possible functions of nature in regards to children.
The natural world may cause rather controversial emotions: on the one hand, nature may inspire creativity due to the necessity for children to participate in a variety of activities, promote freedom as there are no boundaries, or evoke fantasy that can improve children’s understanding of nature; on the other hand, nature can really frighten children by the necessity to be independent and take responsibility for all actions and decisions made. Several decades ago, children treated nature in a different way as they know nothing about possible fears or freedoms that come from the media.
All they could do was to enjoy the natural world, with its challenges and beauties. Children knew they could use everything available to them. They did not have a chance to face violence that came from the screen or experience a variety of choice that became possible with the Internet. Children just did what they liked, and they like what they knew, and they knew what was offered outside, the natural world. They did not suffer from lack of time as they were provided with days to enjoy nature. They did not consider public opinion as they did not have the Internet to get to know about it.
Children did not grasp the importance of environmental programs as they did not want mix their practical and theoretical knowledge. Nowadays, surrounding does not prevent children-nature relations. It is considered that surrounding facilitates the development of such relations; still, the experience proves that people are not able to use the surroundings accordingly and have all chances to destroy the relations with nature in childhood.
Different authors present their own ideas about how the relations between children and nature can or have to be developed and actually develop. The peculiar feature of this topic is that each idea or suggestion has its point and may be considered as a correct one. Still, there are also many counterarguments as some people are not ready to accept the truth or cannot understand what aspect of the issue is really appropriate. It is interesting to investigate various opinions, compare them, and define which one is more or less adequate.
For example, the ideas of Dean and Turner (1996) may seem to be too radical as they both use the superlative degree introducing their arguments. Dean (1992) describes the process of cutting a tree as a daunting project at the result of which a tree has to lose its life in order to feed the soul of a person. How dramatic and unfair development of human-nature relations! Still, some children may still demonstrate the similar attitude to nature. In Louv’s interviews (2008), there is a fifth-grader girl, who has a special attitude to nature like being in her “mother’s shoes” (p. 13) with an ability to be free and do what she wants and likes to do.
And nobody, even her mother, knows what makes her so happy. It proves that a child’s attitude may not depend on parental impact on child’s education, technological progress, or surroundings. Some children may just want to be closer to nature, and it is their own independent decision. Still, research shows that there are not many children of this type.
In his turn, Turner wants to underline the fact that children are not able to get an access to the true wilderness; this is why they are deprived of an opportunity to understand a real essence of the natural world. Parents are afraid of the consequences of their possible passion to nature as their actions may lead them to support something illegal that can influence human freedoms (Turner, 1996). Parents’ fears predetermine the way of how children may understand nature and develop appropriate relations.
Children are in need of professional support and explanations of how nature can influence their lives, but they cannot find the necessary sources. In the interviews organized by Kahn and Friedman (1995), children demonstrate different attitudes to nature and the environment as some of them have families, who like to talk about the role of the environment and human connection to nature (Arnold’s family), and someone’s families (Eboni’s family) do not find it necessary to focus on the relations with nature as they have more serious problems like food shortage, low incomes, etc.
One of the most powerful ideas about children-nature relations was offered by Louv. His nature-deficit disorder based on children’s inabilities to spend more time outdoors is considered as a crucial reason of the dramatic change within children-nature relations. Parents are usually afraid of their children and try to keep them safe from any kind of danger that comes from nature. Unfortunately, they do not understand that their lack of knowledge about nature influences their children’s abilities to learn more about the same subject.
At their turn, children should know about plants, animals, and other significant elements of the natural world in order not to be surprised or stay unaware for a long period of time. Children have to get a certain portion of knowledge from time to time and become a considerable part of a society. Parents have to follow how their children learn something new, what they learn, and how they are going to use their knowledge. If parents are not able to complete their functions, other adults (teachers, kindergarten workers, grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc.) may replace them for some period of time.
Taking into account the ideas offered by different researchers during the last several decades, children have to get an access to constructivist environmental education that presupposes a priority of such processes like “assimilation, accommodation, and disequilibration… the active mental life of children and the ways in which children construct increasingly more adequate ways of understanding and acting upon their world” (Kahn, 1999, p. 213). To improve children-nature relationships, parents should think about the possibility to combine practical and theoretical aspects of their environmental consciousness.
It is not enough for children to know about nature and its possible effects on human life. Children should want to cooperate with the natural world and experience its challenges, opportunities, and lessons. Unfortunately, parents do not usually know how to offer appropriate constructivist ideas and try to use technological assistance or surroundings, which have been defined as the disturbing factors and barriers in children-nature relations earlier in the paper. It may happen that children want to know more about nature and their possible relations, still, they do not have opportunities.
Some children want to have nothing in common with nature as their interests and preferences are connected with technologies or other aspects of a human life. Finally, there are the children, who do not know what they want, and they need some portion of help and suggestions. In this situation, parents cannot neglect their roles and think about the most interesting ways of how to introduce the world of nature to their children and take the most important elements of children-nature relations.
In my opinion, people try to pay too much attention to the issues like children-nature relations. Parents want to get their children involved in the world of nature, researchers want to prove the necessity of environmental consciousness among children, and some environmentalists try to impose their opinions about the role of nature and the natural effects on a human life. Unfortunately, there are many other problems and problematic relations in our everyday life.
There are the people, who cannot develop appropriate relations with each other, the events that cannot be understood by the representatives of different cultures, and the thoughts that cannot be accepted by different people in the same way. People get involved in wars, suffer from hunger, cannot find well-paid jobs, lose their homes, etc. It seems to be unfair to focus children’s attention on the necessity to develop relations with nature and neglect the development of relations with people around. Nature has a number of positive functions like healing a human soul, refreshing, relaxing, and inspiring.
Still, people spend much time and money on these relations. Environmental education does require certain attention but does not have to be imposed. Of course, it is wrong to neglect environmental consciousness at different stages of life.
Children may want to play outdoors and take as much as possible from nature. However, it is impossible to earn good money from human-nature relations, feed a child using the world of nature only, buy new clothes made of leaves or plants, or ask a tree for help. Such environmentalists like Turner or Dean have not probably faced such problems like poverty or hunger, when children could not think about anything but food or good sleep.
They define the process of cutting a tree as something terrible and not appropriate or children’s inability to enjoy the wildness as something unacceptable. There are the children, who have to leave outside and use nature as the source of living. It is hard to imagine how beneficial children-nature relations can be. This is why I think that children-nature relations may become a crucial point for consideration only in case other global problems and challenges are overcome and forgotten.
In general, each person has a right to build his/her own point of view about children-nature relationship. People investigate the chosen sphere of relations, define their role in a society, and explain why they consider this topic as one of the most important for consideration. Though my opinion contradicts a variety of ideas offered by such great researchers like Turner, Dean, Khan, Friedman, and Louv, our contradictions may be explained by several facts.
First, many investigations have been conducted in 1990s. Maybe, during that period of time, people did not have a possibility to analyze the problems based on poverty and learn its peculiarities the way I can do it today. Second, the environmental problems seemed to be crucial several decades ago as people were involved in the technological progress and could not resist an opportunity to neglect the environment in order to learn another technological achievement. Finally, it is necessary to admit that my counterargument does not support the idea of complete neglect of environmental consciousness.
I truly believe that children should develop and support their connection with the natural world; still, this type of relations should not be as passionate and enthusiastic as Dean or Turner tries to introduce it. It is necessary to create some limitations by means of which children may want to know about nature and its role in a human life. Of course, it helps to improve everyday routine and distract children for some period of time.
It may teach children to be humane and respectful of everything that surrounds them. Still, human-nature relations should not be prioritized all the time. People face a number of problems developing interpersonal relations; this is why they may not just be ready to the relations that have to be developed between them and nature.
Reference List
Charles, C. & Louv, R. (2009). Children’s nature deficit: What we know – and don’t know. Children & Nature Network. Web.
Dean, B. (1992). Hunting a Christmas tree. Orion, 11(1), 9-15.
Kahn, P. H. (1999). The human relationship with nature: Development and culture. London, England: The MIT Press.
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The media approach dominates the media approach over the human-centered approach. If according to the first approach, people perceive the information they receive selectively, selecting only that part of the information that coincides with their opinion and rejecting information that does not conform to their perceptions, then according to the media-oriented approach the media affect people like a drug, which is impossible to obey because a psychophysical dependence has formed.
The resulting mosaic view of social reality created in the audience causes inadequate understanding and interpretation of new information entering the consciousness and consequently inadequate behavior in social reality and inadequate attitude to social reality. Accordingly, if in the first approach the adaptation of the media to the needs and requirements of the consumer is carried out, in the second – a person under the influence of the media introjectively assimilates information, which begins to be subsequently guided (Kumah-Abiwu, 2020). At the same time it is necessary to recognize the following fact – many mass media claiming to act in the interests of their readers and thus implementing the values of human-oriented approach, impose wittingly unattainable role models, which generate only irritation, aggression, protest intentions and sentiments in the society.
The problem lies not only in the exaltation of highly morally and socially questionable individuals as role models, but also in the wittingly unattainable. It is fraught with mass frustration and creates, especially among members of the young generation, a dissonant attitude that intensifies the feeling of social frustration and determines the search for a way out of this situation of preexisting social injustice by committing illegal acts that are not officially permitted by the law. Intense expansion into society of the criminal culture of non-white people, the normative system of the criminal world rebroadcast by some media is actively absorbed by certain members of society, experiencing a deficit of social values (value anomie) due to the initial low level of development of moral consciousness and a disdainful attitude towards the law.
Reference
Kumah-Abiwu, F. (2020). Media gatekeeping and portrayal of Black men in America. The Journal of Men’s Studies, 28 (1), 64-81.
The human mind and consciousness present many challenges to researchers, and numerous studies allow them to discover different phenomena, especially in the field of self-awareness. The documentary “Human Consciousness” (2014) from BBC provides viewers with an insight into different experiments which scientists conduct to explore the aspects of the functioning of the human mind. The most notable experiment in the documentary was the mirror self-recognition test, and current research shows that it is highly influenced by sociocultural factors.
Despite the fact that the mirror self-recognition test is fairly simple and does not require many resources, it enables researchers to understand the capacity of people to recognize themselves. Essentially, the aim of the mirror self-recognition test is to measure the ability of a child to be aware of themselves. The experiment takes place in accordance with three main stages, which should be strictly followed. The first stage involves letting the child approach a large mirror and spend several minutes looking at their reflection. The next move involves the parent of the child placing a small mark on the child’s cheek close to the mouth where it can be visible. The third stage implies once again placing the child in front of the mirror and allowing them to see the reflection. The child passes the test if they touch the mark, which proves that they are self-aware and can link the image of the mark visible in the reflection to the actual one on their body. The film experiment showed that children start to demonstrate the signs of self-recognition only starting at the age of 18 months.
At the same time, as the current research suggests, sociocultural factors also play a major role in the ability of the child to pass the mirror self-recognition test. The study conducted by Cebioğlu & Broesch (2021) explored the cross-cultural aspect involved in the test. The purpose of the study was to establish whether children who were raised in different social and cultural had different passing rates for the mirror self-recognition test. Additionally, the research aimed at discovering whether confounding factors such as motivation had any effect on the ability of the child to pass the test. Specifically, the researchers recruited 57 infants ranging in their age from 18 to 22 months. The infants belonged to two different sociocultural environments, namely, rural Vanuatu, a small archipelago in the South Pacific, and urban Canada. In order to conduct the experiment, the researchers employed a classic form of the test and placed a mark on the face of each participant and then let them look in the mirror.
The results of the study were significant and clearly demonstrated that social and cultural factors had a considerable role in the ability of children to pass the test. Specifically, the experiment showed that 68% of the children from the Canadian urban environment passed the test. In the case of the Vanuatu children, only a total of 7% of children participating in the experiment passed the test. Essentially, the results enabled the researchers to understand that the sociocultural environment was predictive of the child’s capacity to demonstrate self-awareness. Moreover, the research also discovered that factors such as the motivation of children to show the mark did not affect the experiment. In other words, self-development was the only factor that affected the ability of the child to pass the test successfully.
The mirror self-recognition test demonstrated in the “Human Consciousness” documentary enables researchers to gain insight into human self-awareness. Experiments demonstrate that children younger than 18 months old tend to fail to pass the test. At the same time, the results of the research conducted by Cebioğlu & Broesch indicate that sociocultural factors also have great significance when analyzing children’s ability to recognize themselves.
References
Cebioğlu, S., & Broesch, T. (2021). Explaining cross-cultural variation in mirror self-recognition: New insights into the ontogeny of objective self-awareness. Developmental Psychology, 57(5), 625–638. Web.
Human consciousness BBC documentary mind science. (2014). Dailymotion. Web.