The Environment and The Young Child

 

An Essay: “The Impact of the environment upon a young child”

 

“Education is a natural process...which develops spontaneously in the human being and is not acquired by listening to words but by experiences in the environment.”   

       ~Maria Montessori~

                                                                                                              

When we think of the ‘environment’, we may refer to the immediate surroundings, the ecology or the social and cultural forces affecting a person at any time. It may also be associated with terms like ‘ambiance, milieu or surroundings. When we talk about children, why are we, as humankind, so mindful about the environment they are being raised in ? Why is their home and school setting stressed upon so much? Referring specifically to the area of child development, it is a known fact that a being as young as a fetus responds to the environment. The ‘being’ then makes its own associations which influences and shapes the way it actually ‘becomes’.

 

Enough research establishes the positive effects of the environment on the unborn child. The newborns seem to recognize familiar environmental sounds and melodies(like the mother’s voice or soothing music) from the prenatal environment which they recognize after birth. They can even discriminate between the mother's voice from voices of other females. ⁽¹⁾  Maria Montessori refers to this importance of ‘voice’ by an analogy. Referring to the effect a concert has on the listeners where their heads and hands begin to move in unison as a pyschic response to the music. It is incredible that ^“voices affect him so deeply that our response to music is nothing to it.” ⁽²⁾ On the contrary, there is also research regarding antenatal maternal stress and its long-term effects on child’s neuro-development. If a mother is stressed while pregnant, her child is substantially more likely to have emotional or cognitive problems, including an increased risk of attention deficit/ hyperactivity, anxiety and language delay.⁽³⁾  

So,it is no wonder that the child is indeed led by nature as he grows with a ‘fertile mind.’ He“...has an intelligence of this unconscious type, and that is what brings about his marvelous progress.” ⁽⁴⁾  Maria Montessori stressed on the child possessing a ‘special sensibility’ acquired “in its infantile state” ⁽⁵⁾ especially in the the period of development from birth to three years of age. Just like a sponge, the child’s mind ‘unconsciously absorbs’ the factors of the environment. Later between the age of three and six, begins the ‘conscious absorption’ process of the mind where the child knowingly interacts with his environment. This ‘environment’ is an amalgamation of the material, the teacher’s inputs,the child’s home and the development of the ‘visible’ and ‘invisible’ virtues.

 

With respect to the poem written by Dr. Dorothy Law Nolte titled ‘Children Learn What They Live’, a total of nineteen elements have been mentioned , which have an impact on the young child’s development. I would like to elaborate upon the virtue of ‘fairness and ‘justice’ from the following line:

 

‘If children live with fairness, they learn justice.’

 

As a virtue,justice speaks to me the loudest.Right from my early childhood days, I have memories of my parents, especially my father treating me and my (eight years older) elder brother fairly in all aspects of our daily life- be it in doing everyday household chores, setting expectations, imbibing values or giving opportunities .Coming from India and being raised in a patriarchal society in which rights of the girl child mostly came secondary and the ‘elder one or the first born’ had more ‘privileges’, I never had to worry about any ‘rights issue’.Gradually,I realized that I came to be recognized a ‘fair’ friend- who would always call ‘a spade a spade’ and be called to be the ‘third umpire’ to resolve conflicts amongst friends.

 

 By my teenage years, fairness was strongly instilled in me. I started noticing its presence or absence in societal roles, relationships and social causes. I remember writing to a Sunday magazine named 'Brunch' pointing out the gender stereotypical questions they posed to celebrities in their interview column and how they needed to change that. So, to celebrities who were men, they would ask them about their 'Favorite Car and Sports' and to celebrities who were women , it would be about their 'Favorite Make- up Brand and Perfume' etc. To me, it always felt unjust that men and women were tied to such 'society-dictated' choices and norms. 

 

This sense of justice has permeated through my professional and familial roles too. As an elementary school teacher in India, my students knew that for any argument or fight in the class, Bincy 'Aunty' (as the students called female teachers in my previous school) would help resolve the matter always by first listening to both the sides of the story. Even as a mother now, I often hear myself telling my two little daughters that “Mumma would always give you both equal- equal”.

 

Fairness is one of the most important foundations of morality. In simple words, it is a person’s ability to distinguish between right and wrong. I believe that a sense of fairness makes a person bold and undeterred to speak one's mind, valuing equality or promoting equity. It brings about a sense of justice and balance in the mind, the inter-personal roles and the society at large. The impact of the environment upon a young child fashions the way he /she thinks, acts and reacts to any situation. Its effect in my opinion is so deep that it ripples onto the next generation too.It indeed has the potential to become either a blessing or a curse!