DO

YOU AGREE THAT IT IS N ATURE THAT DETERM INES WHO WE AR E ?

Genes and family may determine the foundation of the house, but time and place determine its form, Jerome Kagan once said. The Merriam Webster Dictionary defines nature as the genetically controlled qualities of an organism . It has long been debated as to whether it is genetic influences or environmental factors which are responsible for the way in which a person develops. To substantiate that environmental factors play a larger art in creating a person than nature, I will examine how our personalities and characteristics depend on the way our parents bring us up, how our peers affect us and the extent of the role that genetics play in our development. A review of studies published in American Psychologist claimed that approximately 55 percent of a child s behaviour is determined by decisions made by that child s parents. This means that the choices that our parents make on our behalf are what make us who we are, including things such as which school to enrol us in, whether or not to send us for violin lessons and when our curfew is. How do these trivial matters determine who we are? Different schools have different teachers of differing qualities, which as we all know, is especially responsible for our development. Many parents face the dilemma of whether to send their children for extra-curricular activities and lessons or not. Most believe that these activities inculcate discipline in children, and rightly so. Discipline is crucial, and personal experience has shown me that discipline picked up in these activities extends to other areas of my life as well, including in schoolwork. The choices that our parents make on our behalf while bringing us up are what make us who we are. This is justified by the extent to which these choices determine our characteristics, including self-discipline. Exclusivity. This is the one thing that most adolescents seek to have over others. Well-explained in the feature film The Social Network, the aim of being part of an exclusive group is what leads many adolescents and teenagers to search for like-minded people and for peer groups to be a part of. The phrase peer pressure is not unheard of in today s modern society. Though there are two sides to this coin, it is the negative side of peer pressure that is predominantly spoken about, due to the presence of certain peer groups whose members meet up to do nothing less than drink, smoke, and engage in other vices. These habits then usually stick with these teenagers throughout their lives, and can alter their personalities. What starts out as a harmless group of friends could eventually lead to the formation of a full-fledged gang. Our peers affect who we become in the

future, as is proven by the various vices that adolescents and teenagers engage in while within a group. On the other hand, we must not forget that genetic factors do have a stake in influencing the development of a person. For instance, we observe that in countries such as Sri Lanka, different education criteria existed for students of different races. A student who was born Tamil would require 20 more marks than a Sinhalese student to pursue a course in Engineering or Medicine. This could result in a loss in career options for Tamil students, which would change their lives drastically. Hence, it could be argued that genetic factors do affect who we are. However, we must keep in mind that discrimination like this occurs only in certain places, and may not necessarily be applicable everywhere in the world. Also, students can be nurtured to excel in any area that they are engaging in. Hence, though genetic factors such as race can determine who we become to a certain extent, we must remember that that is ultimately up to us to decide. Parents decisions, youth gangs, and free will are all excellent examples of how our future is in our own hands. We can hence evidently see that who we are is not determined by nature, rather, it is determined by the nurturing process that we undergo throughout our lives. One should realise that who they become depends on the decisions they make, and not because of genes. (699 words)