One of the biggest statements Hoye makes is that it is easy for the kids to relate and each culture a “has its own personality.” This is something that I lacked in my development and something most Americans lacks. The culturally diverse nation has many of its youth growing up in single culture neighborhoods and schools. The challenge to many youth is to go beyond the everyday norms of her/her own culture and broaden his/her horizons. The multicultural environment is a way to focus on each child’s individual personality, each culture’s own personality, and each family’s own personality. Maureen Sonim states, “An important aspect of personality is derived largely from the value that culture assigns to that role.” (16) This makes it evident that a child’s personality may be influenced by their role in the culture. Depending on the child’s values among friends and peers, within the culture, a child’s confidence and self-worth could be enhanced or deprived. However, in a multicultural setting any child represents a selected few from his/her own culture. Instead of falling a victim to the “numbers” or “crowd,” they become unique and the voice of their own culture.

Throughout most of my childhood I never had an opportunity to interact with many kids of a different race. I was comfortable and only understood the black culture. Inside the black culture is great, however my ability to articulate, work with, and find a common bond with another culture was definitely a question. My weakness was my understanding and confidence in relating to other cultures. This made life at Rice University interesting, frustrating and challenging. I feel that this lack of preparation with different cultures is also a lack of reality. Reality is similar to Awty International. It is full of diverse cultures working together with the benefits of individual differences. As John Hoye stated, the kids were more aware and overall use to interaction between diverse cultures. I was never at ease with my interaction until college, and because of this I learned the most about each culture only when I came to Rice University.

Q: How are the differences accepted? Are they easy to relate to or is individuality stimulated?

A: One thing that is difficult is language; things get lost in translation. Also awareness of culture must be present. Some can’t dress out because it is against their religion.”

This brings me to a very important issue, which is the nurture of a developing child versus the environment of that child. It is automatically assumed that the environment in which one grows up in is the same influence that nurtures one’s growth. (Harris 2) “The use of nurture as a synonym for environment is based on the assumption that what influences children’s development, apart from their genes, is the way their parents bring them up.” This is an interesting argument because Judith Harris is intent on calling this definition of nurture as an assumption. Before going into an in-depth analysis of why Harris feels that this is an assumption, I think it is key to point out the most noticeable absences in the assumption. If there were anything that should be added to the nurture assumption, it would be the influence of peers that children have and the generation of friends that help, shape, and evolve a child’s development. Harris feels that this assumption lacks the inclusion of “what kind of mind the child is equipped with, which requires a consideration of the evolutionary history of our species.” This is a nice addition to my inclusion of peers, generation, and the influence of friends in their environment. It is very essential to understanding of nurture in a child’s development. I feel that in today’s society the assumption that the presence and direct influence of parents is there is a “bad way to go.” The increased number of single parent homes and the decreased influence

Some topics in this essay:
Judith Harris, Nurture Assumption, Roopharine Johnson, Maureen Sonim, Culture Ethnicity, Iraq Germany, Louis Smith, Rice University, Nature Nurture, Parent Education, child’s development, single parent, individual differences, today’s society, role parent, nurture assumption, single parent homes, cultural diversity, parent homes, own culture, own personality, today’s society role, society role parent, harris feels assumption, role child’s development,