Product(s) of the Environment

Nature vs nurture....issue has been there since the 13th century France. I read the synopsis of the Romance of Silence by Heldris of Cornwall. Interesting! Personally I've been always more inclined to think that nurture plays a more important role in shaping us into the person(s) we are.

A while back I realised that there was this group of girls whom I taught over a period of years....in different classes. For easy comparison, I shall take 4 of them who were in the same class in Form 3....it was the best class.

PMR came and went. Two opted for Arts and two for Science.

The Science Girls
They were actually not as good as the other girl who opted for Arts. In Form 4, they struggled with their Sciences, especially Add Math and Chem...Physic too. But they were very hardworking. And because their class had a very small number of students, everyone of them got our attention. Some of them had some other 'outside' problems but over time, they managed to overcome them. That was in Form 4. In the meantime, they were willing to be pushed too. By the time they came to Form 5, you could see the improvement in them. They are not your typical outstanding students but they were alright. They started to cope and were putting in a lot of effort on their own. And they helped each other by encouraging each other and actually staying back together to finish their school work.

The Arts Girls Both went to into Arts despite misgivings from the teachers. They ended up in the worst class because of the combination they wanted to take. There were more than 30 of them in that class. I taught them in Form 5, skipped Form 4 (thankfully). Every teacher who taught that class had a story to tell and they are all not nice ones. The class was made up of those who had no interest to study, Mat Rempit wannabes, dropouts who came back, etc... It's a class not conducive for learning. You can go in and try teach, and only a few would listen. If you try to teach too much, then they'll be noisy. The only thing they don't seem to mind is mindless copying... but I supposed in copying they learn something.

So, what of the girls? Came Form 5, when I compared these two girls from Arts with the Science....the latter had progressed so much. They were beginning to develop leadership qualities and their grades and skills were improving. The other 2 girls who went to Arts? Well, where my subject was concerned....both were scrapping by, barely. One even began to look dreamy in class but both were no where near their ex-classmates who had gone to Science. It's not that Science stream is a better stream to be in. Those girls became the products of their environment. Two went into an environment where excellence was expected of them...and they shone. The other two went into an environment which is just the opposite...and they are just plodding along. They are all still good girls...but both sets turned out so differently.

Girls from the same class...almost similar abilities...went into different environments....and a difference it has had on them.