« vanity plates | HomePage | Mozart at the Embassy Theater »
01/14/2008
Education vs. Genetics
I used to believe, that personality and character are mostly the result of education. So I educated my daughter with lots of love, good example, plenty of freedom, information and explanation whenever I gave any kind of advice or set any rules, constantly communicating in a friendly, positive way - and totally non-violent/non-aggressive.
I respected my daughter as an intelligent, capable, full-fledged person, and treated her accordingly, from the day she was born. With fabulous results. She is everything I ever hoped for her to be. Independent, responsible, able to take care of herself, honest, strong, just a perfect young woman.
Tom's opinion was about the same as mine, in this respect. So the education he gave his daughter (who is 4 years younger than mine) has been pretty much the same kind, that my daughter received from me. Positive, loving, leading by example and relying on information and advice, not using force or restrictions of freedom.
Today we had to revise our views on this. All the best of education will not work, when you are dealing with poor genetic material. You can probably develop good genes into a superior personality by applying high standards of education. But, sadly, even the best of intentions in your education efforts will not help to shape a good character out of poor genes.
When I came home today, Tom was visibly stressed out over something his daughter had done. More than he had been on previous occasions, when she had done bad things. When I asked him, what had happened, he said *What, do you think, is the very worst she could have done?*
.........................That's exactly what she did.
11:55 Posted in 07, Set-backs, Frustrations and Losses | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this