After birth, what will play a major role in one’s personality and
development? Nature or nurture?
While many individuals complain that they are not sufficiently clever to
succeed in life, I firmly believe that personality and development are
decided more by environment and education after birth than any given
gene.
To begin with, environment is a determining factor of one's personality.
One may think that personality is already shaped once a baby is born,
but in fact, there are many contributing factors. The baby, for instance,
would most likely be pessimistic if he or she lived in a poor family, where
the baby always received punishment from his parents. His view of life
would be very different from another individual who lived happily in a
perfect nurturing family with encouragement and psychological support
from his parents.
Further, education after birth plays a significant role in one's
development. Education, which helps children develop their thinking
and accumulate their knowledge, is a deciding factor of one's success.
For example, a high-school level person commonly may not succeed to
the extent of a person who has received a university education. This is
not only because of the greater breadth of knowledge acquired, but also
due to a more critical and focused way of thinking that is imparted and
refined during one’s senior education. A wolf child, to offer another
instance, due to a deficiency of education by contact with human beings,
could hardly live in our society or self-develop.
Admittedly, nature, decided by the genes given by one’s parents, also
affects one’s personality and development. One can clearly find
differences among younger kids in their learning ability, which could
prove the importance of genes in this regard. However, when compared
with other factors after birth, the role genes play in one's personality and
development may not be particularly significant. Not all genius will
inevitably be successful, and similarly, not all great men are genius in
their childhood. Therefore, I hold that environment and education after
birth weigh heavier than nature in regard to one's personality and
development.