Professional Documents
Culture Documents
problems that they were not able to solve during the preoperational stage and thinking become less egocentric. In each stage Piaget sets a timetable. The preoperational stage, where children are more egocentric are in the preschool years, ages 2 to 7 appro imately. In the concrete operational stage, the elementary school years, a decrease in egocentrism occurs. !ow does egocentrism continue into adulthood" I also raise the #uestion, what about the children whom never grow up" $e all know men and women who have stayed in the %child &rame o& mind' in their thinking, is there an e ception to this rule" (lso, reminding onesel& that in Piagets theory o& egocentric thinking is not thinking about onesel& in a sel&ish way, but basically being able to put yoursel& in their shoes and appreciate another point o& view. The initial scenario that I thought o& was a personal one. )e&ore becoming an educator I worked one-on-one, in-home therapy with autistic children. I had heard and e perienced every horror story known to man about the pain and su&&ering that this one demographic o& children has to e perience in the public education sector. I*Ps, +,-s and modi&ied scheduling with a large gap in additional support services that were not o&&ered because o& &unding or lack o& .care &rom the education administration. *very child I worked with had a parent who had a horrible e perience. I was starting to get the impression that public schools were not the place &or these special children. !ow in the world can any parent even think about sending their children into this type o& setting" ( parent o& a special abilities individual must have been out o& their mind using the schools as a glori&ied babysitter while they worked. (s much as I loved what I was doing working through private companies, I wanted to make a bigger and better di&&erence in these students lives. I& you dont like the system than change it
&or the better. /o this is what Ive been attempting to do. I went back to school to get my education certi&ication and have been working in special education &or the past three years. Trust me when I say that both sides have a point. )ut, what I had e perienced with the parents o& the children I was working with in-home, I also e perience with the parents and children in public schools. I might be cra0y, I literally put mysel& into the middle o& the mess. )ut, now I can see the bigger picture &rom both sides o& the story. )e&ore I witnessed parents blaming the schools, now I witness schools blaming the parents &or not doing more and I have taken the responsibility to educate both that as each side has its &rustrations, i& we dont work together as a team, openly then none o& us are doing any service or bene&it &or the children. This has been an uphill battle, but it is one that I &eel is worth &ighting &or. (ll adults can carry egocentrism into any given situation. I have e perienced that a ma1ority o& egocentrism is &eeling or emotional based, not knowledge based. Think about some o& the ma1or con&licts in your li&e or society, have they been based on &act or opinion" I believe that it is our right as individuals to have passionate opinions and &eelings. !owever, it is not our right to critici0e and ridicule others because they do not &ollow our belie&s or views. Ive noticed with the 2-3th graders that I work with during the school year and the 2--th graders during summer school that egocentrism does not stop with the boundaries that Piaget suggested within the stages. /o what accounts &or the de&iance within the stages" I think that &reewill and &reedom o& speech has greatly in&luenced the amount o& egocentrism that continues to be carried on through adulthood.
( speci&ic e ample that several teachers have commented to me about is race. Individuals &eel that tolerance o& races and genders need to happen. )ut, I think that tolerance is an e cuse &or
ignorance, (cceptance is the only tolerance allowed. 4ranted there are others that do not &eel that way and I understand that. )ut, on my soapbo I will teach my children di&&erently otherwise, how can any o& us e pect change"