23.5.12
Is being a team player another way of being forced to conform???
I'm reading my Sociology book, working on an assignment that is due today. Yes, I procrastinated. Anyways, it has brought up a question. It imitates the joke about being taught that your spoon is an airplane, then being told later not to play with your food. Confusing, right? Funny? Definitely. But developmentally, this is a problem. Not the airplane, but team sports. I mean think about it, at a young age our parents shove us into sports or groups to learn how to act. "See how Angie listens to her mommy? You should play with Angie..." But what happens when Angie becomes a slut or drug addict? Then it's "you better not hang out with Angie, she's a bad influence..." Wouldn't it be easier to teach your kids how to be themselves and think critically? I know that developmentally they are unable to think abstractly, but putting rules in place and teaching them to follow those rules regardless of peers seems like it would be more productive......... "If all your friends were going to jump off a cliff, would you?" "Well, if none of the other mom's said that, would you????"
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This is one of my favorite subjects and I don't even know which one I'm referring to. You touched on a lot of things that I have feelings about (that's everything, maybe).
I had a teacher who mentioned the differences between his kids. One was much more inclined to be a critical thinker and the other was more of a follower. He talked about how he deliberately became cynical about certain things around the follower (e.g. about commercials, advertising, etc.) because that person needed to hear it and needed someone to challenge things he would just passively accept. I can remember my own parents getting perturbed at my brothers and I for literally doing NOTHING but make fun of everything on TV - we were too negative, too snarky, too sarcastic - and while we probably were insufferable, I think it was a much healthier attitude than just accepting things. Pessimism in regards to advertising served us well. :)
And yes, critical thinking (different from... being critical, you know?) can get one accused of not being a "team player." Which I don't think is necessarily the highest good. I think it's important to get along with people as much as possible but at the end of the day, you have to look out for yourself and be true to yourself. So...yes.
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