Learning is one of the most important processes in the lives of human beings. The acquisition of knowledge and understanding of important issues in the society that is necessary for one’s survival can only be attained through learning. There are various issues therefore in the society that affects the learning ability of a person. In line with this, a particular or rather specific environment has been found to affect the overall learning process of a person. This essay will therefore examine how the environment plays a role in learning especially among young children.
In references to Smith (2010), the environment has been found to form a basis on which one is able to gain new experiences that creates a learning opportunity in a person’s life. In this regard, one can argue that young children have different ways of learning, among them learning by the experiences that they go through. For instance, if a child was told that fire is dangerous, he or she may continue playing with it until the day when he or she has been burnt. In connection to this, the environment would have played the role of creating an opportunity for this child to be burnt for him or her to know that fire is dangerous. This means that the environment plays an active role of creating opportunities that would enable children to understand certain phenomenon in their lives, without which they cannot be able to cope well in the society.
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There are different environments that have been found to influence the learning abilities of children in the society. These environments can be divided into two broad categories; environment with educators and those that do not have educators. The environments that have educators have been found to create a chance for children to be able to learn quickly what they are taught. Similarly, there is enough guidance that allows these children to focus on learning things or issues that supports their lives, presently and in future. According to Bastable (2008), the educator is vital in giving support, direction and encouragement during the process of learning (p.95).
On the contrary, an environment without an educator was found to have a negative influence or rather effects on the overall learning process of children (Bastable, 2008, p.95). Therefore, the learning process in this case would be completely slowed down since there is nobody that can lead these children in learning. Following this point, there is no specific point that can be used as a reference point in creating a learning structure that is accountable and consistent in such an environment. For instance, a home without parents would affect the way a child grows and how he or develops cognitive skills. In this case, such a child may be forced to learn from his or her peers who have half-baked truths about important issues in the society.
It was also noted that different cultures and societies across the globe have different ways of learning and attach different meanings to the same issue in the society. In this regard, what is acceptable in one environment may not necessarily be acceptable in another due to cultural and social norm of that particular society or rather community. For instance, children in African cultures or setup have no autonomy over their lives when they begin their learning process. In contrast, the Western cultures encourage children to have their way in the society through airing their opinions (Kelly, 2010).
In consistent with this, the environment in which a child grows determines whether this child will be able to receive correct information or not concerning social, emotional, spiritual and physical issues in the society. Thus, one’s choice of an environment may seriously impact the learning process, both positively and negatively (Weiner et al., 2003, p.421). For instance, when a child grows in an environment in which parents are violent, then such a child will grow up thinking that violence is an acceptable norm in the society. He or she could also end up displaying the same behavior in future in his or her own family since it was learnt when he or she was still young from the parents.
The choice of an environment by children too, especially after joining school would also determine whether this child’s learning will grow positively or negatively. For example, if a child joins a group of children whose parents are smokers, there is also a highly likelihood that this child will be influenced to smoke. In line with this, the environment plays a critical role in the learning process of any child in the society. This is particularly important in the sense that a particular environmental setup could influence the child both positively or negatively in the society (Weiner et al., 2003).
Therefore, as a stated earlier the learning process is one of the most important processes in the development of the lives of human being across the globe especially among children. One of the issues that have been found as either a supporter of learning or as its hindrance is the environment. In consistent with this, the environment cannot in any way be excluded in the overall learning process. On the other hand, an inclusion of the environment in the learning process does not necessarily mean that the learning process would be successful. Therefore, for the learning to succeed in the society a positive environment has to be created and appropriate measures put in place to monitor the information that is learnt and how it is learnt.