Product of environment or upbringing? (334 hits)

We’ve all heard the term “a product of our environment”. But can you also be a product of how you were raised or could it be both? Let’s start by clarifying what the question is asking.

Environment is the physical realm in which you grew up in, like the ghetto, housing projects, suburban or rural area or a mansion. So, to be a product of your environment, your character is subject to that which you were surrounded by growing up. If we live in the ghetto, we’ll have a ghetto mentality. If we live in the suburbs, we’ll have a suburban mentality.

Upbringing is the values that you were taught and subjected to. It is the way you were trained to behave and the guidance from your guardians. So to be a product of your upbringing, regardless of the environment that you were raised in, the character that you have is a result of the values that you were raised with.

When I think about this, I think about the show Good Times. For those of you who are not familiar with it, the show was about an African American family who lived in housing projects and was very poor to say the least. However, the parents, James and Florida made sure that they instilled in their 3 children, to be the best, live according to the values that they taught and not the ones taught by the streets. So, even though their environment wasn’t the best, their characters didn’t succumb to that, but instead to the upbringing that they received from their parents.

You know the old saying, ‘You can take the person out of the hood, but you can’t take the hood out of the person”. This type of person is a product of their environment, which shaped their thoughts, decisions and actions. They could have all of the money they need, yet their mentality relates back to the hood and a life of crime and impoverishment in which they were raised. Any names come to mind?

Or in the opposite scenario, you can take the person out of the mansion, but you can’t take the mansion out of the person. This person was raised in riches and don’t know the meaning of being broke. Yet, you take away all of their money and put them in the hood, they will come out of it and to return to the environment to which they know. Any names come to mind?

On the flip side of that, you can take a person who was very poor, but were raised by parents and grandparents who taught them to have integrity, to study their lessons, work hard and be the best they could be. This person was also raised in the hood, yet because of the upbringing, their character is one based on values and guidance. Their life is a reflection of how they were trained as a child. This is the story of the show Good Times. Any other names come to mind?

On the flip side of that, you have a person who was raised in a mansion but their parents didn’t train or teach them anything. The parents had no values, so the child wasn’t raised with any. They have no moral values, no moral character, and from the way they behave, you would never know that the environment in which they grew up in was a decent one because their character stinks. Who this person has become is a reflection of their upbringing. And though this person was raised in a decent environment, they could find themselves in all kinds of trouble. Any names come to mind?

And then you have the example, where it could be both, environment and upbringing. A person could have lived in a ghetto environment and the parents raised them to have a ghetto because that’s all they knew. This person’s life reflects both their environment and the way they in which they were trained and guided.

On that same note, a person could have lived in the decent environment and raised by decent parents who guided them the right way, taught them to be a person of moral character and who they’ve become now is a reflection of that.

So what do you think? Are you a product of your environment, your upbringing or both? Posted By:
Tuesday, September 14th 2010 at 3:33PM
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