Nature vs Nurture

I think nurture develops intelligence more than nature, so I'd have to agree with the teacher. I've seen children who authorities said would never be able to do this, or that, and then have overcome the very obstacles that was said they couldn't overcome...all because of proper nurturing. On the other side of the coin, I've known people who were very bright, yet weren't nurtured as young, and because of that they never developed into the people with talents that they could be. Nature may, or may not, give us gifts, but unless they're nurtured somewhere along the line, they will never develop fully. If you look at it in a garden analogy for a minute: you have superior plants that you purchased because of their genes and special qualities, you take them home and plant them in the garden...and do not 'nurture them' or tend them, you just let them grow as they may. As the plants mature, they do not thrive and do what they're supposed to do and lack of nurturing them to their potential has let them wither and stagnate. I think people are a lot like that, they need nurturing so that they can reach their potential. Without tending, nurturing, and caring, the potential may be there, but it will never fully develop into what it could be.

A person is born with certain inate abilities and gifts. He is born with abilities to do certain things, and the ability to learn. If these abilities are not nurtured they will not develop and grow. Just like if a child is not exposed to speach at the proper time in life, and encouraged to speak even though the ability to speak is there; the child will not develop proper speach. He must be nurtured to be able to speak properly. The IQ test that you take in grade school tells your ability to learn. Now, as you age you can increase this number by a couple of points, but not by much. The only people that can make a significant change in the numbers, are the ones who did not know how to read well when they took the initial test. So, you have these numbers, now what are you going to do with them? If you have a good teacher, and she challenges your mind, and pushes you to learn you will go far. She is nurturing you! If you just slide along, and do the minimum, you are not being nurtured and you are not putting your numbers to work no matter how high they are. You have not been nurtured by a good teacher. Sad. Shalom~SalaamPeace

I see you've already got some very good responses here. I have, what you might call, 'tallents' that weren't exactly nurtured as I was growing up because they didn't need to be, they were already there, right from the start. I was thinking about this discussion and I thought, what would happen if a child was mis-taught, for instance, what if a child what taught that black was white and vice versa? Would that child then carry on in that belief, or would hey reaslise on their own that that isn't right. I also was thinking about religion, a child may be brought up to believe that the Catholic/Protstant/Muslim etc., type of religion is the only true religion, but why then do they choose to believe something else when they're older? I believe people are all born with at least one natural ability, whether it's the ability to just sit and listen, the ability to know what to say and when or the ability to add up quickly, it's there right from the start. I think that peoples brains are sort of already predisposed to do somthing in particular otherwise we'd all do the same job, have the same amount of children (or no children), and possibly all want to marry the same person. Other things are a result of nurture, for instance I personally, do not have a 'maths brain', but after a couple of years of learning, I managed to get a slightly improved maths brain, so in conclusion, I would say, you can't have one without the other.

I think it is both. If someone has potential but no stimulation, it doesn't mean they are not intelligent. But, also if someone does not have potential then no amount of nurture will give them intelligence. Nurture, I think, merely brings out the potential that is there by nature. So you need both. Intelligence itself probably has more to do with nature because that would be the ability to learn whereas without nurture, intelligence might not be obvious but would still be there.

i think its a combination of both. lets say, a smart child is born to the weakest family you can imagine, and is left to grow up without stimulation, that child would never even reach half of the potential he should. in africa you see a better example. the majority of kids dont get the proper stimulation before 7 years of age. they struggle to learn in primary school. not because they are stupid. but they lack that important part in their lives. they become uneducated parents and multiply, thus continuing the vicious cycle.