Post 9

In Batcher's book the main focus was to" prepare the child for the next level of education" (53), but shouldn't the purpose be to prepare the student for their future beyond just one grade, regardless of age? School should prepare children for the rest of their life, since so much depends on an education now days.

Children must learn how to navigate the classroom culture of which emotion and action is thoroughly related to, "to meet the demands of class life" (86, 92). Self actualization through class room success is a guiding factor in most of the student's intentions and actions, and also helps them cope. Batcher personifies this through her examples of the students she studied: "Bell believes that, in school, students get their good feelings, which he equates with their success feelings, by accomplishing successful schoolwork, and indeed children do report feeling good about doing well..." (92).

"School places many demands in children, and teachers may never stop to consider the impact these demands have on the way children feel about themselves and their lives" (156). More than just demands, but interactions between student and teacher can greatly impact the student's perception of themselves as well. Many of the students Batcher talked to clearly noticed that Bell favored some students over others, generally those who did their work and did it well, sometimes regardless of their behavior. When asked about how they felt, many reported feeling "bad" when yelled at, hinting at this favoritism, but what is the future effects of this sort of interaction? Is it possible the student may do worse in the class, or the following years because of how they feel about themselves? "Prominent early and contemporary developmental theories suggest that children' sense of self-worth emerges from an internalization of the beliefs and emotions of significant others" (Bosacki). If a child believes or interprets that a teacher dislikes them or believes they will not succeed, it is likely that they may believe this too, or live up to this expectation.

In addition, "...how children think and feel about, and make sense of social situations and themselves, may influence how they interact with others...children's social experiences and sense of self emerge from, and are influenced throughout life by cultural frameworks or schemas" ( Bosacki 22). Communication is a part of the self, just as emotions are.