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Gabby Bell
Mr. Lincoln
English 12 AP
November 14, 2014

Researchers have been in dispute for many centuries about whether nature or nurture has a stronger influence on early human development
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Nature is inherent traits from birth and Nurture is one's environment
(physical, cultural, social, and familial) and how each plays in one's physical and psychological identity (doc 1)
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In my opinion, I believe that nurture is a more powerful influence in the human experience.
Nurture strongly influences early human development for many reasons. th According to John Locke (17
Century), the mind of a newborn infant is a

“blank slate.” As the baby experiences and interacts with his world through his senses, the knowledge becomes built and is written down on the slate (doc 2).
Locke clearly believes that we are born with a variety of faculties that enable us to receive and process information (the senses, memory, our ability to use language) and to manipulate it once we have it, but what we do not have is innate knowledge or ideas
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In my own real world experiences, my best friend was completely bullied out of his school district. The way his friends nurtured him adequately changed his entire life. The environment around him, his friends harassing him, altered his everyday life and has put off his graduation from high school two years (so far)
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But in his nature, and up till he met those friends, he was a completely normal child. The nature aspect of his life allowed him to grow up in a stable home with a loving family, and allowed his academics to prosper as well. The actual nature of his person, his genes, allowed him to be biologically structured with a high IQ. But considering the nurture aspect again, the environment he grew up in forced him to drop out of high school and attempt to get on track to receive his GED for the second time.
Michael Bamberger illustrates both nature and nurture in his true story,
Wonderland.
The introduction of characters such as Harry Stymiest and Bobby
Speer briefly exhibit both nature and nurture aspects of one’s physical and psychological identity (doc 3)
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Bobby Speer was incredibly skilled at all the sports he participated in even though they were widely varied. He was the captain of the football team, a part of the wrestling team, and the center fielder on the baseball team. Bobby was a solid B student, which helped him get scholarships from many different colleges. The only setback was his brother, Danny, four years younger, who had

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been born with spina bifida, with his spinal cord bulging through his skin.
Bobby is the only person who could actually take care of him, which includes lifting him up, bringing him to the bathroom, changing Danny’s diapers, and cleaning up after him. Karen Speer, Bobby’s mother, would tell him, “You’re gonna go to college and then to the pros, and Danny’s gonna be your agent.”
Bobby would always silently agree with his mother. He knew his dreams, and so did his mother, but he also faced the