Week 8 Harris: Wrap it up

After reading through this whole book, we have been given many different insights and ideas from different people.  It’s safe to say that no one theory can explain every aspect of development from all angles and we need to share and connect others to find a better understanding (pg. 300). It’s nice to know that the growth potential for the field of lifespan development include different interests, such as political, social and economic parts. This shows that they are getting information from different areas to get a better understanding of development and how it happens.  The increase in technological development can lead to more programs and resources to develop to help expand broader scopes of development (pg. 303). But how could this cause problems?

            The expansion of lifespan development has shown some negative effects in schools. It gives these expectations for children for what is developmentally appropriate for the classroom. This relates to standardized testing and how much those results affect teachers teaching styles and subjects (pg. 303). I know when I was in high school and we were getting ready to take the ACT it was more about learning how to “beat the test” versus actually learning. I even know someone who turned away from education as their major because of the way that teaching was going. I hope that even with the standardized testing, we still get a chance to teach some things we feel is important and that everything isn’t so structured.

            Being a teacher, its important to have knowledge about typical development at different ages, but other professions also need to possess this knowledge to be successful as well. Businesses and other companies will need to understand lifespan development to provide an environment that that reflects care and consideration for the families (pg. 305). Also, understanding development from a technology standpoint, it can help with social networking and social interactions. There are also many ways that having a degree in lifespan development or psychology can lead you to many different career paths. Most jobs require a masters or doctorate degree. It shows that going that far, you really are in the field to help people. Being satisfied with your job, less stressed, and increased quality of life seems to increase with a job that you enjoy (pg. 306). Being in this kind of job, you are held to different levels of accountability to oneself and the public. This happens because the funding is from public confidence (pg. 308). If the public sees certain programs as helpful and important, then they will help fund, but getting enough people to agree can be challenging. Overall, when you choose a helping profession, you have a lot of people counting on you. It can be challenging, but definitely worth the reward in the end.