[Xmca-l] Re: The ideal head

Sun Aug 10 18:20:10 PDT 2014

I've always understood Vygotsky's crises as being related to a change in
social positioning:

1: Baby starts to walk and talk which radically alters her social
positioning with others (particularly with immediate family/caregivers)
3: Begins pre-school - exposed to new adults and peers, expected to
participate in group activities
6/7: Begins school - new expectations on child to take up position as
'learner'
12: Adolescence - physical changes bring about changes in interests, social
relationships etc

I've got no idea how well-founded this understanding is, but it's the only
way I have been able to make sense of why we criticise Piaget's ages/stages
model and accept Vygotsky's. It also means though that we have to be
flexible about the ages given, i.e. in Australia children start school at
5, so the 6/7 crisis would appear earlier.

My 2 bobs worth
Helen

Dr Helen Grimmett
Lecturer, Student Adviser,
Faculty of Education,
Room G64F, Building 902
Monash University, Berwick campus
Phone: 9904 7171

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On 31 July 2014 05:13, Katherine Wester Neal <wester@uga.edu> wrote:

> I agree that a monumental crisis takes place between the age of 2 and 3. I
> wouldn't call it the "terrible twos," but I think it results from the
> "language explosion" that often occurs at that age. A child learns that all
> these sounds s/he has been hearing can be used meaningfully as a tool for
> exerting control on the world around him/her and faces a crisis in how to
> use them.
>
> I think the crisis around 6 years old comes from the understanding that
> what one does in the world has consequences. That change, as I understand
> it, is the basis for laws that place the age of culpability around 5-6 in
> the U.S. (In many U.S. states, children under this age can't be charged
> with a crime because they don't have the capability to understand that
> they've done something wrong.) Perhaps there are other suggestions? And
> what typifies the crisis at 1? How is it biological?
>
> Katie
>
> Katie Wester-Neal
> University of Georgia
>
> ________________________________________
> From: xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu <xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu>
> on behalf of peter jones <h2cmng@yahoo.co.uk>
> Sent: Wednesday, July 30, 2014 2:20 PM
> To: Culture ActivityeXtended Mind
> Subject: [Xmca-l] Re: The ideal head
>
> The one at 2-2.5 is easy - "terrible twos"? :-)
> Is this just a myth though?
>
> More seriously, there do appear to developmental milestones however:
> Use of and ambivalence in Yes / No?
> Regards,
> Peter (father of three)
> -------------------------------
> Peter Jones
> Lancashire, UK
> Blogging at "Welcome to the QUAD"
> http://hodges-model.blogspot.com/
> h2cm: help 2C more - help 2 listen - help 2 care
> http://twitter.com/h2cm
>
> --------------------------------------------
> On Wed, 30/7/14, Greg Thompson <greg.a.thompson@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>  Subject: [Xmca-l] Re: The ideal head
>  To: "eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity" <xmca-l@mailman.ucsd.edu>
>  Date: Wednesday, 30 July, 2014, 18:30
>
>  Martin,
>  Vygotsky's Problem of Age is a difficult
>  essay. I wonder if you could say a
>  bit more
>  about the crisis at 6 (7,8?) years and the one at 12 years?
>  The
>  others are fairly self explanatory but
>  those two are a bit more
>  complicated. Among
>  other things, it isn't clear what is different about
>  the
>  crisis at 2.5 and the crisis at 6.
>  -greg
>
>
>  On
>  Wed, Jul 30, 2014 at 6:44 AM, Martin John Packer <mpacker@uniandes.edu.co
>  > wrote:
>
>  > Though in other texts he wrote of
>  adolescence as such a time of crisis
>  >
>  that the whole stage should be considered a transition. In
>  the lectures on
>  > child development
>  Vygotsky describes the following crises:
>  >
>  > Birth: the child is
>  differentiated physically
>  > 1 year: the
>  child is differentiated biologically
>  >
>  2.5 years: the child is differentiated psychologically
>  > 6 years: inside & outside of self are
>  differentiated
>  > 12 years: actual &
>  possible selves are differentiated
>  >
>  > Martin
>  >
>  > On Jul 28, 2014, at 6:36 PM, Andy Blunden
>  <ablunden@mira.net>
>  wrote:
>  >
>  > >
>  Francis, most of the crises which Vygotsky mentions in
>  > > http://www.marxists.org/archive/vygotsky/works/1934/problem-age.htm
>  > > are associated with childhood before
>  school. (It is an unfinished work).
>  >
>  > Andy
>  > >
>  ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>  > > *Andy Blunden*
>  >
>  > http://home.pacific.net.au/~andy/
>  > >
>  > >
>  > > FRANCIS J. SULLIVAN wrote:
>  > >> ...
>  >
>  >>
>  > >> In any case, I wonder
>  if Vygotsky considered whether schooling itself
>  > might
>  > >> be
>  responsible, at least partly, for the child's apparent
>  alienation
>  > from
>  >
>  >> schooling at these moments.
>  >
>  >>
>  > >> Francis J. Sullivan,
>  Ph.D.
>  > >>
>  > >
>  >
>  >
>  >
>
>
>  --
>  Gregory A.
>  Thompson, Ph.D.
>  Assistant Professor
>  Department of Anthropology
>  883
>  Spencer W. Kimball Tower
>  Brigham Young
>  University
>  Provo, UT 84602
>  http://byu.academia.edu/GregoryThompson
>
>
>