CayLea Alvarez

Ways of Knowing
Dr. Erin Flynn
The similarities and differences between Ericksons theory of development and the
Navajos theory of development suggest that the nature of human development is not set in stone.
Human development is adaptable. It can be extremely different from one culture to another. It
can change based on peoples needs, abilities, beliefs, etc. What one culture finds very important
in human development could be insignificant to another culture. The nature of human
development is so malleable and can be changed very easily.
In Orienting Concepts, Rogoff argues that There is not likely to be One Best Way
(Rogoff, page 12). Rogoff states that understanding different practices doesnt mean we have to
decide which one is the right practice. He also argues that in order to learn from other
communities we have to put our assumptions and what we already know aside. This doesnt
necessarily mean that we have to give up what we practice and believe in. we just have to go in
accepting and with and open mind.
For example, in Co-Sleeping Here and There: The American Middle Class and Beyond it
discusses the topic of who sleeps with whom in white middle-class families in the United States.
It talks about the concerns people have about children sleeping in the same bed or room as their
parent(s). In an advice column to someone named Abby, people that go by the names
Wondering and Really Worried ask for her advice on older kids sleeping in the same bed as
their parents. In one response Abby states that you really do need professional guidance (CoSleeping, page 3) and in another she suggests that they call child services. For some white
middle-class families, it is a very taboo thing to have their child sleep in the same bed or room as
them.
However, in other cultures, even in the United States, its completely normal to have two
children a bed or room with sibling and even parents. In Japanese culture parents feel that one of

CayLea Alvarez
Ways of Knowing
Dr. Erin Flynn
them should sleep with their child and about half of eleven to fifteen-year-old Japanese children
still sleep with one or both of their parents (Co-Sleeping, page 3).
According to Levine, there are three main universal goals that parents have for their
children. The three goals are the physical survival and health of the child, behavioral capacity
for economic self-maintenance, and the capacities for maximizing other cultural values
(Levine, pg. 230). In order for parents from diverse cultural backgrounds to meet these goals
they need obedience. If the children are listening to the parents and the parents are giving these
rules to their children in order for them to fulfill the three main universal goals, then the
children will meet the goals much easier.