Question 5.

What would have been the ideal family, peer, and school contexts in which you
could have developed as a child? This question asks you to outline the ways in which your
family, school, and peer contexts were ideal or could have been more ideal. This is not an
opportunity to bash or praise the way you were brought up. Rather, it is a chance to reflect on
what was possible in your life, a true scholarly endeavor. Answering this question offers you an
opportunity to integrate 1) our classroom discussions of the ideal miscrosystems (i.e., family,
peer, school contexts) for promoting child development; 2) the theory and research regarding
these contexts presented in lectures, the textbook and readings; and 3) your own ideas and life
experiences. Introduce your answer by very briefly describing yourself at a particular age from 2
to 11, providing information about personal characteristics at the time which may be relevant to
this discussion and the cultural context in which you grew up (rural Idaho, suburban Utah, or
urban L.A., etc.). Then for each of the three microsystem contexts (family, peers, schools), write
a paragraph outlining the two or three features you believe were ideal or could have been more
ideal given the reality of being a child growing up in the context you grew up in. Each feature of
the ideal context you cite should be fully justified as ideal by reference to research, theory, or
argument. Focus on two or three important ideal features for each context, but for each one
explain why it is ideal. Finally, comment on the ways in which you think you would be different
if you had indeed grown up in the ideal context you describe.