Development, it turns out, occurs through this process of progressively more complex exchange between a child and somebody else- especially somebody who’s crazy about that child
Urie BronfenbrennerThus if we know a child has had sufficient opportunity to observe and acquire a behavioural sequence, and we know he is physically capable of performng the act but does not do so, tehn it is reasonable to assume that it is motivation which is lacking
Urie BronfenbrennerParticular attention should be given to the opportunities which the environment presents or precludes for involvement of children with persons both older and younger than themselves.
Urie BronfenbrennerIf the children and youth of a nation are afforded opportunity to develop their capacities to the fullest, if they are given the knowledge to understand the world and the wisdom to change it, then the prospects for the future are bright. In contrast, a society which neglects its children, however well it may function in other respects, risks eventual disorganization and demise.
Urie BronfenbrennerWitness the American ideal: the Self-Made Man. But there is no such person. If we can stand on our own two feet, it is because others have raised us up. If, as adults, we can lay claim to competence and compassion, it only means that other human beings have been willing and enabled to commit their competence and compassion to us--through infancy, childhood, and adolescence, right up to this very moment.
Urie Bronfenbrenner