As I approach the final stretch of my first year of Open University study, and I have signed up for my second year (Exploring Psychology), I have been thinking about where I want to go from there. During the second year I need to decide on which direction I want to go: straight Psychology, or with Criminology, or Sociology? I dabbled with the idea of Philosophy but quickly dropped that after reading a 'quick guide' to the subject - it's all just too deep for me!
Recently I have been thinking, somewhat ironically as it would seem to those who know me, that I want to work with children... not in the normal 'working with children' way but in a way that might help those with difficult backgrounds and help prevent them turning to crime. My criminology course last year was fascinating, and I read a lot about criminial children and youth; the recent newspaper articles about the two boys who tortured two others made me angry with their parents and I wanted to help those two boys, not 'lock them up and throw away the key'.
As I said to himself this morning, studying criminology and then working with adults seems to be rather like 'shutting the door after the horse has bolted' - surely better to work on the future generations?
Makes sense. Must be harrowing though. I think Sophie's friend Sarah says that a child's character/temperament/way of dealing with stuff is fixed before 3 years old. I find that too hopeless but would be fascinated to know what the theories are.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds rather defeatist...
ReplyDeleteMore to do with the huge importance of early years I think. And how little attention is paid to them.
ReplyDelete