(February 1, 2012 at 10:33 am)Freedom Wrote: I am a preschool teacher. I am more than familiar with behavior modification for young children. In my classroom I use Gordon's teacher effectiveness training approach. Basically I help the children talk their problems out with each other. I do not use any incentives or punishment. They learn how to use their words to express their feelings instead of hurting each other.
Last night it finally dawned on me that this is solid proof that there is no such thing as original sin, or sin at all. I stopped believing in sin long ago, but it's finally hitting me that I am dealing with learned behavior, not sin. Children are complex people. Heck, we're all complex! And that's important to remember, that our behavior can't always be simplified to "good" and "bad".
Thoughts?
Few points of disagreement here-
1. While there is no such thing as original sin, the same cannot be said for sin.
2. Because our behavior cannot always be simplified to good or bad, does not mean it can never be simplified to good or bad.
3. I think it is incorrect to base your opinions on sin and morality on the behavior of pre-schoolers. To be capable of sin requires a person to be a moral agent, i.e. act with capacity to understand the nature and consequences of his and her actions. Thus, for a moral agent, it is possible to even change the learned behavior. I don't think the same standards apply to children because they are still learning these things and therefore cannot be said to be moral agents yet.
