Blog for a Cure

All the ad revenue generated from this blog and several others will go to the Chordoma Foundation which is a non-profit organization that goes towards research and treatment of this rare bone cancer. Funding is needed because governments tend to pass over such rare diseases when distributing funding. If you would like to learn more, please visit www.chordomafoundation.org

Due to the support for this blog, we have now raised $62ish, all of which will go towards the Chordoma Foundation. Thank you.

original fundraising ideas

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Nature vs. Nurture

In my psychology class, I have been learning about this concept of nature vs. nurture. There seems to be a fundamental debate in psychology regarding whether humans are born to behave a certain way or if it is the environment they are in that causes their behavior. I have thought of a counterexample to the concept that nature defines who we are. As a Chinese person, I find it odd that I am not good at any of the typically Chinese sports such as table tennis, badminton or even gymnastics (it is definitely a sport since it was in the Olympics. By the way, I have never tried gymnastics but I'm assuming I would suck at it). You may say that this is a bad example because you have to learn the sports before you can get good at them. What's the point of evolution if you can't pass on your ultimate sports skills to your child? Just look at Yao Ming. His parents were both basketball players and now he is a good basketball player. Actually, I remember in grade 5 when my gym teacher first introduced us to table tennis. I remember he said something like he has a "natural" knack for the game. Of course, my gym teacher was white and I thought I sucked pretty bad ( maybe Chinese people only inherit terribly high standards for yourself). Although now that I think of it, I guess my body shape is pretty typical of ping pong and badminton players (tall and lanky). You see, Chinese people generally tend to stay away from sports requiring alot of strength and physical contact like American football or ice hockey (maybe it's just the fact that the equipment for these two sports are more expensive than for other sports). Chinese people aren't even very good at tennis because our bodies aren't built to hit that ball that much further.

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