Book Reading #38 - Coming of Age in Samoa

Chapter 13: Our Educational Problems in the Light of Samoan Contrasts

Summary:
In this chapter instead of discussing the lives of children in the Samoan culture, the author discusses some of the differences with our own culture. Many things are discussed in great depth.

One of the things discussed are the difference in sex knowledge. This is linked with the difference in privacy the cultures have. The privacy also has an affect on the way birth and death are viewed to the children.

Samoan children also handle affection differently.They don't lack it compared to our culture but they do not express feelings and affection as much.

Education is also a big difference. Samoan children are constantly doing work with their parents. This helps them know how they will benefit society.

Discussion:
This chapter made me think a lot about what would happen if our society had some of the qualities of the Samoan society and how different it would be. I liked reading about the education portion and how it has compared to my life. It made me remember a conversation I had with my mother my freshman year where I told her what classes I was taking and she replied with "Aren't you a computer engineer?". This made me wonder why I had to take the classes I did and couldn't really think of an excellent reason. I think the comparisons made me picture the culture even better because it was directly compared to the culture we live in currently.