course material

1. Child Development and Economics
Child Development and EconomicsAmerica is a nation that is synonymous with success,
dreams come true and ambitions are realized in short time frames. As a result, every person
across the world is desirous of going to America and fulfilling his/her dreams, as well.
Competition to get to the top is tough; sadly, some primitive ideologies, like race, creed,
religion, sex, occupation still inform the minds of some Americans (Callahan, Gene Anderson
& William 2001). They deem individuals from different cultures as undeserving and lesser
human beings. Such Americans look down upon foreigners and see them as not worthy of
success. The situation is aggravated when members of the same community discriminate
against one another. Sending children to culturally diverse schools helps them to appreciate
other cultures. It is sad when children discriminate among themselves, because their minds
are still developing. Sowing a discrimination seed will only bear fruits of hatred and
dispassion.Response 2It is disheartening that children can be segregated by the color of
their eyes. In an institution where majority of the children are from the same race, it is
common to see all children being treated equally, this is the case in institutions where
children are from diverse cultures. The reason might be attributed to their young nature,
and the fact that they were not natured to care about skin color (Kasper Lippert-Rasmussen,
2006). This respondent, despite attending cross cultural schools, never saw a difference in
how individuals were treated. The fact that discrimination has been reduced to the color of
one’ s eyes is appalling, to say the least. Such diminutive and apparently meaningless
features have become catalysts of hatred among children who were best friends.Response
3Communication is integral in every facet of life, no man is an island. When angered or
deprived, happy and excited, it makes sense to communicate these feelings. Similarly, when
it comes to communicating to children, caution and care need to be exercised when it comes
to choice of language and words. Children need to be explained to in a systematic and clear
manner on what is happening and why. This will prepare them for the future and the
uncertainties it brings along. The situation is made difficult when it comes to explaining to
children in war-torn regions; their minds cannot understand what is going on around them
and why there is so much chaos and destruction (Oscar, 2010). As a parent, communicating
to your children is essential for their mental and psychological growth. Children cry and
rant when they do not understand issues, this mainly occurs when they are not
communicated to. However, once their parent or guardian explains to them what is
happening, their emotions are triggered and begin to understand what is going on. As a
result, they cope with the circumstance at hand and they get a grip of their

2. emotions.Response 4At some point everyone dies. Explaining death to children might be a
huge task, but it is important. Children need to understand what death means. In a similar
vein, children know nothing but joy and playing, even when they fight amongst themselves,
the situation is temporary and in no time, they are soon playing again. Unfortunately, this
does not resonate with adults; such fights lead to war and violence. Therefore, it is
imperative that, as a mother, or parent, you ensure that your child understands these
concepts by letting them know some things are beyond human control might to soothe the
situation. Parents should allow their children to ask as many questions as their young minds
desire. By so doing, a burden is lifted off the child’ s mind (Rubin & Hewstone, 2004).
Technology has exposed children to violence and death through video games. Hence, such
issues must be explained to a child in a different form to ensure that lines of communication
are open to breeds confidence in the child. In case, a child is affected by war, he/she has
many issues which when once explained, can bring peace and comfort to their
minds.Response 5Denying a child stability, culminates into disastrous results. When a child
sees her/his parents divorcing while young, then getting shipped off to boarding school at a
young age, forcefully learning how to do house chores, they will not develop normally. Some
children will not feel loved and think that they are overworked. In addition, exposing a child
to too many rules, and punishing them senselessly for their breach, damages them mentally.
Chances are that the child will impart the same mannerisms vide similar methodologies to
her children, as well. Such children are always gloomy and blame the world and everyone
for woos they have undergone. Taking time with children is important, catching up with
their school work and personal life helps a child realize the important things in life
(Christiane, n.d). Inasmuch as school is important and performance therein is essential,
overdoing it as parents will make the child rebel and feel as if it is a punishment to go to
school, and not an obligation. It is significant for parents to have time for their children,
regardless of how tired they might be.Response 6This respondent has had a solid family
background. Despite being home schooled most of his childhood owing to the military
status of his family and cutting off all of the developmental assets dealing with school and
school support, he turned out okay. When parents do their best to ensure that their child is
happy and contented (Hyde, 2005). There are high chances of that child taking to heart
everything they are told. Even when they are going through difficult moments in their lives,
their parents will help them get through the situation. They appreciate that family support,
positive family communication, safety, boundaries (family and school), adult role models,
high expectations, youth programs, homework, responsibility, interpersonal and cultural
competence are the best ingredients in prospering as an individual in society (Trevethan, et
al., 2004). A child’ s esteem is high if his/her parents are constantly supportive and caring.
Even when temporal truancy kicks in, they will understand that certain actions are not
warranted.Response 7Nominal GDPs do not take into consideration inflations and
deflations. For example, if the inflation rate is 10% and the GDP increased by a similar
margin, some people would say that the GDP has increased by 10% and that it is an
indication of economic growth. However, people did not realize that the inflation is the
reason why the GDP has risen; this is a limitation of GDP (Rittenber & Tregarthen, 2009).
Another limitation termed as ‘ real’ GDP, factors inflation and deflation from the GDP and

3. tries to quantify the ‘ true’ measure of the GDP of an economy.Secondly, GDP does not
measure negative contributors or externalities. For instance, the CO2 emission that emanate
from economic activity is not factored in the calculation of GDP. This limitation is highly
criticized by economists. Thirdly, GDPs often rely on the activity of the US dollar (USD),
which is informed by its rise or fall. GDP is calculated in USD; as a result, countries that do
not use USD as their currency will always be guided by foreign exchange rates (Rittenber &
Tregarthen, 2009). For example, Japan’ s GDP rose owing to their strong Yen, hence change
in their currency alters the GDP. This is not a problem for the United States as they rely in
the USD.Lastly, GDPs do not take into account the illegal economic transactions. For
example, if a drug dealer sells drugs worth USD1 million to another country, it is not
included in the GDP. Some individuals would argue that such economic activities comprise a
small proportion of GDP. However, according to Rittenber & Tregarthen (2009), America
has 10-20% of illegal markets.Response 8GDP is a measure of all the goods services
produced domestically. Hence, to find the GDP of a country, one needs to add the
multifarious components of the economy that are used as a measure of goods and services
produced. A huge limitation of using GDP is that there are many products and services that
are unaccounted for in a country within a year. This is because sellers normally make
exorbitant profits than they normally would from selling used products and services when
consumers buy more in a year (Calculating GDP, 2012). It is possible to measure the
economic activity, but it is difficult to ascertain who is actually purchasing the products, or
where certain bought products end up.Response 9The limitations of GDP can be divided
into two; conceptual problems and measurement problems. The revision process and the
service sector of the measurement problems of the GDP are a cause of concern. Since
measuring GDP is done on a quarterly basis, there is a concern for revision. With
calculations every quarter, the officials at the Department of Commerce depend on statistics
generated from a few organizations and households. This would occasion conflict in
determining issues after the third quarter. Factual GDP would be recorded for the first time
by the Department of Commerce after five years to help in determining if there was a
recession in the future (Rittenber & Tregarthen, 2009). The service sector in the
Department of Commerce has been facing difficulties in monitoring labor as unemployment
trends are hard to predict. Similarly, it does not take into account home based businesses
that use the barter system.ReferencesCalculating GDP. Available at
http://www.mindtools.net/globcourse/formula.shtmlCallahan, Gene Anderson, William
(2001). “ The Roots of Racial Profiling” . Reason Online (Reason Foundation).Christiane
Schwieren, Mechanisms Underlying Nationality-Based Discrimination in Teams. A Quasi-
Experiment Testing Predictions From Social Psychology and Microeconomics, Maastricht
University.Hyde, J. S. (2005) “ The Gender Similarities Hypothesis” , American Psychologist,
60(6): 581– 592.Kasper Lippert-Rasmussen, (2006) “ Private Discrimination: A Prioritarian,
Desert Accommodating Account” , San Diego Law Review, 43, 817-856.Oscar H., (2010)
.“ Discrimination in Terms of Moral Exclusion” , Theoria: Swedish Journal of Philosophy, 76,
346-364.Rittenber, L., &Tregarthen, T. (2009). “ Principles of Macroeconomics,”
V1.0.Rubin, M., & Hewstone, M. (2004). Social identity, system justification, and social
dominance: Commentary on Reicher, Jost et al., and Sidanius et al., Political Psychology, 25,

4. 823-844.Trevethan, Shelley, Rastin &Christopher J. (2004). “ A Profile of Visible Minority
Offenders in the Federal Canadian Correctional System” . Research Branch, Correctional
Service of Canada.