John Locke's Theory

John Locke’s theory is that a child is a blank slate that is only formed through experiences. This is an underlying theme throughout society overall. When analyzing today's youth through the perspective of John Locke’s theory, we can begin to understand why education is important. It lays the groundwork for whom the child is going to grow up to be. Their long lasting social development and behavior starts at a young age based on their environment, both at home and at school. Locke’s theory can be applied to Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein and to the Columbine school shooting.
An example of Locke’s theory is the monster in Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein . The monster displays frustration and anger after his creator abandoned him. This theme
John Locke claims that children are a blank slate that are formed only through experiences. John Locke says
“Since the child's mind was so malleable, a parent could mold him with careful diligence.”
(Shelley 97) It is hard to meet this standard in relationship to the novel. However, we can relate the idea of a parent to those who taught the monster. One can consider the French Family to be like a parent to the monster, molding and shaping his character through the experiences they share and
Pew Research Center poll found “85% of Americans thought it was the job of parent to stop school violence” (Citation). This statistic shows that most people believe that parents need to take care of their children and are responsible at least to some degree, for their behavior. After the 1999 Columbine shootings, there was much attention drawn to the parents of Eric Harris and
Dylan Klebold. Many questions were asked about the shooters, if and how their home life may have had an impact on their choices that fateful day. Their parents seemed to be oblivious to what was happening in their sons’ lives. The parent’s confused their children’s behavior with normal teenage angst. This confusion may have contributed to the problem, and the question remains, are the parents at fault? This cannot be answered easily, but I believe that they did play a factor in the devastation. Even Susan Klebold, Dylan Klebold’s mom writes in her autobiography, A Mother’s Reckoning, of being wracked with guilt. She considered killing herself, spontaneously cried, and refused to say her name in public. This guilt she talks about
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