One of the great debates that plays an important role in our history is the influence of society on children, two great authors of this debate were Jean-Jacques Rousseau on the one hand and Thomas Hobbes on the contrary, his reflections focused on good and evil. of humanity, two themes that, as we will see later, were related to the so-called “wild children”.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1896) argued that man is good by nature and that society corrupts him. Hobbes (1588/2010) coined the famous phrase “man is the wolf of man”, which means that man is evil by nature and that it is precisely the mechanisms of social control that prevent this evil from destroying us.
- But how do you know who was right?Although it is impossible to separate a child from society to prove it for moral and ethical reasons.
- There are children who.
- By different circumstances.
- Have been raised isolated from society.
- These cases have been called “wild children.
- “.
“I don’t like myself, ” said someone to explain his preference for society. “Society’s stomach is stronger than mine, can you handle me?-Friedrich Nietzsche-
Wild children are people who for part of their childhood have lived outside of society, this includes both children who have been confined and children who have been abandoned in the wild, although there are few cases and even if in some cases the veracity of isolation questioned or if they are just incredible myths, there are more than twenty cases that , with more or less rigour, have been documented and studied.
Perhaps the most famous case of a wild child is that of Victor de Aveyron. Victor (Itard, 2012) was captured when he was about eleven years old. After a week he escaped and, after spending the winter, was again captured while hiding in an abandoned house. He was admitted to the hospital, where his case began to be investigated.
One of the most accepted theories about Victor’s case is that he suffered from an autism spectrum disorder, due to the strange behavior he exhibited, his family abandoned him, in addition, Victor’s various scars were not due to wildlife. physical abuse before they were found in the woods.
According to one of the doctors who dealt with his case (Itard, 1801), Victor was an unpleasantly dirty child with spasmodic movements and even seizures, swinging like a zoo animal and biting and scratching everyone who approached. no affection for the people who cared for him and, ultimately, was he indifferent to everything and paid no attention to anything?Although his physical appearance improved, as did his sociability, he tries to teach him to speak and behave in a civilized way. were unsuccessful.
Although there are several cases of? Wild children, who lived with animals such as goats, dogs, gazelles, wolves, monkeys, etc. , many are discredited by the lack of data demonstrating their authenticity, however, Marcos’ case is distinguished by its recent and evidence-based character. Marcos was sold by his parents at the age of seven to a landowner who handed him over to a goat with whom he lived until his death in a cave, after the goat’s death, Mark remained alone for eleven years until he was found by the goat. Civil Guard, during these eleven years, his only company was wolves.
The case study was conducted by anthropologist and writer Gabriel Janer Manila (1976), the cause of his abandonment was related to a socioeconomic context of extreme poverty, the skills acquired by frames before his departure, as well as his natural intelligence, were the aspects that made his survival possible. During his isolation, Mark learned the sounds of the animals with which he lived and used them to communicate with them, while slowly abandoning human language.
After being reintroduced into society, he began to adapt to human customs. Despite this, even as an adult, he showed a preference for life in the countryside with animals. He also developed an aversion to the noise and smell of cities. Mark continued to believe that human life is worse than that of animals.
Genie’s parents (Rymer, 1999) were in trouble, his mother was blind due to a movement of the retina and cataracts, and his father suffered from depression that worsened when his mother died in a car accident. Genie then began to say that most children and doctors had diagnosed her with a mental disability, so her father, fearing that the authorities would take her daughter, felt she had to protect her from the dangers of the outside world.
Genie was in his own room and only had contact with his father. Genie had been banned from making noise and had spent the nights in a cage. Their diet consisted mainly of baby food. At 13, he understood only 20 words, most of which were short and negative:?The girl’s room was completely closed, there was only one small hole that allowed her to see 5 centimeters from the world, the other residents of the house had been forbidden to visit him or even talk to him?He.
Eventually, Genie’s mother escaped with her and her brother, allowing the girl to seek treatment (Reynolds and Fletcher-Janzen, 2004). The first part of the treatment was done by ousting her mother’s daughter and the conclusion was that she had suffered an involution. She was worse off than when she was found. She was then referred to her mother, who realized that it was very difficult to care for the child, who had passed through several foster homes and in some had even been abused again.
Rochom (El Pas, 2007) was a Cambodian girl who got lost in the jungle at age 9, to reappear 10 years later, after disappearing from her parents’ estate, she was found, after ten years without news, by a farmer who handed her over to the police.
Back in society, Rochom could not bear to dress, did not remember how to speak and growl, snuggled up and when she was left alone tried to escape, the various scars inflicted on her led her to believe that she may have been in captivity and even abused (The Guardian, 2007). Rochom then escaped and was found 10 days later in the sewers, was rescued and admitted to a hospital where, according to her parents, she was powerless. sleeping all day. She was pale and weak.
The return of these wild children to society was not easy, factors such as the degree of isolation and the age at which they left society are fundamental to understanding their behavior in society (Singh and Zingg, 1966). , who have not even seen humans, will present more problems. Those who lived among the animals may have a better adaptation.
Indirect learning is a very important part of development, and those who have missed this stage will have more difficulty adopting behaviors than they have ever seen before. Deprivation of stimuli when one is young will limit the experiences of these children (McCrone, 1994) In this sense, isolation can even limit bodily movements and cause physical malformations. Other basic skills such as spatial memory may not develop in isolation situations.
“I know that one day I will go home and my son will not be there. I will have lost it, but then the problem will no longer be mine, will it also be yours?. – Movie?Wild children?-
On the other hand, mainly for? Wild children – having lived with animals, naturalistic intelligence (Gardner, 2010) is generally well developed, this intelligence is the ability to perceive the relationships between species, groups of objects and people, recognizing the differences and similarities between them. the identification, discernment, observation and classification of members of groups or species of flora and fauna, being the effective use of the natural world its field of observation.
However, the lack of interaction with other people and the emotional bonds are basic skills that do them?Wild kids won’t develop. Therefore, and because of the great cultural component of emotions and their regulation, these children have difficulty adapting to these un written rules that govern the functioning of any society.
The development of language is another central point, the human being at birth is able to produce more than 200 different sounds, society through reinforcement will indicate which of these sounds corresponds to the language or languages that children will speak. If you receive this booster from an early age, you’ll find it harder to pronounce correctly. The same goes for grammar.
Linguist Noam Chomsky (1957/1999) suggested that there should be a time limit for learning a language naturally, this period is about three years and, once time has elapsed without the child learning a language, he will no longer do so. Be able to develop the brain structures needed for learning. Even if you are able to learn words, full mastery of language will require extraordinary effort.
As Chomsky suggests, at birth we have innate brain structures, these structures that have been evolutionaryly formed are preprogrammed to develop certain behaviors or actions such as speech, but if these structures do not receive the stimuli necessary to complete their development for a while, they will no longer be useful and will not achieve their goal. In addition, it is necessary that the development of these structures be done at the same time as that of other brain structures.
The image of Mogli, the werewolf created by writer Rudyard Kipling (1894) does not correspond to the reality of “wild children”. Nor can we refer to Tarzan. The deprivations these children have suffered do not make them revolutionary. when they return to society.
Aren’t the future prospects of “wild children” generally not good. After being deprived of stimuli and experiences common to the human species, they will go through critical periods to develop certain skills, such as language.
“So that together, workers, students, men of all ideologies, of all religions, with our logical differences, we may come together to build a more just society, in which man is not the wolf of man, but his companion is his brother. ? -Aguston Tosco-
These deficiencies or skill gaps are preceded by a lack of stimuli and reinforcement for the development of these skills, as we have said, deprivation at a critical stage can impede the full development of skills such as language or spatial memory. , combined with the difficulty of their treatment for therapists, complicates education and reintegration.
One of the worst consequences for these wild children is that their life expectancy is very short, these children may not have been prepared for society, just as society may not be prepared for them, in this sense, the debate about the goodness and evil of human beings and the controlled or degrading nature of society remains open.
Bibliography
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The Guardian (2007). Wild Boy? Found in: https://www. theguardian. com/world/2007/jan/23/jonathanwatts. features11