The Effects of Bronfenbrenners Ecological Systems, Piagets Theory of Cognitive Development, and Kohlbergs Theory of Moral Development in A Child Called “It”, a Book by Dave Pelzer

In the book A Child Called “It” by Dave Pelzer, the reader learns how differently

Pelzer developed compared to most children. Because of the situation that he was raised in, he goes through many stages of human development in a different way and at different points of his life when compared to his peers. The effects that Bronfenbrenners Ecological Systems, Piagets Theory of Cognitive Development, and Kohlbergs Theory of Moral Development all had on Peltzer are very evident in this book.

Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Model

Unfortunately, Pelzer was not protected by Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological systems. For most people, these ecological systems are what makes everything ‘click’, or connects every aspect of our lives. (Feldman, 2013). However, for Dave, everything was kept separate, causing him to have negative mesosystems. Because his mom was not involved in his schooling, Dave had little to none motivation to do well in school. He was held back in first grade and was constantly getting in trouble for stealing food. He is known as a bad kid, or the “food-thief”, and states that his principal knew who he was because of how often he was getting caught stealing food. Pelzer would get so scared when sent to the principal’s office in fear that the principal would call his mom, which he knew would make things worse for him at home. His mom would punish him for stealing the food, but seemingly did not care about how well he did in school. For example, when his teacher sent a letter home to his mom about how well he had been doing in class, Dave was so excited to show her. But, his mom tore the letter to shreds, and shouted at him that he would never impress her, and she wished he was dead (Pelzer, 1995, pp. 104). His mom’s lack of support for his schooling caused him to fail to care about his own education.

Another example of a mesosystem that has failed Dave is the relationship between his ‘friends’ and his family. Although Dave didn’t have typical friends, the closest thing he had were the neighborhood boys who he was, on very rare occasions, allowed to play with.