Socialization is the process by which human beings acquire knowledge, language, social skills and values to conform to the norms and roles required for integration into a group or community from their social environment. The social environment is defined as the environment developed by human beings as contrasted with the natural environment. It presents the part where nature turns to nurture in the society that human beings live. It instills the values, beliefs, actions, habits, personality and skills necessary for the human beings to play a role in society. Heredity contributes only a small portion to how a human being turns out. A human beings DNA is what determines the physical attributes of a human being, but society makes him/her human. When a baby is born, it has no idea of self. The baby does not know if it is a boy or a girl, the color of its skin, how to walk, talk or eat. It must be taught who it is and how to do these things in early childhood. This is most critical and intense phase in the socialization process. Parents/caregivers, the primary source of this teaching, provide the foundation for morals, values, language symbols, what is good and bad, religion and what is or not acceptable in our society. They are the first to teach the baby what culture they are born into and what roles they will play in this life. In our culture, boys are taught to be rough and tumble. It is ok for them to get dirty and play outside. We give them trucks, construction sets and tools to tinker with. Girls are taught to be little dainty princesses. We give them dolls, tiaras and tea sets to play with. We clothe them in fancy dresses and dare them to get dirty. All of these things and more constitutes the beginning of the socialization process for a human being. Parents/caregivers do all of this in the beginning in hopes of preparing their little one for their next step in life: school. Schools are the primary agent of socialization. This is where formal education comes into play. It serves to teach children not only the knowledge and skills such as reading, writing, and arithmetic, but also the attitudes needed as adults. It is where they learn universality and the corridor curriculum. Unfortunately, the two conflict. Universality is that the same rules apply to everyone, regardless of who they are whereas the corridor curriculum often discriminates. Children are also introduced to others that may not share the same set of values as they were taught at home. This helps them to prepare to take on the role outside the family life. As the influence of the family starts to fade, children start taking to and identifying with their peers. They start to take on the role as a friend or “insider” because they don’t want to become an “outsider”. They succumb to peer pressure. Peer pressure sets the standards and tends to dominate the child’s life. Remember the old saying that if you lay with dogs you will wake up with fleas? That concept is applicable here. If the peer pressure inflicted is to do good things like making good grades and doing the right thing, then the child will more than likely succeed. If the peer pressure inflicted is to do bad things like making bad grades and skipping school, then the child is more likely to fail. Peers, however, are not the only influence that children are introduced to in school. Teachers play a vital role in the facilitation of the socialization process. It is the teacher’s responsibility to nourish the children’s cognitive needs in academics and help them to identify their strengths and weaknesses in order to prepare them for a positive, meaningful and productive role in society as adults. When adulthood is reached, the socialization process still continues. Self-concept is a never ending cycle in which the human being is always observing how others view them and what their impression is of them. There will always be human contact and interaction between human beings. As adults enter new statuses in life, they experience new things that lead them to modify self. This is an on-going, life-long process that will continue until death.

References
Henslin, James M. (2015). Essentials of Sociology: A Down-To-Earth Approach (11th ed.).
Pearson

Mercer, Leslie. The Teacher’s Role in Socialization. Group Project for CHLD 90.1 – School http://EzineArticles.com/5117232 www.bingdictionary.com