PEPSI Assignment: Kyle White

Daniel Bridges

College of Southern Nevada

 Kyle White is a fifteen year old male student who lives in Las Vegas Nevada. While, at

first glance, he may seem like any regular student, there truly are things about this young man

that would surprise you. Kyle lives with his mother, who truly is a woman of means. Tragically,

the rest of Kyles family has committed suicide, leaving this young sophomore to attend the

funerals of both his father and his brother. While the deaths of his family members has left an

unmistakable mark on his life, Kyle has grown in a smart, strong, resourceful young man.

During his crucial teenage years, Kyle has had to deal with the deaths of all of his male

role models. His brother committed suicide two years ago, and then his father decided to take his

life one year later. This has without a doubt led to Kyle having some trouble as a student, but all

of that will be discussed in the emotional development page. Considering his age, and the

adversities he has faced, Kyle is without a doubt exceeding everyones expectations. Even within

the year of knowing him, Kyle has made great strides with his anger and has become a model

student for his peers.

Kyle comes from a family of great means. His father achieved a Bachelors Degree in

accounting, but the family has made ninety percent of their money in the stock market. His

mother graduated high school, but she chose not to further her education after getting her high

school diploma. Because of the wealth acquired before his fathers suicide, Kyles mother does

not need to work. His fathers fortune with the stock market has also led them to have a very

high social standing in their community. They are one of the wealthiest families in their

neighborhood, and they enjoy the many perks and benefits that come along with the wealth and

prestige that they have.

 In terms of physical development, Kyle is right where he should be. He is five feet eleven

inches, and he weighs 160 pounds. As a fifteen year old male, Kyle should be close to

completing his physical growth. His voice should be lowering and facial hairs should start to

appear. He may also continue to gain weight and muscle (Palo Alto Medical Foundation, 2015).

Kyle truly is a remarkable physical specimen, in terms of both normal growth and acquired

muscle mass.

Kyle has no physical exceptionalities. Not only is he without any physical

exceptionalities, but he is a star athlete at his school. Kyle is the Captain of his schools Varsity

Basketball team, and he is in top physical shape. He truly is an All-American athlete. With his

popularity and his star athlete status, Kyle admits to being very concerned about his body image,

which is to be expected for a young man his age (Mentoring Partnership of Minnesota, 2006).

Kyle seems to be comfortably completing his physical growth. The school he goes to

does not permit his students to have facial hair, so he has to shave every morning. At fifteen

years old his voice is already low, low enough for you to mistaken him for a grown adult if he is

talking to you and you have your back turned. He also continues to gain weight and muscle at a

steady rate as he works out with his coaches and friends. Kyle certainly seems to be on track to

finish his physical growing by the expected ages of 17 or 18 (University of Alabama: Parenting

Assistance Line, 2015).

 While Kyles physical developments have happened smoothly overtime, the same cannot

be said for his emotional developments. Although most adolescents experience emotional

conflicts at some point (Slavin, 2015), Kyle has had to deal with things that most adults are not

able to handle. While the argument can be made that he did not make the best choices after the

suicides of his family members, Kyle is putting himself back on the right track. He has become

the standard bearer for his peers, and a great role model for the younger students. While the

suicide of his father and brother affected him deeply, Kyle, with some help from his coaches and

friends, is back on track to mature into a healthy and emotionally sound adult.

While children in the age group of 15 might feel a lot of sadness or depression, leading to

poor grades, alcohol or drug abuse, unsafe sex, and other problems (Centers for Disease Control

and Prevention, 2015), Kyle having to experience the back to back suicides of family members

has changed his life. The loss of his father and brother effected his grades, his interactions with

his peers, and even his interactions with his teachers. The loss of his family members made his

grades fall dramatically. He went from an average student, to failing in almost all of his classes.

His behaviors with his peers and teachers changed by him becoming a bully. He truly did not

care for any consequences, he would even threaten to attack his teachers.

Kyle has firmly reached the stage of identity achievement. On his own, he has decided

that he wants to go to the University of Oregon and play basketball there. After college, he

aspires to join the NBA and then play basketball until he is financially stable enough to retire.

Even though it is not usually until late adolescence (18 to 22 years of age) that people achieve a

status of identity achievement (Slavin, 2015), it would seem that Kyle knows what he would like

to do with the rest of his life. When asked if this was his decision, and if he thinks he would be

happy playing basketball professionally for the rest of his life, he answered yes to both questions.
 Kyle has developed philosophically exactly as he should. Piaget would definitely

describe is definitely describe Kyle as being in the autonomous morality stage. Kohlberg, if

given the chance to interview Kyle, would say that that he is the Universal Ethical Principle

Orientation stage, which is located in Kohlbergs Postconventional Level. One of the major

criticisms of both Piagets and Kohlbergs theory is that young children can often reason about

moral situations in more sophisticated ways than a stage theory would suggest (Slavin, 2015),

and Kyle is no different. After interviewing his mother, I discovered that Kyle was questioning

rules and making decisions based on his self-chosen ethical principles years before he was nine

years old.

During an interview with Kyle, he was asked how he would feel if his mom was in great

pain from a car accident she was in, but the doctors refused to give her pain medication because

they thought she was faking the pain. If he knew his mother was in pain, and the doctor

accidentally left the pain medication in his mothers room after he or she left, what would he do?

Would he listen to the doctor and not give her the drug, or administer the drug to his mother and

alleviate her pain. Without thinking, he replied that he would give his mother the drug. When

asked why, he simply said because it was the right thing to do. This shows that the important idea

that carefully choosing basic principles to follow, such as caring for and respecting every living

thing (North Carolina State University, 2015) has come into Kyles understanding of reality.
 Kyle is socially on track. In fact, an effective argument could be raised that he is socially

ahead of all of his peers. While the suicides of his family members caused his to slip backwards

socially, he has built himself not only back up to where he should be, but beyond that. As

expected in later teen years, Kyle has already begun to become comfortable with his identity, and

the importance of his peers opinions is beginning to diminish. He is now just beginning to spend

time going out on one-on-one dates (WebMD, 2014). This is a little ahead of where he should be,

which is the Identity versus Role Confusion stage.

According to Eriksons Stages of Personal and Social Development (Slavin, 2015) a

student who is 12-18 years old is typically in Stage V: Identity versus Role Confusion. At his

age, challenging authority can be expected, but it is obvious that threating authority figures is not

to be expected. It can be easily seen that, with the loss of his father and brother, Kyle acted out

because he did not know how to express his feelings appropriately. Luckily Coach Scott, a

mentor to Kyle, was able to get this young man back on track. With the help of the coach, Kyle

now knows his role in life and even what he wants from his life.

After picking himself off of the floor, and apologizing to his peers and teachers, Kyle

quickly sailed through the Identity versus Role Confusion stage. With the help from Coach Scott,

Kyle found out what he is good at, what he wants out of life, and who he wants to be. Since he

knows who he is, Kyle now feels stable enough to try and share his life with someone. While this

may sound a little premature for a 15 year old, he is more than ready to move onto the next stage

of his life. He is ready for the next stage of this life because, as is in the definition of social

development, Kyle is able to identify and understand his own feelings and to regulate his

behavior (National Institute for Early Education Research, 2005).

 While Kyle has no physical exceptionalities, he does have an intellectual exceptionality.

Kyle has dyslexia, which is a common condition that affects the way the brain processes written

and spoken language. Dyslexia is primarily associated with trouble reading (Lapkin, 2015). Even

with his dyslexia, Kyle is still a straight A student. When interviewed, Kyle said that his dyslexia

is never an excuse for him to have bad grades, he just has to work a little harder.

According to Piaget, Kyle should be in the formal operational stage of cognitive

development. According to Piaget, the formal operational stage brings with it the ability to think

abstractly and to see possibilities beyond the here and now (Slavin, 2015). Kyle shows this and

so much more every day in class. He actually has a really good handle on abstract concepts such

as algebra, creative writing, and even college level mathematics. Kyle has mastered most of

Piagets formal operational tasks, which two-thirds of U.S. high school students do not succeed

in (Slavin, 2015).

Kyle has aspirations of going to the University of Oregon on an athletic scholarship,

which will require him to focus on his studies while he tries to be a collegiate athlete. He

willingly admits that his dyslexia will be an obstacle for him to conquer, but he finds motivation

and sanctuary when he speaks about all of the famous people who have conquered this

exceptionality before him. He specifically seems to find joy in talking about the story of Orlando

Blooms struggles and success with dyslexia. Kyle now thrives in the formal operational stage,

unlike when he was still trying to deal with the death of his father and brother, because he has a

certain amount of empathy and can understand that others have different ideas, but he strongly

believes that his ideas are true (WebMD, 2015).

Kyle White Pepsi Graph
 Recommendations for teachers and parents.

Physical Development

I would certainly recommend a close monitoring of Kyles working out and eating habits.

While I have no reason to believe that he is doing anything dangerous, he is very interested in his

physical appearance. He should be watched to make sure he does not begin using steroids or start

any form of unhealthy dieting. Stereotypically, it is expected a male athlete to do steroids, but 25

percent of the individuals with Anorexia and Bulimia Nervosa are male (NEDA, 2015).

Emotional Development

A close monitoring of Kyles emotional development should take place. While he seems

to have made it over the initial hurdle of the suicides in his family, there are still bad days where

he could act out and snap at a student. While he has reached the stage of identity achievement,

the anger that led him to threaten his teachers can still come boiling to the surface.

Philosophical Development

Kyle has made great progress in terms of moral development and reasoning. His parents

and teachers just need to make sure that his values and mindsets do not change as he gets older.

As he ages, he needs to still have strong ethical principles that will help everyone around him.

Social Development

Since Kyle now knows who he is and what he wants out of life, his parents and teachers

should monitor the young ladies he chooses to date. Love has the ability to do great good, but at

the same time, great harm to a young man. He should be watched to ensure he chooses well.

Intellectual Development
 Kyles grades are great now, but an eye should be kept on him to make sure they stay that

way. He is reaching an age where he could slip up and his grades could pay the price.

References

Slavin, R (2015). Educational Psychology: Theory and Practice Eleventh edition. Upper
Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.

MPMN (2015). Developmental Characteristics of 15-18 year olds. Retrieved from

http://www.mpmn.org/Files/TMA-9Dev15-18-2.pdf

Palo Alto Medical Foundation (2015). Parents and Teachers: Teen Growth & Development, 15-
17. Retrieved from http://www.pamf.org/parenting-teens/health/growth
development/growth.html

University of Alabama: Parenting Assistance Line (2015). Your Childs Development:

Developmental Milestones-Adolescents. Retrieved from
http://www.pal.ua.edu/development/ad_milestones.php

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Nov, 6th 2015). Child Development: Teenagers (15-
17 years of age). Retrieved from
http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/childdevelopment/positiveparenting/adolescence2.html

North Carolina State University (2015). Kohlbergs stages of moral development and criticisms.
Retrieved from http://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/users/p/padilla/www/435-Leadership/Values-
Kohlberg%20stages%20of%20moral%20development.doc.

WebMD (Sept, 09 2014). Emotional and Social Development, Ages 15 to 18 Years - Topic
Overview. Retrieved from http://www.webmd.com/parenting/tc/emotional-and-social-
development-ages-15-to-18-years-topic-overview

National Institution for Early Education Research (March, 2005). Promoting Childrens Social
And Emotional Development through Preschool Education. Retrieved from
http://nieer.org/resources/policyreports/report7.pdf

Emily Lapkin (Apr, 02 2014). Understanding Dyslexia. Retrieved from

https://www.understood.org/en/learning-attention-issues/child-learning-
disabilities/dyslexia/understanding-dyslexia

WebMD (2015). Growth and Development, Ages 15 to 18 Years - Topic Overview. Retrieved
from http://www.webmd.com/children/tc/growth-and-development-ages-15-to-18-years-
topic-overview

National Eating Disorder Association (2015). Research on Males and Eating Disorders.
Retrieved from https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/research-males-and-eating-

disorders