You will read a short passage, listen to a talk, and answer a question about

Now listen to part of a lecture on this topic in an anthropology class.
    Social skills are abilities that most of us learn as children. We learn to communicate, solve problems, make decisions and manage relationships between friends and family. Lack of social skills typically leads to rejection from peer groups, while appropriate usage of social skills has been linked to peer acceptance, societal inclusion, and career success. Children learn these social skills from a variety of sources including parents, siblings, teachers and peers. At a young age, oftentimes a child won’t have had ample time or an appropriate role model from which to learn these necessary social abilities. Teachers and educators have a unique and challenging role to assist children in learning and acquiring needed social skills.
    Let’s look at an example so you can better understand what I’m talking about. Mary is a young student and is working on completing an art project. She’s run out of red paint so she decides to take her classmate’s red paint without asking. Mary reaches across the table and grabs her classmate’s paint bottle. Mary’s classmate becomes very upset and starts to cry. The teacher observes this interaction between Mary and her classmate, so the teacher instructs Mary that it’s a polite behavior to first ask for permission before taking something that doesn’t belong to her. In this instance, Mary has learned the appropriate social skills needed for her to function in a well-behaved and polite manner with her classmate. In future situations where Mary wants to take or borrow something that doesn’t belong to her, her teacher observes her first asking permission.