Free Will vs. Determinism

Every morning I walk past a large school on my way into work. Usually I happen to be headed in around when they have their first recess period. There is always a din of screaming and laughter as I round the corner to see the children participating in various games and forms of play. The funny thing is that social groups in many ways appear to be defined already. There are the quiet ones sitting alone thinking somewhere isolated, the rebellious ones strolling with their small groups about some far off corner of the playground, the athletic ones engaged in various sporting activities, the charismatic ones leading their admiring friends in some sort of game centered upon themselves, the adventurous ones hanging from trees and many others.

There are clearly social divisions that have been formed already and my question is merely one of how likely someone is to defy social expectations set for you as a child? Do small deviations in our characteristics and personalities as infants cause a conglomeration of specific tendencies through some sort of societal gravitational force? It all seems to happen so fast since the oldest of these kids cannot be more than eight or nine years old. I do believe it is true we are defined by the choices we make throughout our lives, but how much does each later choice depend upon the way we come to perceive ourselves to be early on in our development? How much of how we see ourselves is based upon the way we believe ourselves to have been seen then?

I personally identify strongly with those kids sitting quietly somewhere, trying to stay out of the way of others. Though there have been times people might have perceived of me differently, really this is the way I have always felt in new social situations. It seems to require a great deal of energy to overcome the pull of those social expectations that start at such a young age. On the other hand, I remember very little of my childhood and wonder a great deal just how much that time has shaped me as an adult. Anyway, as I stroll past every morning I always like to ponder what the future holds for those young minds and simply enjoy seeing the complex social dynamics at work.