Growing Up Without a Brother Having Only Sisters - Essay Example

? SOCIAL CONTEXT ACCOUNT By Location SOCIAL CONTEXT ACCOUNT I am a 23-year-old girl who was born and raised in a small town in England. I have an Asian background and profess Islam's faith. We are a small family of three siblings, who are all girls. Therefore, I have not had an opportunity to enjoy a male company since I do not have a brother. I am not complaining though my sisters are wonderful beings with whom we get along so well. My parents get along well apart from the fact that my father is always absent; he gambles a lot, which diverts his attention from us. Precisely speaking, we belong to the middle class; my father has a lucrative business. Despite the lucrative business that my father owned, I cannot categorically say that life was all rosy. There were tough times; the gambling took the better part of my father’s earnings to an extent that there was nothing left to fend for the family. The worst time came about when we lost our house and were forced to live in deplorable condition. I was brought up in Muslim family and therefore, at a tender age, I was exposed to Sharia virtues, which natured in me a variety of admirable core values. First, I am a staunch believer in the existence of Allah the father. This is my major core value and in my everyday life, I strive to live in accordance with the Koran doctrines. According to Achard (1993, pp. 103) “Core values are those fundamental beliefs that define how one conducts themselves." Core values, therefore, dictates and presents a guiding principle on one's action in the course of undertaking his daily activity. On a personal note, I believe I have core values that define my actions and decisions. Additionally, I belief that honesty is an integral value that everyone should possess as it makes one to earn trust among peers or colleagues. I always ensure that I speak the truth to my parent’s peers and colleagues, and this has enabled me to have a cozy relationship with everyone I interact with on various subjects. Kongstvedt (2006) avers that values play a great role to individuals as it dictates their decisions and actions from time, especially at the workplace. One notable role that values play in individual’s life is that it gives people purpose. When your values are clearly defined, you are less likely to drift and in all cases, you make decisions based on internal reflection. Lack of values makes life to lack direction and therefore, individuals will make decisions based on pressures and circumstances without deep reflection. Having core values restores purpose to life and provides direction on how one handle work-related challenges. When your core values are well cut out for you, all your decisions will be constituent with your core values. On the other hand, lack of apparent core values makes individuals to make decisions that they later on regret about and, which can even compromise on service delivery at the workplace (Archard, 2003). Core value also plays the role of making one to have confidence in one’s own ability. When you know your core values you gather courage because the decisions you make and your actions are based on the values you hold dear. Aries (2002) says that commitment to ones values give one the audacity to face job-related challenges head on because one belief in his own ability. Lastly, core values make life simple; one never debates on his decisions and actions they simply reflect if such actions align with their core values, which they hold dear. Core values offer an internal compass on how to handle the situation at the workplace during a crisis. Family is an important social unit that defines our roots. I am always committed to my family; I respect and am obedient to my parents, and I relate well with all my siblings. I subscribe to the adage ‘everything might change us, but we start and end with family’. My parents were a bit strict and my mother, in particular, has never allowed me to socialize with boys. My mother was very possessive she loved us so much and would not tolerate anyone taking us away from her. The possessive nature of my mother did not end with her children; she extended it to our father whom she watched all his moves. According to Archard (1993, pp. 6) “Children should be put into situations, which discourage the exercise of the bad character traits and kept away from situations, which encourage them." Unlike my siblings and my father, my mother had difficulties learning English language. This fact negatively affected her since she could not relate well neighbors whom are mainly English native speakers. In fact, we were forced to help her go about most of her undertakings such as making transactions or seeking for medical services (Madelon, 2010). Values in many instances are acquired in contrast to being inborn. At early stages of a child development parent and people around the child plays a big role in shaping their values. For instance, if a child is born in a Christian family, the child will acquire Christian values. Appignanesi & Zarate (2002, pp. 56) say that “parents always strive to instill in the children at early age admirable values such as honesty, independence, confidence just to name a few." As people grow, they are exposed to a wider environment, which then shapes their values, and they may end acquiring more values or even take up different values that they were once opposed to as well as dropping some values they had earlier subscribed to. Interestingly, virtues are not always only positive some virtues are negative such as selfishness and greed. Depending on the environment, one’s action may be driven by greed or self-interest. For instance, businesspersons due to the nature of a political environment act in self-interest. Christense and James (2000, pp. 160) argues that “biological progression from birth through infancy to adolescence still signals a fundamental base upon which the social world simply inscribes its differentiating remarks.” Every businessperson works around the clock to get an edge over the rival, and this attests to the fact that the environment plays a big role in shaping one's values. A work environment, especially professional career path such as accountants and lawyers determines one's values (Alderson & Morrow, 2004). Due to the very nature of these careers, individuals are instilled with virtues such as honesty, accountability and integrity. In the many years, I have spent in school studying various issues, I have come to learn that the content of what is taught in the class environment is largely borrowed from the realities in the society. I have had an opportunity to learn various issues that happen around the political environment. Such issues include democracy, global threats (terrorism, disaster), issues around healthcare, and diplomatic ties. When I peruse what goes around in the society, I see consistency with what is taught in class. I have always been interested in the issue of healthcare. The reason for my interest in healthcare has a lot to do with the experience I had with my mother. My mother has been sickling all along. This has been costly to the family because during the 1990s, there was no universal health-care plan to assist patients with chronic diseases. Universal Consumer-driven health care plan is very effective in assisting patients with chronic diseases. The primary objective for establishment of consumer-driven health care plan was to improve on quality of medical services and to reduce the costs of seeking medical services thereby improving on the access to medication for scores of citizens (Cottrell, 2008). This confirms that consumer-driven health care plan is best suited to effectively provide for patients such as my mother who have chronic illness. Most citizens are suffering from chronic diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and high blood pressure hence the need for affordable and cheap healthcare plan. Consumer-driven health care plan has several pocket friendly packages for consumers. These packages include health reimbursement accounts, healthcare savings account, and flexible spending accounts. Its primary objective is to enhance efficiency in healthcare services through improving quality of health care delivery and to reduce the cost of medication. In fact, consumer-driven health care plan has positive ramifications to patients, physicians, healthcare facilities and insurance providers. Cunningham (2001) asserts that when consumers have access to healthcare services through affordable consumer-driven health care plan, they are encouraged to seek preventive care against chronic diseases such as diabetes, cancer, and high blood pressure. If the consumer healthcare plan existed before then my family would not have gone through the tough times they went through trying to offer the best medical care for my ailing mother. This were tough for my family. Medication for my mother was very expensive owing to the fact that my father had to cater for the costs from his own pockets. Consumer-driven health care plan has the overall effect in enhancing efficiency in a health care system. All stakeholders that comprise of patients, physicians, healthcare facilities and insurance providers will realize this efficiency. This is because the primary objective of consumer-driven health care plan is to improve on quality of medical services and to reduce the costs of seeking medical services thereby improving on the access to medication. Consumer healthcare driven plans also have unique services such as nutrition and fitness to assist people to live healthy. The studies indicate that majority of citizens are obese, and this is real judging by the many obese people I see in the street every day. The other issue I have learned, which is consistent with the reality in the political arena is the issue of formulation of government policies. In class, we are taught that government policies can be either bottom up or bottom down approach. Bottom up agenda-setting process is generally favored in decision policymaking process by the government (Jost, 2006). Bottom up agenda-setting process is where the views of the locals, and the communities are sort and used by the state in setting up agenda for government policy formulation. The justification for adopting a bottom up agenda setting is that the locals are privy and better placed with regard to issues and problems that they are grappling with. Therefore, by adopting a bottom-up agenda setting the government can come up with policies that touch up on issues that the locals are faced with in their daily interactions (Bermann & Hughes, 2008). Top-down agenda setting does not guarantee much success in policy implementation because a few elites driven by the desire for change always design it. The executive under Top-down agenda setting develops agenda used for policy formulation and imposes those decisions on the people. The success rate of bottom-up agenda setting in policymaking process is guaranteed because the people as opposed to being imposed on them under the top-down agenda setting embrace the policies. For instance, the universal health-care policy was formulated through a bottom up agenda setting in the country. Kongstvedt (2006) says that there was a general concern over the high cost of treatment in that most households, mine included, could not afford decent medication resulting to several casualties from treatable and preventable diseases. Health stakeholders from different quarters petitioned the government to implement the universal health-care policy, as this was the only way to cushion the public from the high cost of treatment. It is an open secret that the universal health care system has been very successful in the country; this success attests to the importance and contribution of a bottom up agenda setting in policy making by the government. To sum it all up, whatever we are taught in class is always a reflection of the real situation that happens in the political environment. It is therefore, crucial that students pay great attention to the teachings in class. My experience both in a classroom, from my family and life in general has shaped me up. I understand life better, and I appreciate people more. My mother was very possessive and did allow us to find enough time to interact with others; as a result, I became less social. Nevertheless, I have outlived this I now relate well with everyone, including my peers of the opposite sex. This is in spite of the fact that I grew up without a brother since I had only two sisters. References Alderson, P., & Morrow, V. 2004. Ethics, Social Research and Consulting American Psychological Association. 2010. Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct. American Psychological Association , 33 (3). 312-325 Appignanesi, R., & Zarate, O. 2002. Freud for Beginners. Cambridge: Archard, D. 2003. Children: rights and childhood. London: Routledge. Aries, P. 2002. Centuries of childhood. London: Cape. Barthes, R. 2003. Mythologies. London: Vintage. Bermann, S.A., & Hughes, H.M. 2008. The Impact of Domestic Violence and Emotional Abuse on Children: The Intersection of Research, Theory, and Clinical Intervention. Journal of Emotional Abuse. 1(2), 1-21. Christensen, P., and James, A. 2000. Research with Children. London: Falmer Press. Cottrell, S. 2008. The Study Skills Handbook. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Cunningham, H. 2001. The children of the poor: representations of childhood since the seventeenth century. Oxford: Blackwell. Cohler, B Hogan, T. P. 2007. Psychological testing: a practical introduction. Hoboken, NJ: Icon Books. Jost, T. 2006. Health Care at Risk: A Critique of the Consumer-Driven Movement. New Jersey: Duke University Press. Kongstvedt, P. 2006. Essentials of Managed Health Care. Connecticut: Jones & Bartlett Publishers. Libby B. 2006. The Story of Childhood: Growing up in Modern Britain. Birmingham, UK: Bloomsbury. Madelon L 2010. Public Health in the 21st Century. New York: ABC-CLIO. Mash, E.J., & Barkley, R.A. 20066. Child Psychopathology. London: The Guilford Press. psychopathology. Canadian Journal of Behavioral Science, 23,282-299. with Children and Young People. Barnardos: Ilford. Woolfe, D.A., & Jaffe, P. (1991). Child abuse and family violence as determinants of child Read More

 

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