Contemporary Family and it's effect on School Settings - Essay Example

Contemporary Family and its effect on School Settings Generally most families in the United s and in North America today are nuclear families. That means a married couple lives together with their children. And so if one look at the contemporary Japanese family and the contemporary American or European nuclear families, he can understand that the societies are the same and that the family plays the same kind of role in both of those societies. As marriage involves two moderately equal adults bond each other. The concept of a nuclear family means that the marriage partnership and its children living under one roof and the whole family as a within- and across-nuclear family and intergenerational blood-related unit. There are three types of relationships. The first is the relationship between parents and children; the second among related nuclear families such as adult siblings; the third across family members over a wide span of time, i.e., intergenerational relations. Terms like “family values” refer to one or several of these separate family relationships. The relationship between parents and children is often looked at and of great importance. There are few specific activities such as productive activities which involve the nurturing, training, and caring for the dependent children from birth onward. Few responsibilities are of greater importance than that of parenting, of providing for the healthy development of the child in mental, social, economic, and many other dimensions. A grown up person chose to have children because of the satisfaction they get, and the parental expenditures of time and effort, of money and hassle, of patience and support are all part of the productive activities of parenthood. Certainly parents disagree with the resources they have to provide their children, in their inborn capabilities, their mental traits as well as their material resources. They also differ as well in their preferences to use their resources in behalf of their children. Even as the child’s strict dependence on parents declines with age, in most families the flow of parental support and direction continues throughout the lifetime. Since from the lifecycle viewpoint it is not necessary that at each year an equal exchange balance is met as parent and child work together, but over the lifetime, the flows of benefits and of costs may well balance out. The nature of the economic functioning between these parent-child relationships is one of investment in the youth and caring for dependents as youth and as elderly. The relationship among nuclear units within one family, as among the families of adult siblings, can be characterized as one of pooling resources to insure against risks and enhancing efficiency in overcoming constraints (Michael, 2003). A contemporary American thinking on modern education, with somewhat more depth and several assigned readings, the professor’s topics would usually be spread out over the whole semester course on the basics of education. But the substance would be the same. Modern educational theory treats most problems as either technical or personal. Building on this foundation, recent educational thinking has added a host of ideas on human progress drawn from humanistic attitude. Yet, a sterner lapse from such standardized appearances is that they lack any social or cultural consciousness and they exist in a world without context. There is a general conviction that theories are not born of any particular social setting and are valid anywhere, or that the “objective sciences” (i.e., the social sciences such as psychology or sociology, or even the biology and physics) are neutral, universal, and value free. So as to say that there is a growing literature clearly telling that the various sciences are just as socially built and culture bound as anything else and therefore learning them is a form of socialization and enculturation. In western countries and in America mainly, there is a very broad definition of education, which is undertaken in a prescribed, institutional setting. Contemporary American education is rooted in Greco-Roman, Judeo-Christian, scientific, humanist standards. To be considered educated in such a system, one is understood to have taken an array of courses in the humanities, arts, and sciences. Some American schools expand even beyond the liberal and vocational norms, offering instruction in athletics and health, or in something as basic as learning to drive a car. Strangely, and regardless of its roots in the Protestant mission, most modern schooling is entirely secular (Progler, 2004). US Census 2000, presents data on the educational attainment of people 25 years and over in the United States. Education levels in the United States were high and rising. In 2000, most people 25 years and over in the United States had earned a high school diploma or higher degree. The three most commonly achieved education levels were high school graduate (29 percent), bachelor’s degree (16 percent), and one or more years of college, but no degree (14 percent). More than 1 in 20 people had obtained a master’s degree (6 percent), an associate degree (6 percent), or completed some college, but less than 1 year (7 percent). Professional and doctoral degrees were relatively rare, as were the categories of education below high school. No one of these education levels accounted for as much as 4 percent of the population 25 and over. More than half the U.S. population 25 and over in 2000 (52 percent) had completed at least some college education. Just under one quarter (24 percent) had a bachelor’s degree or more. Nine percent had an advanced degree (master’s degree, professional degree, or doctoral degree). The high levels of education observed in 2000 reflect a steady increase in educational attainment that took place over much of the preceding century. The levels of high school and college completion for the 25-and-over population from the censuses of 1940 to 2000, in 1940, only 24 percent of the population 25 years and over had completed high school. During a span of 60 years, high school has gone from being the mark of the educated minority of the population to the minimum education level for 4 out of 5 adults. College completion rates also increased from 1940 to 2000. At the same time as just under 1 adult in 20 held a bachelor’s degree in 1940, almost 1 adult in 4 had attained this educational level in 2000. As per the results shown in the survey effect of school setting in United States has remarkable credibility (Bauman and Graf, 2003). All this achievements is possible as today’s families give much more importance to education than the earlier times. References Bauman, K.J. and Graf, N.L. (2003). Educational Attainment: 2000. Census 2000 Brief. U.S. CENSUS BUREAU. Washington. Michael, R. T. (2003) An Economic Perspective on Sex, Marriage and the Family in Contemporary United States. Presented at an Emory University conference titled “Sex, Marriage, and Family & the Religions of the Book: Modern Problems, Enduring Solutions” March 28, 2003 and prepared for publication in Steven Tipton and John Witte, Jr. eds. The Modern Family in Interdisciplinary Perspective. Berkeley: University of California Press. Progler, Y. (2004) Decolonizing Contemporary Education. Retrieved October 9, 2006, from http://www.islamonline.net/English/family/2004/11/article01.shtml Read More