...meritocracy and help those that believe in meritocracy understand the inequality the myth has created in American culture. The idea of meritocracy is stating that an individual will not get judged and that “each of us is judged solely on her or his own merits” (Dalton (Alger theory)). But “sometimes we are judged on a different scale”... “favored...and ignored all on the basis of our race” (Dalton). How does this compare to only being judged on his or her own merits because all that is viewed is people being singled out on their appearance or surroundings and not on their qualifications. For example many times individuals don’t focus on how mothers get judged in the workplace. When they are “79 percent less likely to be hired and 100 percent less likely to be promoted because they are held to higher standard”(Conniff). Mothers are being held to a higher standard for having...
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...Writing 1310 12 October 2015 The Rhetorical Analysis of Heather Boushey’s “Values Begin at Home, but Who’s Home?" (In the Struggle to Balance Work and Family, Work is Winning) In Heather Boushey’s article on The American Prospect 2007 is a special report titled “Values Begin at Home, but Who’s Home?” This article reflects America’s current family values. This is an older, but effective report. Heather Boushey was formerly a Senior Economist with the United States Congress Joint Economic Committee and before that, with the Center for Economic and Policy Research and the Economic Policy Institute. She has testified before the U.S. Congress and authored numerous reports and commentaries on issues affecting working families. “Heather Boushey.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 13 July 2015. Web. 29 September 2015.” In this article Boushey argues that work has been winning the work/life battle- beginning with Mothers working outside of the home. Boushey also uses her skills as a former Senior Economist, to hone in on statistical data to prove the decline in family values, since Mother’s began working outside of the home. Heather Boushey article serves a dual purpose- or kairos. Boushey wrote this article stating her negative opinion toward today’s economy and how it affects family values. First, Boushey believes that mothers leaving the home to join the workforce has a negative effect on the well-being of our families and our family values, and secondly...
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...bottle-feeding was discussed. Understanding the nutritional value of human mother’s milk and the added benefits for the infants immune system from the antibodies passed from the mother to infant, it is understandable the push to encourage breastfeeding. Public health official’s efforts to encourage exclusive breast-feeding in the first 6 months of an infant’s life struggles to meet the goal due in part to the difficulties many mothers encounter. In developed countries working mothers struggle with the time and commitment of continuing to breastfeed after returning to work. In underdeveloped countries mothers often are not able to safely prepare formula, therefore should be encouraged to breastfeed over formula feeding....
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...through all of them one individual remained constant, my mother. My mother is by far, the greatest superhero in our comic book that “The Barrientes Boys” call “life”. She has the strength and perseverance of an elephant and the loyalty and courage of a lion. Her heart and determination are traits that we can only hope to have one day for ourselves. Our mother is a strong woman. Whether by continuously working her way up the mountain of parenthood, pushing herself to go to night school after long strenuous days at work, or combatting the crippling parasite we call “breast cancer”, she has never overlooked her role as a mother. According to her, “she has never swayed from her virtues and she felt it was her duty to instill in her boys the same values, principles, and virtues that were instilled in her”. (Barrientes, M) If there is one thing our mother has shown us, is that with a positive attitude, determination, perseverance, and the right amount of effort, anything can be accomplished by anyone. “I have watched my wife struggle with running a household while trying to juggle returning to college full-time and working a full-time job as the highest supervisor at her place of employment” (Barrientes, D). As a child, you do not realize what courage it must take to bear such a workload, but now, upon entering the college scene, one can only imagine the struggle it must have been to juggle the everyday work of being a full-time mother, while simultaneously enduring the workload of being...
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...culture to contribute to Canada's multicultural society. However, the counter narrative implies that our dominant culture is forced upon immigrants to assimilate to. My mother was an immigrant to Canada, she faced numerous struggles due to her journey from Pakistan to Canada. By migrating here, she though that her struggles would have diminished however that did not happen so easily. Immigrants start at the bottom of the financial ladder when they move here. Due to their status, any and all opportunities they were to have back home were not available to pursue here. To be satisfied and proud of what you have earned and become,...
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...State University This case will shed light on the challenges of substance abuse and family that is affected while a head family member is dealing with the corrections system. This case also shows the challenges faced by such a family as they struggle to keep their well-being when the provider is away, and the important role resiliency plays in the families ability to survive, and the why the family is affected just as much, if not more, by the absence of the provider. On January 24, 2014, I was able to interview the Smiths family for the purpose of including the results in a case study needed for my CJ 300 class. Andrew Smith is the father that has been taken away from his family for over a year because of a DWI that he received in 2013. Left outside of the system is his wife Angela Smith, Tyler Smith, 12, and his brother Paul Smith, 14. Last year Andrew was caught for a DWI and incarcerated as it was his 5th DWI offense. He has been in and out of jail for DWI and this has caused much financial strain on the family as DWI’s are hard on a low income family. Alcoholism has run in Andrew’s side of the family and his father even died from complications of being a long time alcoholic. The two boys are enrolled in school and Angela is working two minimum wage jobs to keep the family going financially. The boy’s friend’s parents must take the boys to and from school and they are left at home unsupervised when they get back. Angela is mostly away from the house because of the long hours...
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...bold and the body, a miracle of wisdom.” this quote simplifies this belief. My mother Stephanie Denise de los Reyes was born on November 4, 1972 and gave life to two children later in her life Amanda Denise de los Reyes and Jared Michael de los Reyes. She experienced an emotional, financial, and physical distress during and after her pregnancy. November 14, 1992 the birth of de los Reyes’ first child Amanda this was another bump in a lifetime struggle. As a child she moved from house to house and sometimes to battered women’s shelter after her mother’s second husband beat her and kicked her and her children out of the house. He did not only beat her mother but he also beat her and and her brother Aaron when their mother wasn’t home. During de los Reyes’ pregnancy with her 1st born Amanda she was pregnant and her husband was in training for the Navy. She was able to see him two times during her pregnancy. These visits even though rare were good for Mrs.de los Reyes especially during the beginning of the pregnancy the Germanal period which is “The first two weeks of prenatal development after...
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...throughout the novel. The same theme, life is not fair, occurs in the novel Grapes of Wrath, written by John Steinbeck. The family goes through hard times during the great depression. In Langston Hughes’s poem, “Mother to Son”, the mother teaches her son to keep going in life, even if it is not fair. The final work that this...
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...in one of Chicago’s poorest and dangerous apartment communities’ Cabrini–Green, while The Cosby’s showed a well off upper-middle class family living Brooklyn, New York. While both families showed many different scenarios to different family events it was how they handled them that made them so different. On the show Good Times, the Evan’s family struggles where those of a family coming up in a poor community who’s lives where consumed by getting out of the ghetto and being about to make to the next day. The Evan’s family struggles would include things like being able to find job once you had gotten fired or dealing with the fact that life was hard and that you had to work really hard to get out from up under the pressures of growing up poor. This show showed the true struggles of a family of this time period, for instance there was a show that showed the Evan’s family struggling to come up with the rent that was only seventy-four dollars. So the family comes up with many different avenues to come up with the money. James the father, decided to go out and hustle for the rest of the money by playing pool. Florida the mother decided to go down to the welfare office to sign up for welfare but was denied because James made to much money. The kids; JJ, Thelma and Michael coming up with an idea that involved Thelma being homeless and in need of money so people would give her money. Things like this set this family so far apart from the Cosby’s. The Huxtable’s were the direct...
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...that she always remained in the care of her mother and would visit her father during the summer when she was younger The client reported that she graduated from high school in Michigan. The client reported that she graduated from Oakland Community College in 2012 and received an associates degree. The client currently lives with her boyfriend, 2 children (5-year-old son and 2-year-old daughter) in an apartment. The client reports that she does not work and that her boyfriend is the primary provider. The client reports not having a good relationship...
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...Philippines E-mail: shiro.ito@up.edu.ph Received: March 27, 2011 Abstract This qualitative case study aims to explore reasons that led to the absence of the Japanese father from the family, how it affects the present situation of Japanese-Filipino children (JFC), and to conceptualize socioemotional factors that influence JFC’s life. The study covers current situations and socioemotional and socioeconomic problems of JFC and used standard qualitative techniques to gather field data. This study has identified that JFC are shaped by sociocultural and socioeconomic differences between Japan and the Philippines that play in individuals’ lives and decisions. The union of two people from different cultures and nationalities coupled with socioeconomic struggles and each individual’s underlying reasons to unite (marriage/cohabitation) may also lead to their separation. Furthermore, the study identified several unique socioemotional factors of the JFC as well: perceived unique ethnicity, the retention of a degree of love to the father who abandons them, and the need to see their fathers instead of feeling hatred and anger. Despite their abandonment, the JFC feel proud of their Japanese culture. Finally, JFC feel they belong to two culture groups; they consider knowing and belonging to both cultures to be their destiny. Keywords: Ethnicity, Filipino, Japanese, Children, Migration, Qualitative 1. Background According to national statistics of the Philippines, about 1.6 million Filipinos work abroad...
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...Women today are expected to be loving mothers, domesticated wives, educated career women and still obliged to provide for their families. However, with the demand and focus for highly regarded, high paying careers being dominated by men within society women are unable to break free and prove their capabilities as successful working class individuals as easily as their male counterparts. The obstacles that many women face today limit working women’s ability to enhance their current skills and make it extremely difficult for them to excel in the workforce. With the expectation to balance and multitask work as well as the domestic responsibilities, the same skills that allow women to take on so much are in fact the same factors that hold them back from any advancement within the labour market. According to Krahn, Lowe and Hughes, authors of Work, Industry and Canadian Society (2008), women find themselves seeking refuge in employment facilities with “little economic security and little opportunity for advancement; furthermore the work is often unpleasant, boring and sometimes physically taxing” (p.187). It often forces the female population to strictly seek jobs in the service sector assigned to them based on gender alone. Women have been stereotyped into being domesticated labourers due to the double standard. Women in Canada also face the problem of earning significantly less than their male counterparts. Editors of Dividing the Domestic: men, women, and household work in...
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...Jennyfer Medy Sociology Professor Sobel POVERTY IN SINGLE MOTHERS Poverty is defined as “the state of one who lacks a certain amount of material possessions or money” (http://www.ask.com/wiki/Poverty). Poverty continues to be an epidemic we face in the United States. “According to an analysis of census data, 7.9 million people live in high-poverty neighborhoods. About 30 percent of the population in these neighborhoods is Black, 29 Hispanic, and 24 percent White. (Chapter 10/Social Class, pg.255; handout). As we take a closer look, poverty is at an all time high in single mothers. “In 1970, the number of single-parent families with children under the age of 18 was 3.8 million. By 1990, the number had more than doubled to 9.7 million” (http://www3.uakron.edu/schulze/401/readings/singleparfam.htm). According to textbook Sociology Matters by Richard T. Schaefer, “since World War II, women have constituted an increasing proportion of the poor people in the United States” (Schaefer, 2013, pg 146). The factors that lead women into poverty include the departure, disability, or a death of a husband. Single mothers are also more likely to be poor because of the lower income earnings, inadequate public assistance and lack of child support from fathers. The conflict theory is highly depicted among poverty in single women. “Conflict theorists and other observers trace the higher rates of poverty among women to three distinct factors;...
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..."The Dreamer" by Junot Díaz was first published in a women’s magazine in 2011. In this short essay Díaz writes about how his mother overcame great obstacles and barriers, fought family bonds and held on to a dream that she longed for. "The Dreamer" was initially directed at women, because women would find Díaz’s mother empowering. The audience grew as the story was shared more and more, anyone who has ever had a dream was reading it. This essay gives readers reinforcement that they are not alone overcoming any powerful setbacks they might have in achieving their own dreams. Díaz told his mother’s story of the struggles of living in a third world country, abuse that restrained her, and fate that opened the doors to a world of opportunity on the path to achieving her dream to become an educated nurse in the Dominican Republic. Díaz’s mother didn’t reach her initial dream, but she didn’t give up until she could present her kids with opportunities to achieve their dreams. The Dominican girl, Díaz’s mother, was never meant to leave the mountain she lived on. She was expected “to work on the family farm until she died or was married off” (Díaz 128). During her work on the farm, she was the one who tended to illness. Her grandmother did not like the idea of education, she insisted that “she stay on the farm, that she stay a mule” (Díaz 129). Díaz’s mother longed for an education more than anything. She wanted out of the life she knew. She wanted it so desperately that “she got down...
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...Diagnostic Essay English Composition I April 28, 2014 When I was growing up, things seemed less complicated. My mother always worked and she had help raising me. I grew up in a house with love ones. I did not grow up around my father, but he was in my life. I had much support from my grandparents, aunts, and uncles. But I think I became a pretty decent woman, I started working in the 8th grade when I was 14 years old. My first job was at Kmart. I came home from school did my homework, and then proceeded to go off to work. I always had a steady job. After I graduated from high school I worked two jobs. I didn’t go straight to college because I loved working and making money. As I got older and had my first child at 21, I was still working and I continued up to the day I gave birth. Becoming a mom at a young age was not easy, but think god I had family to help support me when my son was about one, I went back to work and had him in daycare. I was out on my own then. I had my own house and was maintaining with the job I had and having a 1 year old. About two years later I gave birth to my oldest daughter which she is now eleven. I went through the struggles during this time. I was a young mother of two kids, going to school and working. Their father was helping me while I went through my schooling. I always held a job. It was an experience. I rarely got to go out that much since, I was young with two kids. I know being a young parent wasn’t...
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