Sociology Discussion Responses Response to Post #1

Sociology Discussion Responses

Response to Post #1

While I agree completely with your sentiments and your long-range goals and the values they represent, I am not so sure that providing the resources you mentioned is as realistic a solution as it may have been in prior years. In my opinion, there is actually a fundamental barrier to the goal of increasing the availability of social programs in the current political climate. Specifically, there seems to be a complete disconnect between the appreciation of the importance of social assistance programs and the stated policies being promoted by the Right Wing Conservative representatives currently in office in Washington. Across the nation, republican members of the House of Representatives (in particular) have been exhibiting a continual failure to appreciate the relative importance and social value of the very types of programs that are so desperately needed in so many impoverished communities.

Instead of prioritizing social welfare programs and assistance to the poor and middle class, Republican representatives are actually expressing a willingness to see the U.S. slip into national debt default over their refusal to consider addressing the need to conserve on public funds in the billions that are currently unavailable to social welfare programs (or any other initiatives to benefit the American populace) because they are dedicated to subsidizing corporate jets and oil company profits. In my opinion, it is unrealistic to talk about improving the availability of social welfare opportunities until that problem is resolved ethically.

Response to Post #2

I agree with you completely about the importance of addressing the domestic violence problem as well as with your characterization of the monumental significance of the issue because of the tremendous vulnerability of domestic violence victims. However, I disagree that the primary solution should necessarily be relegated to law enforcement. Naturally, law enforcement policies and training must maximize the ability of police authorities to recognize, prevent, and respond to any suspected incidence of domestic violence, but it may actually be even more important to educate the lay public about domestic violence than it is to train professionals about it. By the time domestic violence incidents attract the attention of law enforcement, the first such incident likely represents the proverbial tip of the iceberg. Moreover, the vast majority of all domestic violence probably escapes law enforcement attention. Therefore, in many respects, it may be more useful to devote resources capable of increasing awareness of what domestic violence is and to encourage the reporting of all suspected instances by family members, neighbors, and relatives. .

Response to Post #3

Your post raises a very important point about the relative quality of education systems available by virtue of income and social class. From my reading and familiarity with the subject, it does not seem that the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) approach to reducing learning disparities between more privileged and less privileged communities despite this being one of the principal objectives of educational reform during the Bush administration era. I would be curious to know whether you agree with that retrospective assessment of the NCLB concept.

Additionally, I would be curious to now what types of approaches and initiatives you would propose to better achieve that objective, especially given the serious budgetary limitations to which all public institutions and systems are currently subject for the near future. In terms of advocating for specific changes in contemporary education, I would ask you what ideas and changes you would consider among the most important to devote effort to their advocacy.

Response to Post #4

Your post makes very clear that being a child day care worker can be tremendously stressful. Even under ordinary circumstances, the pressures, attention to detail, and constant vigilance required by the responsibilities involved must be daunting. I would be curious to know whether the stress of working in that capacity for the long-term can change the way you perform your duties or change the way you deal with or feel about the children in your care. Likewise, I would like to ask you whether your exposure to so many children and their parents has taught you things about children's behavior and parenting styles that might not be as apparent to those of us who have not spent as much time with so many different children in any regular capacity that would enable us to draw meaningful conclusions in that regard.

On the subject of advocacy and change, I agree with you that change usually involves various aspects of advocacy, I might not agree that all types of changes always necessarily require advocacy. For example, in the field you describe, I would imagine that what is required more than advocacy is simply better education of parents with respect to parenting skills as well as increasingly direct communication between day care service providers and their clients on matters of appropriate consideration and the importance of fulfilling parental responsibilities necessary for care providers to furnish the highest quality of service possible to all their clients.

Response to Post #5

I agree with your description of advocacy as something that is much more easily and effectively pursued in connection with genuinely strong personal convictions about the subject matter. It is difficult to imagine an effective advocacy generated by individuals without a genuine concern for the change they are promoting. However, I might not agree with the way you characterize the difference between change and advocacy. That is because to my mind, change would be an objective or a goal whereas advocacy would be a method or strategy for achieving that goal. In that sense, I would suggest that they cannot be compared directly in the same manner as two different objectives or two different strategies can be compared directly.

Response to Post #6