Changing Family Values Essay -- Exploratory Essays Research Papers

Changing Family Values "Imagine that, one day in 1960, all radio and television transmissions had been interrupted by a special message from some Cosmic Census Bureau forecaster: 'Ladies and gentlemen, please fasten your seat belts and hang on to your hats. Over the next twenty-five years, all standard demographic indicators will rise or fall steeply. Divorce rates, rates of mothers' participation in the labor force, and rates of birth outside marriage will double. Birth rates overall will drop. By the end of the 1980s, more than half of your future citizens will be spending at last part of their childhood in a single-parent home. Oh, and by the way, there will be a sexual revolution, to which all are cordially invited.' Who would have believed it?" Imagine that... Imagine a world where people who are completely miserable within the confines of a bad marriage have the freedom to leave. Imagine a world where women -- WOMEN -- women with children -- dare to enjoy a career that gives their life meaning, that reinforces their sense of self-worth and independence. Imagine a world where sex isn't a taboo to be hidden behind bedroom doors in suburban houses where meek wives greet misogynistic husbands at 5 pm with a turkey dinner and a smile. Who could have believed it? Who could have believed it in a world where women had, in all reality, just recently gained the right to vote for their leaders in this country. Who could have believed it in a 1960s America where women stayed home and raised children and when the children were done being raised they just kept on staying home. Who could have believed it in a culture, that even so far ahead of so many others in the world, expected females to serve, and to do so quiet... ...ice. While we're at it, why don't we just re-institute racial segregation in schools and can affirmative action altogether and strengthen immigration laws and ban girls from attending universities. Let's just take a giant step, or two or three or four or a hundred, back and see how much better life is. Let's do it and see how much better our kids turn out. Let's do it and see how long it takes for people to get fed up and want things back the way they used to be. Change is hard, and in a relatively short time, the economic system of this country and the dynamic of the American family has changed drastically. This is bound to produce some negative effects. That is no reason to be up in arms against feminism and against mothers in the workforce. Do your best with your own children, that's all our parents could do, and that's all we can really ask of anyone.