Directions

In this paper complete all the required activities and answer the reflection questions. This assignment will help extend your understanding of the unit topics and concepts to applications in everyday life. Please respond to all of the questions in paragraph form with the question numbers labeled. You should incorporate concepts from the readings into your answers and cite the readings as needed. The paper should be 2-3 pages and submitted via Canvas by Sunday 11:59 pm CT.

Question 1

The United States has one family-friendly policy: the Family Medical Leave Act. It took about a decade to pass and, after a long fight, offers only unpaid leave of up to 12 weeks a year to care for yourself, a child or a family member. It is restricted to workers in companies with more than 50 employees, who work full-time and have been with the firm for more than one year, and thus doesn’t cover 40 percent of the U.S. workforce. Other nations have many other policies. Please take a few minutes and briefly research the family policies of another nation.

• What nation did you select and what was your data source?
• What were the key features of the policy?
• What was unique and interesting to you?
• Why do you think the United States lags behind other democracies in efforts to help families?

Question 2

Watch the following commercial for Cheerios cereal. The clip below is the first Super Bowl commercial to feature an interracial family and the company aired a series of commercials with this family the previous year. This commercial sparked controversy and conversation.

• Why do you think this representation of family leads to debate?
• How does the media present families?
• How are race, class, and gender intersecting with pop cultural representations of family?
• Can you think of other examples of the diversity of families represented in the media? Cheerio’s first ever Super Bowl ad featuring interracial family (:30) (Links to an external site.)

Question 3

Watch the following interview with Jonathon Kozol discussing inequality in education and then answer the following questions. What is Kozol’s central argument in this interview? How are schools still unequal and segregated today? What does Kozol mean by the concept of “hereditary meritocracy” in relation to education opportunity? Jonathan Kozol – Savage Inequalities (5:30) (Links to an external site.)

Due Date

• Sunday, 11:59 pm, CT