Children, Families, and Schools

This blog will be discussing the topic of children, families, and schools. All such a huge aspect of millions of people's lives daily! These three things affect social lives tremendously, in some ways we might not even realize. Looking at the functionalism perspective, this provides us with the simple idea that family, schools, and children all perform several essential functions to society. Whether it's socializing children or providing them with a "social identity". The conflict theory suggests that family contributes to social inequalities through economic inequality and by reinforcing patriarchy. Not only this, but often times we see family being a source of conflict in itself. This is infamously shown through physical violence, emotional trauma, financial cruelty, etc. The symbolic theory proposes that the interaction of family members and couples involves shared understandings of their situations. Furthermore, it goes on to suggest that husbands and wives can have different communication styles, and social class affects expectations. 

Using data from the National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG), sociologists can study how marriage has changed in the United States. The NSFG reported that relatively few people marry at young ages. For example, in 2017-2019, only 2% of women and 1% of men were married by age 18. By age 20, the percentages increased to 8% for women and 4% for men. The probability of marriage significantly increases by the mid-twenties and early thirties. By age 25, about 34% of women and 24% of men had been married, and by age 30 the percentages rise to 56% of women and 50% of men. By 40, approximately 76% of women and 75% of men have been married at least once. (NSFG Key Statistics, Probability of First Marriage table). These statistics show how the timing of marriage varies by age and gender, which can help sociologists understand broader social changes in family formation. 


The nonprofit organization that I chose this week is Club Esteem. Their mission is to help children in under-resourced communities to achieve academic and personal excellence. They have been achieving this for the past 30 years through tutoring, mentoring, enrichment programs, etc. 91% of their 100+ high school graduates have since enrolled in college. Over 100% of their students who enrolled in college graduate within 4-6 years. They currently serve students from over 20 schools in Brevard County, with plans of expanding. I felt as though this organization was a perfect fit for this topic as it is can connect back to the conflict theory. 

https://clubesteem.org/create-an-impact/ 

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