The Demise of the
(NEXT SLIDE) The 1950's saw the rise of the "traditional" nuclear family, illustrated in television shows like "Ozzie and Harriet" and "Leave it to Beaver". These families redefined society's notions of the household and led to the mistaken view that the „nuclear family' is the norm. Today many people cling to that view, despite the fact that other varieties of families have risen, like the proverbial phoenix, from the ashes of the Nuclear family. Raise your hand if you currently live with both your biological father and mother. Now leave your hand up if your father is the main breadwinner and your mother the homemaker of the family. You chosen few, whose hands I still see have made your home in the 1950's institution known as the „Nuclear Family'. Looking around you could be forgiven for thinking that the Nuclear Family was alive and flourishing, but you'd be wrong. I am here today to tell you that the 1950's Nuclear Family in Australia is suffering a meltdown and is irrelevant to today's society,(PAUSE) however this should not have a detrimental effect on child rearing in Australia. (NEXT SLIDE) The family is perhaps the most important tool for social change, typified by a well-known Confucius saying "The strength of a natio
The nuclear family of the 1950's is no longer dominant in today's society, however it is an important contributor to families in Australia. In nations like Japan, where stability is central to society, the nuclear family still enjoys an advantage, but our own populace have found favour in the alternative systems that release social constraints on parental figures. (NEXT SLIDE) Many of the arguments conservatives use against the breakdown of the nuclear family lie in the assumption that the traditional "stable" family results in a better childhood, however, this is not always the case. Child abuse and neglect seem just as prevalent among traditional families as their alternative counterparts and I personally will advocate any family, whatever shape or form, which provides a stable foundation for their children's future. (NEXT SLIDE) Perhaps the best example of the Nuclear Family is everyone's favourite cartoon family, the Simpsons. The Simpson family relies on father Homer as the breadwinner, ironically working at the local NUCLEAR power plant, mother Marge as the homemaker and Bart, Lisa and Maggie as the 2.5 children. However, the Simpsons are hardly the model family, Homer is a drunk, Marge a compulsive gambler, Lisa a social outcast with few friends at school, and Bart the habitual trouble-maker. "The Nuclear family is a hotbed of violence and depravity"(www.vix.com/men/family/quotes.html). In the modern world of today is it even conceivable that this charade of stability is dominant? Increasing divorce rates, second-wave feminism, and a more tolerant approach to same-sex marriages, have destroyed any last vestiges of the nuclear family that remained after the influential sixties, seventies and eighties. The question of whether the Nuclear family is dominant could be perceived as being purely statistical, and undeniably the statistics agree with me. If you were to take a poll around the school today, which I have done, you would find that approximately 80% or more of the students live in a family that fulfills the criteria of the Nuclear Family. However, this school is a statistical anomaly. The majority here come from a very distinct socio-economic grouping. Upper-class, anglo-saxon parents have the means to support a family and the 20% of students not living in Nuclear-style families make their home in single-parent families, the result of divorces. If we were to venture into the world outside Brisbane Grammar School you would find it to be a different story altogether. Far from the dominance of the 1950's, nuclear families only take up 19% of today's families, the rest being single parents with children, the result of divorce; Same-sex parents, the result of increased tolerance; And childless couples, the result of feminism and changing roles in society. This clearly shows that the 1950's version of the ideal family, the so-called „nuclear family', is no longer dominant in today's society. In answer to the obvious
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Approximate Word count = 1987
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)
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