Compulsory English Grade 12 || Language Development || Unit-2 Family || Family || NEB

 

 

Language Development

Unit 2- Family

 About the Essay:

·       This essay is written by Alan John Barnard, American anthropologist

·       Junior lecturer social anthropology University Cape Town, South Africa, 1972-1973

·       Lecturer social anthropology University College London, 1976—1978, University Edinburgh, Scotland, 1978—1990, senior lecturer, 1990—1994, reader, 1994—2001, professor anthropology of Son of Africa, since 2001.

 

Structure of the Essay:

1. Family

2. Socioeconomic aspects of the family

3. Family law

The First 5 Paragraphs:

1st Para                   - Defining Family

2nd Para         - Functions of the family

3rd Para          - Patriarchal Family

4th Para          - Effects of industrialization on family Structure

5th Para          - Modern Model of Family

6th Para          - Family Law- The legal relationship among family members

7th-8th Para   - General rules in marriage before and after modern time

9th Para          - Dissolution of Marriage

10th Para                - Issue of Children

11th Para         - Succession of family property

Working with words

A. Find the words from the text and solve the puzzle. Clues are given below.

 

1. Polygamy                          1. patriarchal

5. mutual                              2. domination

6. urbanization                    3. blatant

7. socialization                     4. lone parent

 

B. Find the meanings of the following family-related words and use them in your own sentences.

 

Nuclear family (noun) - a couple and their dependent children, regarded as a basic social unit; Nuclear family is the most preferred family these days.

Monogamy (noun) - the practice of marrying or state of being married to one person at a time; Monogamy is a type of marriage in which a man is allowed to have many wives.

Sibling-in-law (noun) - the spouse of your sibling; My sibling-in-law is going to abroad soon.

Milk kinship (noun)- formed during nursing by a non-biological mother; When a non biological mother feeds milk to a child a milk kinship is established between them.

Matrilineal (adjective) - of or based on kinship with the mother or the female line. I have a matrilineal relation to that person.

Nepotism (noun) - the practice among those with power or influence of favoring relatives or friends, especially by giving them jobs; Nepotism in employment is a bad culture.

Maternity (noun) - motherhood; A girl becomes matured when she turns into maternity.

 

C. The following words are from the above text. Each word has two parts. Polygamy, unmarried, nontraditional, dissolution, inequitable

Poly, un, non, dis, and in are prefixes. They make new words when they are added to the beginning of other root words.

 

Make at least five words using the prefixes given. Consult a dictionary to learn how they change the meaning of root words.

pre-, semi-, sub-, mis-, mono-, un-, in-, inter-,

 

Pre-           premature, pretest, predict, preview, prepare

semi-           semiannual, semicircle, semifinal, semiformal, semiweekly

sub -                    subconscious, submerge, submissive, subordinate, subside

mis-           misconception, miscarriage, misunderstanding, mismatch,              misguide,

mono -      monogamy, monolithic, monotheism, monopoly,                                monotonous,

un-             unable, unfinished, unclean, unlucky, uncomfortable.

in-              intimate, incomplete, insignificant, invent, insane

inter-         intermediate, international, interracial, intercut,                                    intermission

 

Comprehension:

A. The headings of the first five paragraphs of the above text are given below. Write paragraph number next to them.

a. Patriarchal family                     -  3rd Paragraph

b. Functions of the family                   - 2nd Paragraph

c. Modern model of family        - 5th Paragraph

d. Effects of industrialization on family structure - 4th Paragraph

e. Defining family                         - 1st paragraph

 

B. Answer the following questions.

a. What type of family is thought to be the oldest form of the family?

Ans: - Nuclear family is thought to be the oldest form of the family.

 

b. How does a family provide security to its members?

Ans: -A family provides security to its members by generating warmth, love, companionship among its members.

 

c. What were the features of medieval European family?

Ans: - The features of medieval European family were i) the societies were male dominated societies, and ii) almost all the families were extended families.

 

d. What caused the dissolution of extended families in the West?

Ans: -Because of industrialization and urbanization, most of youths especially unmarried ones, left their farms and went to urban centers to become industrial workers and this process caused the dissolution of extended families in the West.

 

e. What change occurred in gender role in the modern family that emerged after the Industrial Revolution?

Ans: -The changes occurred in gender role in the modern family that emerged after the Industrial Revolution are: greater equalities between the sexes, break in family roles, freedom of work and public life to women and living together and having children are allowed to a couple even without getting married.

 

f. What is family law?

Ans: - Family law is the law which defines the legal relationship among family members as well as the relationship between families and society at large.

 

g. How is modern marriage defined?

Ans: - Modern marriage is defined as a voluntary union between a man and a woman.

 

h. What do special family courts try to do?

Ans: - Special family courts try to deal with sensitive issues like custody of children more fairly.

 

i. What does the legislation on child labour and child abuse declare?

Ans: - The legislation on child labour and child abuse asserts society's responsibility for a child's best interests.

 

j. What is common among most legal system regarding property?

Ans: - Most legal system has some means of dealing with division of property left by a disease family member.

 

Critical Thinking

a. What changes have started to occur in Nepali families in recent days? What impacts will they bring on the society? Discuss.

Ans: - A concept of typical Nepal family has been changing day by day. Nepali families used to be traditional, cultural, religious and superstitious in the past. They used to live in a traditional way following own life styles based on ethnicity. Children were taught traditional norms and values by their parents. But in this modern age, there are many changes in Nepali families. Most of families have forgotten own culture. Even parents are modern and educated and deny traditional way of living as following blind faiths. Religious and cultural behaviors are considered to be superstitious. The love of English language has been reducing the diversity in languages. Traditional extended families have been turning into nuclear families. Most of people prefer to live with their spouses and children only. Because of advancement in technology especially internet, has been increasing extramarital relationships causing split in families. Most of young people after their high school graduation prefer to fly to foreign countries to seek better life opportunities. Most of rich families in cities prefect to adopt modern life style forgetting own culture and tradition. Old age people are ignored by their children. Because of such practices, the uniqueness of Nepali families is gradually declining. Our societies are rich in cultural practices, but most of the people are adopting foreign culture ignoring our own culture. Soon there will be lack in cultural identities. Mutual understanding, love, cooperation and compassion among family members have been lost as people have become selfish. Such practices will bring defragments in individual people and in societies.

 

b. We see many elderly people in the elderly homes these days in Nepal. Some of them are abandoned while others live there willingly. Do you think Nepali people are deviating from their traditional culture? Give reasons.

Ans: - Elderly people are the respected citizens of any country. They are living legends and they have lots of contribution to their family, society and country. They deserve our love and respect. But most of such people are abandoned in the society and they are living a miserable life in elderly homes. They are weak, can't earn money, and have to be cared by their children. Some children with good hearts love and take care of their parents properly. But majority of people are selfish and they only think of their family (spouse and children). They forget to the struggles of their parents in the past. They think their parents as a burden and take them to elderly home. The time when such people need love, support, care they are taken to elderly home. Some elderly people chose to go to elderly home when they can't bear misbehavior of their children and their spouses. I think Nepali people are deviating from their traditional culture. Our culture teaches us that our parents are our god. We have to love them, support them, and bring lots of happiness in them. We are taught that children are devotee of their parents. But they are deviated from traditional culture as they are inclined to foreign culture. They have become selfish just running after money, and only think of own spouses and children.

 

Writing

A. Write as essay on The Importance of Family. In your essay, you can use these guiding questions.

·        Why family is important to you.

·        Why family is or is not important for society.

·        How you think families will change in the future.

 

The importance of family cannot be overestimated. They have a huge impact on our lives and help us develop as individuals. Those who are lucky enough to have a family usually underestimate the value of the family. On the other hand, those without a family know their value. Our family is a tower of strength for us. It teaches us the importance of interpersonal communication. They help us create meaningful personal encounters. The love we get from our family is beneficial to our independent relationship. It also teaches us communication skills and patience. It strengthens our confidence and so on, that is why family is important to us.

The health of the individual determines the health of the society. Without healthy people, society experiences many evils. For example, family bonds can help reduce crime rates. The family is also an important factor in whether a person can successfully reform after a crime, and whether the same mistake can be repeated. When people are in trouble, healthy family relationships provide a point of contact, which means they cannot resort to crime or other undesirable coping mechanisms. Many problems in today's society are related to whether people have a good family support system. When people need family support in difficult times, they may not be so dependent on social services and networks outside of the family. Healthy families also contribute to a strong economy. Families with parents and children living in the same household tend to have higher incomes than other types of households. This provides children with better educational opportunities and thus higher income opportunities than adults. Children learn by imitating their parents. If parents work during the day, children are more likely to have the same professional ethics when they grow up.

 

Lots of changes in families are witnessed in the present time. By observing the present situation, we are obvious that there will certainly be changes in families in future. The future couples will be much more diverse in terms of interracial couples, same sex couples and so on. People will become more liberal on the concept of families. The number of children will be fewer in the future family. Most probably there will be a single child family either it will be male child or female. The quality of life will be increased as the parents will be economically sufficient to provide advanced facilities to their children. But there is also a threat in perfect family concept because the rate of divorce is also increasing these days. Technically, the children will be more advanced but there will be decline in cultural values as family families are following western cultures. In the future, most of families will lack their children in old age as many young generations are addicted to live a foreign life.

 

B. Some people think it is better to live in a nuclear family. Other people think that living in extended family is more advantageous. What do you think? Write an essay discussing the advantages and disadvantages of both.

Ans: - Various types of families are in existence in our societies since time memorable. The concept of the types of families has been changing these days. However, most of families are either nuclear or extended. Nuclear family is a universal phenomenon to modern people, and traditional people prefer extended family. Both families have both advantages and disadvantages which I am going to talk about here.

Nuclear family is an independent family because a small group of people consist of a husband, a wife and their children form such family. A separate family is formed after a son leaves his parents when he gets married. The advantages in such family are personal development, better condition of women, a smaller number of children, peace and harmony in a family, individual responsibility, quality of life and so on. Despite these disadvantages there are some disadvantages of nuclear family. Nuclear family has to employ domestic labour to take care of their children and family, children are insecure because their parents adopt profession outside leaving them under the care of the servants, children adopt all sorts of bad qualities, they forget tradition and culture, feeling of loneliness, insecure for old, widow and divorce, and so on.

Extended family just goes beyond father, mother and children. There are many family members in extended family. There are lots of advantages and disadvantages of extended family. When I talk about its advantages, in such type of family, there is security to family members, it boosts unity and coherence, support and mutual help to each other, easy to socialize its new members, team work spirit, warmth, compassion and love to each other, respect to elder people. Despite these advantages, there are some disadvantages of extend family. Some family members may be bad, and spoils the happiness of the entire family members, development of ego and revenge in terms of inheritance of family property, inferior position of women, economic burden, and lack in quality of life and so on.