Hi class,

I just finished taking Jim Salt's SOC204 on-line and I really enjoyed it. We were his guinea pigs 9so to speak) as that was his first on-line course for Sociology. We all sweated it out with the servers acting up for poor Jim and the delayed assignments because of technical problems he had with his brand new computer and software programs. Jim is a very good instructor and he has a very fair grading system.

I'm taking this on-line course because now that I'm on a roll I feel like I should keep going. Also, I do as many classes as I can on-line and through telecourses because I have a LARGE family to take care of. My husband and I started out with four children and we have adopted 4 and we are adopting two more children. We were taken by surprise by the last two. It was unexpected, but imperative that we make this choice to adopt our these last two. We thought we were finished at 8 and we received our foster baby back after a year of being home with her mother. She had been abused and we as the only family she has. Then there was a new baby brother born to her last summer and we have agreed to accept him as well.We believe in family and we do this parenting thing very well, so even though I thought I had all of my children in school before I came back to school, now I get to see how "working" parents do it.

Sociology has introduced me to a whole new way of looking at the world. Some of it hasn't been pleasant, however, it is enlightening. It has also given me a new awareness of what has shaped me as an individual, and what sorts of things are influencing the lives of my children.

I have been a stay-at-home mom, by choice, for 22 years and I have found it refreshing to get out and see new faces and learn new things at LCC. I have also found some of it very intimidating. My newest pet-peeve is the assumption that being "just a mom" isn't adequate as something one would consider a success.I believe that stay-at-home moms are stereotyped, which is sad because they are within a beautiful social class that is rare and almost extinct in the American social structure. There are too many things that threaten this almost sacred realm of motherhood. That is not to exclude the stay-at-home dad, either. I solute any parent who seizes the opportunity to invest their time in the lives of their child/children.

I'm not one to make waves and I do not believe that it is every parent's lot in life to see to it that their child is not subjected to day-care arrangements. (My youngest children will experience this.) I'm not even so sure which way is even more effective in rearing a well-balanced child as long as the child is nurtured. My main point it that I feel really bent out of shape that a lot of the sociological issues that are being discussed and educated into students have a slant in the direction that makes one believe that it is something of a lesser social status to be an un-employed parent who stays home and cares for a family.

Feminist movements have done a lot to better the lives of American women and I stand in awe of the actions that have taken for us to get women to this place in Society. And where these actions are taking us. It's just that I believe they are guilty of labeling women under a value system that is negative toward this one choice of careers.


Pamela