TEXT C For a long time we have
worked hard at isolating the individual family. This has increased the
mobility of individuals; and by encouraging young families to break away from
the older generation and the home community, we have been able to speed up the
acceptance of change and the rapid spread of innovative behavior. But at
the same time we have burdened every small family with tremendous
responsibilities once shared within three generations and among a large number
of people—the nurturing of small children, the initiation of adolescents into
adulthood, and care of the sick and disabled and the protection of the aged.
What we have failed to realize is that even as we have separated the single
family from the larger society, we have expected each couple to take on a range
of obligations that traditionally have been shared within a family and a wider
community. So all over the world there are millions of families
left alone, as it were, each in its own box—parents faced with the specter of
what may happen if either one gets sick, children fearful that their parent’s
may end their quarrels with divorce, and empty-handed old people without any
role in the life of the next generation. Then, having reduced
little by little to almost nothing the relationship between families and the
community, when families get into trouble because they Cannot accomplish the
impossible, we turn their problems over to impersonal social agencies, which can
act only in a fragmented way because they are limited to patchwork programs that
often are too late to accomplish what is most needed.
Individuals and families do get some kind of help, but what they learn and
what those who work hard within the framework of social agencies convey, even as
they try to help, is that families should be able to care for
themselves. What is said to be the major problem facing young couples
A.They need to fulfill more duties. B.They are incapable of balancing the budget. C.They have their children spoiled and overindulged. D.They get empty-handed after divorce.