Do not forget to adhere to the basic extra credit instructions posted separately on Canvas. Here is the article citation:  Coontz, S. (1999, November). The American Family. Life, Vol. 22, pp. 79-82.

Here is the link to the article on the author’s website (accessing it through the

OUS library is temporarily not an option): http://www.stephaniecoontz.com/articles/article10.htm The abstract for the article reads as follows:

“Discusses the similarities in family life and social problems in the United States

in the beginning of the 20th century through November 1999. Improvements regarding childhood mortality, education, child labor, and women’s rights; Why the 1950s are regarded so highly in history as a standard for family values

despite the actual poverty rate, women’s oppression and race relation problems.”

Stephanie Coontz is a family historian at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. In the family field, she is most well known for her book, The Way We Never Were: American Families & The Nostalgia Trap published in 1992.

For this extra credit assignment, I want you to answer the following questions:

1. According to Coontz, why are families better off now than they were 100 years ago?

2. Why does Coontz think that, as a society, we long for a return to the 1950’s?

3. Do you think our society could, in fact, return to the families of the 1950’s?

Why or why not?

4. Do you think as a nation, we would be better off if we did return to the families of the1950’s? Why or why not?

Complete the requirements as indicated for the particular option you selected.

Number your responses to the questions and make the answer to each question a separate paragraph. It makes grading easier.

DO NOT include any introductory information such as your name, your ID#, the date, the course name or number, or the name of the option you selected.

DO NOT include the instructions/questions listed for the assignment in your write-up. Those words will NOT be counted as part of the word length requirement. After all, those are not your words.

Check to be sure your word length is between 350 and 700 words. A paper that is too long is just as bad as one that is too short, so please keep within these guidelines. This is a requirement that I will be checking. Papers that are too long usually have too much information and the writer has trouble getting to the point.

Please run a spell and grammar check. This may seem obvious, but please use complete sentences. You will lose points for spelling/grammar/mechanical errors as well as incomplete or run-on sentences as those things make the responses very difficult to read.

Save your document as one of the following two file types only (Canvas will not allow you to submit any other file type):

a.A Microsoft Word document created on a newer version of MSWord – .docx

b.A Rich Text Format document – .rtf