Social Class Differences and Family Life Education at the Secondary Level.

Although the family in some form or other is universal among human societies, the particular form which the family takes is an aspect of the culture of a society. Different cultures are associated with different kinds of family life. Consequently a country such as the U. S. A., which includes diverse cultural groups, will present a variety of types of family life, complicating the task of education for family life by the fact that school children represent this cultural diversity of family life practices and values. The principal cultural sub-groups in the United States, judged by their differences in family-life patterns, are; Ethnic Groups--Italian-American, Polish-American, Japanese-American, Mexican-American, German-American, etc. Religious Groups--Jewish, Catholic, Protestant, Mormon, Mennonite, etc. Social Class Groups--Upper Class, Middle Class, Lower Class. The cultural differences between middle-class and lower-class or working-class families will be discussed in this paper, together with their implications for family life education in the secondary schools. The material cited is only suggestive. There are other cultural differences which are not mentioned here. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]