Week 4
Trattner Chapters 13-16: 10/05/2012
Thinking back over the past week-what would you say were three most informative and useful things you learned this week from the reading... and how do you see them informing your practice today?
The first thing I found interesting was reading about the Depression and the New Deal. So much was lost due to the stock market crash and it affected millions of people. It is hard to overcome a tragedy like this. The interesting part about this was to read how it affected the social work profession overall. Most important being that it created many jobs in the profession for women, which is amazing. Another useful thing I found in the readings was about World War II and how it brought full employment and rising incomes for most Americans, as well as the involvement of social workers in regards to the War. It is very important for the needs to be met of the members of the armed forces due to the difficulty of adjusting to the military. The families of these members are also affected by their choices, and it was surprising to read that they turned to social workers for help. The third piece of information I found to be fascinating was that during the Nixon Era/ Transitional Era, the women with young dependent children should leave home and go to work at any type of job that would most likely underpay them a lot. A statement that caught my eye was, “Born to the wrong parents, in the wrong part of town, or in the wrong racial group, they were trapped in a cycle of poverty and degradation.” I think this statement is very true for that time. Being born to one of these groups made it real difficult to live life because trying to get an education or a decent job became impossible. Overall, this will help in social work practice because it helps me understand the hardships that people went through. It also helps in reminding me that as social workers, we need to keep in mind the full context of the client and each unique situation that may occur.