Three of the following questions will appear in the optional section of the examination. You will have an opportunity to write on one of them during the second hour of the examination. If you choose to do this you should be prepared to write about 3-5 pages of material on the question. Organize the material in an outline so that you can set the ideas down in an orderly fashion. This will make your presentation much clearer and will make my reading of the answers much easier.
I suggest that you take each of these questions and prepare a brief outline of each one, cover the points that you already know, seek information on those that you do not. You should be able to do each outline in about 10-15 minutes and expand upon the information from that outline.
1. Early in the semester we discussed the possibility that our lives are totally determined by the society or culture in which we live. Since then we have examined the family, the process of socialization, education, the economy and the polity. Show how each of these areas of the society may determine how we act. In turn show what the consequences to the individual are for breaking free of these deterministic patterns.
2. The local newspapers (the Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News) periodically present information to the effect that the crime rates in the Denver Metropolitan area are increasing (or decreasing!). Discuss the nature of these data, the way in which they are presented in the newspapers and how you think people may react to them. As you do so keep in mind the statuses of different people who may read these articles and how their status may affect the way they interpret the story.
3. The superintendent of the Denver Public Schools has called you in to examine the quality of education in the Denver Public Schools. On the basis of what you have read concerning education, inequality, and minority status, prepare a summary statement for the superintendent that will deal with the issues raised concerning quality of education for all of the children living in the City and County of Denver.
4. Discuss the effect of population growth on technology and the effect of technology on population growth.
5. China has successfully implemented a "one-child" family size policy. Discuss the consequences of that policy 25-30 years from now. Be sure to consider the effect on families, the economy and on individuals. (E.g., what would it mean to grow up in a society with no brothers and sisters, to have no nephews and nieces, no aunts and uncles? How might the consequences of the policy affect the availability of teachers, of doctors, lawyers and other professional people.)
6. A few years ago, then Mayor Federico Pena and his administration moved to place the new Denver Airport in Adams County to the east of the Rocky Mountain Arsenal. Draw upon your knowledge of the "state" and polity in a discussion of how that decision may have been made. Remember that many of the people in Adams county were opposed to the site. Who were the land owners and how did they affect the decision?
7. The schools, the community and the work world are all intimately linked with one another. Describe a school system that will produce individuals that will work to make the community the best of all possible places in which to live.
8. When you leave the University you will be moving into a new and different kind of world. How will the expectations of that world affect you and how might you continue to contribute to that world while maintaining your own sense of self and worth. (Consider that you will now be fully paid by a corporation that may expect you to conform daily to their idea of a "professional" manager or lawyer or doctor or teacher. What are the types of controls that might be imposed on you, how might you deal with them?)
Copyright © 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999 by Richard H. Anderson, the Department of Sociology and the University of Colorado at Denver.
This page last revised: July 11, 1999. Please contact Richard H. Anderson (randerso@carbon.cudenver.edu) if you experience any problems or have comments about these pages.