- Section A Carefully Read The Scenario Below And Answer The Questions That Follow Samuel Logston 20 Marks Samuel Logst 1 (287.62 KiB) Viewed 37 times
- Section A Carefully Read The Scenario Below And Answer The Questions That Follow Samuel Logston 20 Marks Samuel Logst 2 (155.33 KiB) Viewed 37 times
SECTION A Carefully read the scenario below and answer the questions that follow. Samuel Logston [20 Marks] Samuel Logston left home at 5 a.m. and headed for the train station for his 30-mile ride to the centre of the city. As usual, Sam hoped that the train would be on time so that he could catch a series of buses that would take him to his temporary job at a construction company in the congested industrial district. He was not looking forward to the journey, but he really had few choices since he had not worked full-time for 18 months. He is a master plumber with over 15 years of experience, but he was laid off from his job with a small, industrial plumbing subcontractor. His boss had apologised for the pink slip by saying that industrial and commercial construction was so slow that over 60 per cent of the city's plumbers were unemployed. That was little consolation to Sam. Sam believed that the commercial and industrial construction business would never recover to full employment, so he had begun the ambitious job of learning computer repair skills so that he could land a job in the city's bustling service industries. Although he vowed to study hard in all of his computer courses, he had found it very difficult concentrate because he had assumed all of the childcare and household duties since his wife worked as a full-time teacher. This was a serious commitment because their two children were not yet in school. Caring for the two little ones left Sam with scant time to concentrate on the complexities of computer repair. Sam's wife, Nora, taught social studies in a tough, inner-city school known for its gangs and drug problems. While she was a senior teacher at the top pay level, pay increases were few. When they were both working full time, they had to get up early, prepare the children for daycare and travel by public transport to their jobs after one or the other had dropped the children at the daycare centre. When one of the children was sick, either Sam or Nora had to leave work to take them home to see to their needs. Sometimes this created problems for each of them at work because it was difficult for their employers to arrange to find a qualified substitute at short notice. Recently Sam always picked up the children from daycare, prepared the evening meal and completed all the house cleaning. At the weekends, he added shopping and bill paying to his list of chores. Nora concentrated on her job and frequently at the weekends she would mark her students' exams and prepare lesson plans for the coming week. By the time the children were in bed at 8 p.m., both Sam and Nora had put in 15-hour days and they were simply too tired to talk. If Nora had her school work done, she frequently slept in front of the television. Only Sam's snoring would awaken her around 11. She would nudge Sam and they would stumble to bed. Increasingly, Nora complained about her job and the extra work she was expected to do. Teachers had to handle discipline problems and they had to be available to meet the parents of students who were disruptive at school. It was not unusual for the parents to become abusive and hostile toward Nora and the school principal in these meetings. While she still enjoyed teaching, she dreaded her job activities that took her out of the classroom. She found being a hall monitor to be particularly stressful. She felt uncomfortable with the tougher teenage boys and she knew that they sensed her uneasiness. Some bolder boys would make threatening remarks to her. Just last week she had to fail a student who retaliated by saying that his father would be paying her a visit in her classroom. Sam had noticed that lately Nora seemed more depressed and he was concerned because she frequently talked about giving up her job. One of her colleagues had called recently and told Sam that she was worried about Nora. In spite of Nora's scomfort at work, neither she nor Sam had counted on financial effects of his under-employment on their living standards. During the 18 months he had worked an average of two days a week. After six months of unemployment he had given up going to the plumbers' union hall to bid for jobs. Companies simply were not hiring. Since
Nora's salary would not adequately cover their living expenses and the costs of his computer repair courses, he had begun to do small plumbing and carpentry jobs for people in the neighbourhood. If the children were sick, he would try to make arrangements with Mrs Phillips, the next door neighbour, to take care of the children when he had a repair job to finish. By now Sam's temporary job had lasted for a month. It consisted of routine plumbing work on a major office remodelling project. At 6.30 p.m. when he returned home, he found Nora crying in the living room. The children were crying too and apparently they were hungry. As he looked closely at his wife, Sam saw that she had a bruised cheek. Nora then explained how the irate father of her failed student barged into her classroom as she was preparing to leave for home at 4.30 p.m. He said that she had to change his son's mark because failing the course might mean that he would be held back for a year. Nora had said that she couldn't change his mark and he would have to take up the matter with the school's principal. The boy's father had blocked her exit from the classroom. A security guard had heard the father's threatening remarks and he called the police. While the boy's father had not hurt Nora in any way, nonetheless, she was so unnerved by the experience that she had tripped and fallen on her way out of the building. In the fall she had bruised her cheek. She told the police that she did not wish to pursue the matter in any way. However, she had to attend a meeting with both of his parents, the school principal and a security guard tomorrow at 9 a.m. Nora told Sam that she did not want to go to the meeting and that she could not stand the idea of being in the same room with the boy's parents, particularly his father. As Sam saw the pain on his wife's face and the nervousness in her voice he understood why she wanted to leave. Answer ALL the questions in this section. Question 1 1.1 1.2 What are the five stressors that are at work on Sam and Nora. Provide reasons for your answer making reference to the case study? Given their current circumstances, is it possible for Sam and Nora to overcome their difficulties? What recommendations would you make to them? (15 marks) (5 marks)