Download Christian Community's Response to Casas and Cooke's Colloquium on Marriage and Parenting and more Papers Creative writing in PDF only on Docsity! Michelle Selk Colloquium Response Dr. Robert Schihl 10 October 2002 A Response to the Papers by Dawn Casas and Elliott Cooke Introduction First, I would like to applaud both Dawn Casas and Elliott Cooke for selecting and researching such timely topics. “Functional” families are becoming a rarity in American society while “dysfunctional” families are becoming more acceptable, especially on television (just think of the Osbournes who are somehow dysfunctionally functional). It is essential that those of us who are apart of the family of God share and aid those within the Christian family and those that may not be apart of this family…yet. Now, onto an analysis of these two great papers. Response to Paper by Dawn Casas Casas presents a significant amount of evidence to support her view. Siting previous studies, she is able to draw upon the past and to gaze upon the future. The high divorce rate among American married couples is no laughing matter, and Casas handles the issue succinctly and with an understanding of the severity of this issue among other couple-related problems, specifically conflict resolution (the focus of her paper). The instruments she used to measure her data were thorough. She gave the subjects ample room to answer the questions and to respond openly about the marriage relationship. I think that the strongest point made by Casas is in her conclusion, where she states that it is often the differences in the marriage and how those differences are handled that make the relationship stronger and more satisfying. A few suggestions that I have for the paper are to include more information, and perhaps focus, on bi-cultural marriages. Casas states that she is in a bi-cultural marriage, which leads the reader to assume that this topic will be addressed in the paper. By including a look at bi-cultural marriages, I think that the scope of the paper can be broadened just enough to give it a fresh perspective. Additionally, by looking at different cultural approaches to marriage and at the gender differences in communication, a more fleshed out study of marriage quality can result. Finally, it might be beneficial to look at non-Christians and how they handle/define marriage quality, unless the purpose of the paper is to solely look at Christian marriages. Response to Paper by Elliott Cooke As was the case with Casas, Cooke also does an exceptional job with the literature review. Cooke grounds himself before delving into his study and states his case and his reasons for it with compassion and strength. It is unfortunate that Cooke was unable to get a higher response rate because the questionnaires contained many poignant questions about the role of fatherhood. Cooke is right on target with this research. Not only are abuse cases on the rise, but there are also many men/fathers who refuse to pay child support. Parenting, like marriage, has become a spectator sport that does not require much effort if those involved do not want to work at it. Although Cooke does address the husband—wife relationship and also the parent— parent relationship, I would suggest that Cooke also look at communication research or other literature that addresses gender differences. Why is it that women do most of the parenting? Why do men not like to help with household chores? Should they help with household chores? Parenting is a two-person/two-gender job, so it may be to Cooke’s benefit to explore this angle.
