The life assignment given to us was very difficult to try to handle. We were a family of four including a mother, father, teenage boy of 17, as well as a 6-year-old girl with special needs. Our combined income from working full time between two incomes of $5.85/hr. added up to $16,100/year and we needed to find out a plan to work for our family that will stay within a budget and provide us with the necessities involved with our life situation.

Adding up expenses including rent, utilities, hygiene, travel, education, special education needs, etc., we found that in order to live comfortably we would need to make around $26,100/year – about $10,000 more that what we make now. Knowing this information and having no savings built up, in order for us to make our budget plan possible was to find new jobs that pay better wages. There is just not enough money being brought in to the family than what is needed to pay out.

Even if we were to get a better paying job that meets the requirements of $26,100/year, but that is still just living paycheck to paycheck. With no savings built up, we have no money to pay for surprise medical emergencies, funeral payments, or other forms of expenses. Our family does not get to enjoy the luxuries of vacation, fine automobiles and housing, pets, or Internet and cable. Our children will not be able to get an education beyond high school causing them, in turn, to increase their chances of getting a low paying job. The cycle of being poor just continues. In order to break the cycle there needs to be a way to create a steady income above minimum wage and a lot of luck trying to find a job that will provide us with this. 

          To view the movie Mean Girls though the mind of a functional analysis would be an accurate view. Functional Analysis is a study of society as a complete system whose parts work together to promote solidarity and stability. It focuses on five basic needs of society including socializing new members, producing services, preserving order, replacing new members, and providing a sense of purpose. All of these five topics can be related back to the movie Mean Girls.

            At the beginning of the movie, Cady was introduced to life at a public high school. She was originally homeschooled and was looking for a group of friends she can assort herself with. The “Plastics,” a group of the most popular girls in school invite her to sit at their table and be friends with them. When she joins their group, she is socialized with a set of new rules and regulations that need to be upheld while being in the group such as wearing pink on Wednesdays.

            The group provides services to others such as a sense of place and purpose. The Plastics are located at the top of the social ladder and everyone else falls beneath them. The order within the school is preserved because everyone knows their place and where they belong.

            When one of the members is replaced, chaos consumes everyone. When Cady overthrows Regina, the leader of the Plastics, the order of society is skewed making it hard for everyone to function because people question their sense of purpose and where they belong. A new “leader” is needed to fulfill the role of Regina that was lost. Since Cady was the one that overthrew her, she is the one to take her place.

            A functional analytic view on the movie Mean Girls provides a hilarious yet sad representation of the truth of social structure in most schools. All the girls within the group of the Plastics work together to provide stability to schools through socialization, providing services, preserving order, replacing new members, and providing a sense of purpose.

            

According to the cognitive profile, I am a sensor thinker, or an “ST learner.” The website was accurate in describing my methods of learning. It stated that I am a concrete learner that has to have things in step by step order to be completed and may have difficulties completing a task if not given explicit directions.

            The site provided instructions on how to study using tools such as flashcards and repition and to work at a desk with little distractions in order to learn at my best. Usually, this is what I try to do. Occasionally- depending on the type of work I am doing- I can allow myself to listen to music, but only if is a type of work that does not require my full attention and only if the music is strictly instrumental- as it states in the text on the site. But if I am reading, for example, I need the room I am in to be completely silent and with no distractions in order for me to comprehend the story.

            The site also provided suggestions as to how I can go about studying more efficiently. By stopping to review information while reading a chapter every 5 – 10 minutes, I will be more likely to remember the information I am reading. I have never done this before, but it does make sense to me. I will probably give this a try at least once in future reading assignments and if I find that it works well, I will continue to use it.