Looking back through old files I found a chapter I wrote over 10 years ago exploring some of these issues. In case some of you have nothing better to do on a three-day weekend I'm attaching it. Martin
Attachment:
Packer 2001 Cultural and critical perspectives on.pdf
Description: Packer 2001 Cultural and critical perspectives on.pdf
On Nov 10, 2013, at 3:06 PM, Dr. Paul C. Mocombe <pmocombe@mocombeian.com> wrote: > I find it strange that education is always promulgated as the key to resolving social inequalities. However, the black/white academic gap is widest among black students from middle and upper middle class families vis-a-vis their white counterparts than it is between lower class blacks and their white counterparts? Furthermore, we academics tend to speak about poverty as though it is a natural phenomenon than can be broken by an individual social actor as opposed to poverty being a social construction that needs to be resolved with social policy, increased minimum wage, heavy and i mean heavy taxes on the wealthy, free access to medical health services, and free education. > > > Dr. Paul C. Mocombe > President > The Mocombeian Foundation, Inc. > www.mocombeian.com > www.readingroomcurriculum.com > > -------- Original message -------- > From: mike cole <lchcmike@gmail.com> > Date: 11/10/2013 1:30 PM (GMT-05:00) > To: xmca-l@ucsd.edu,Ray McDermott <rpmcd@stanford.edu>,Shirin Vossoughi <shirinvossoughi@gmail.com> > Subject: [Xmca-l] Fwd: Critical Early Learning > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: Frank Kessel <kesfam@pdq.net> > Date: Sun, Nov 10, 2013 at 9:14 AM > Subject: Critical Early Learning > To: Frank Kessel <kesfam@pdq.net> > > > [image: The New York Times] <http://www.nytimes.com/> > > ------------------------------ > November 9, 2013 > Oklahoma! Where the Kids Learn EarlyBy NICHOLAS D. > KRISTOF<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/opinion/editorialsandoped/oped/columnists/nicholasdkristof/index.html> > > TULSA, Okla. ? LIBERALS don?t expect Oklahoma to serve as a model of social > policy. But, astonishingly, we can see in this reddest of red states a > terrific example of what the United States can achieve in early education. > > Every 4-year-old in Oklahoma gets free access to a > year<http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/02/14/is-oklahoma-the-right-model-for-universal-pre-k/> > of > high-quality prekindergarten. Even younger children from disadvantaged > homes often get access to full-day, year-round nursery school, and some > families get home visits to coach parents on reading and talking more to > their children. > > The aim is to break the cycle of poverty, which is about so much more than > a lack of money. Take two girls, ages 3 and 4, I met here in one Tulsa > school. Their great-grandmother had her first child at 13. The grandmother > had her first at 15. The mom had her first by 13, born with drugs in his > system, and she now has four children by three fathers. > > But these two girls, thriving in a preschool, may break that cycle. Their > stepgreat-grandmother, Patricia Ann Gaines, is raising them and getting > coaching from the school on how to read to them frequently, and she is > determined to see them reach the middle class. > > ?I want them to go to college, be trouble-free, have no problem with > incarceration,? she said. > > Research suggests that high-poverty parents, some of them stressed-out kids > themselves, don?t always ?attach? to their children or read or speak to > them frequently. One well-known study found that a child of professionals hears > 30 million more words by the age of > 4<http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/22/us/language-gap-study-bolsters-a-push-for-pre-k.html> > than > a child on welfare. > > So the idea is that even the poorest child in Oklahoma should have access > to the kind of nurturing that is routine in middle-class homes. That way, > impoverished children don?t begin elementary school far behind the starting > line ? and then give up. > > President Obama called in his State of the Union > address<http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/02/13/fact-sheet-president-obama-s-plan-early-education-all-americans> > this > year for a nationwide early education program like this, for mountains of > research suggests that early childhood initiatives are the best way to chip > away at inequality and reduce the toll of crime, drugs and educational > failure. Repeated studies suggest that these programs pay for themselves: build > preschools now, or prisons > later<http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/27/opinion/sunday/kristof-do-we-invest-in-preschools-or-prisons.html> > . > > Because Obama proposed this initiative, Republicans in Washington are > leery. They don?t want some fuzzy new social program, nor are they inclined > to build a legacy for Obama. Yet national polling suggests that a majority > of Republicans favor early-education initiatives, so I?d suggest that Obama > call for nationwide adoption of ?The Oklahoma Project? and that Republicans > seize ownership of this issue as well. > > It?s promising that here in Oklahoma, early education isn?t seen as a > Republican or Democratic initiative. It is simply considered an experiment > that works. After all, why should we squander human capacity and perpetuate > social problems as happens when we don?t reach these kids in time? > > ?This isn?t a liberal issue,? said Skip Steele, a Republican who is a Tulsa > City Council member > <http://www.tulsacouncil.org/councilors/district-6.aspx> and > strong supporter of early education. ?This is investing in our kids, in our > future. It?s a no-brainer.? > > Teachers, administrators and outside evaluators agree that students who go > through the preschool program end up about half a year ahead of where they > would be otherwise. > > ?We?ve seen a huge change in terms of not only academically the preparation > they have walking into kindergarten, but also socially,? saidKirt > Hartzler<http://www.unionps.org/filesSite/Kirt_Hartzler.pdf>, > the superintendent of Union Public Schools in Tulsa. ?It?s a huge > jump-start for kids.? > > Oklahoma began a pilot prekindergarten program in 1980, and, in 1998, it > passed a law providing for free access to prekindergarten for all > 4-year-olds. Families don?t have to send their children, but three-quarters > of them attend. > > In addition, Oklahoma provides more limited support for needy children 3 > and under. Oklahoma has more preschools known as Educare > schools<http://www.educareschools.org/home/index.php>, > which focus on poor children beginning in their first year, than any other > state. > > Oklahoma also supports home visits so that social workers can coach > stressed-out single moms (or occasionally dads) on the importance of > reading to children and chatting with them constantly. The social workers > also drop off books; otherwise, there may not be a single children?s book > in the house. > > The Oklahoma initiative is partly a reflection of the influence of George > B. Kaiser, a Tulsa billionaire who searched for charitable causes with the > same rigor as if he were looking at financial investments. He decided on > early education as having the highest return, partly because neuroscience > shows the impact of early interventions on the developing brain and partly > because careful studies have documented enormous gains from early education. > > So Kaiser began investing in early interventions in Oklahoma and advocating > for them, and, because of his prominence and business credentials, people > listened to the evidence he cited. He also argues, as a moral issue, that > all children should gain fairer access to the starting line. > > ?Maybe the reason that rich, smart parents had rich, smart children wasn?t > genetics,? Kaiser told me, ?but that those rich, smart parents also held > their kids, read to them, spent a lot of time with them.? > > I tagged along as a social worker from Educare visited Whitney Pingleton, > 27, a single mom raising three small children. They read to the youngest > and talked about how to integrate literacy into daily life. When you see a > stop sign, the social worker suggested, point to the letters, sound them > out and show how they spell ?stop.? > > Some of the most careful analysis of the Oklahoma results comes from a team > at Georgetown University led by William T. Gormley > Jr.<http://explore.georgetown.edu/people/gormleyw/?PageTemplateID=364> > andpublished in peer-reviewed > journals<http://www.crocus.georgetown.edu/publications.html>. > The researchers find sharp gains in prereading, prewriting and > prearithmetic skills, as well as improvements in social skills. Some > experts think that gains in the ability to self-regulate and work with > others are even more important than the educational gains ? and certainly > make for less disruptive classes. Gormley estimates that the benefits of > Oklahoma?s program will outweigh the costs by at least a ratio of 3 to 1. > > So how about it, America? > > Can we embrace ?The Oklahoma Project? ? not because it?s liberal or > conservative, but because it?s what is best for our kids and our country? > I invite you to comment on this column on my blog, On the > Ground<http://www.nytimes.com/ontheground>. > Please also join me on Facebook <http://www.facebook.com/kristof> and > Google+ <https://plus.google.com/102839963139173448834/posts?hl=en>, watch > my YouTube videos <http://www.youtube.com/nicholaskristof> and follow me on > Twitter <http://twitter.com/nickkristof>. > > > MORE IN OPINION (8 OF 27 ARTICLES)News Analysis: Good Deals on Pills? 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