Paul Tough concluded his brilliant book: How Children
Succeed talking about the importance of helping the 10% of American
children whose household income (for a family of four) is below
$11,000/year. He noted how these
children often have multiple problems in school related to various traumas they
experience in their lives.
p.193 – “No one has
round a reliable way to help deeply disadvantaged children, in fact. Instead, what we have created is a disjointed,
ad hoc system of governmental agencies and programs which follow them
haphazardly through their childhood and adolescence.” …..
“But we could design an entirely different system for
children who are dealing with deep and pervasive adversity at home. It might start at a comprehensive childhood
wellness center, like the one that Nadine Burke Harris is working to construct
in Bayview-Hunters Point, with trauma focused care and social-service support
woven into every medical visit. It might
continue with parenting interventions that increase the chance of secure
attachment, like Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-up, or ABC, the program
developed at the (p.194) University of Delaware. In prekindergarten, it might involve a
program like Tools of the Mind that promotes executive-function skills and
self-regulation in young children. We’d
want to make sure the students were in good schools, of course, not ones that
track them into remedial classes but ones that challenge them to do high-level
work. And whatever academic help they
were getting in the classroom would need to be supplemented by social and
psychological and character-building interventions outside the classroom, like
the ones Elizabeth Dozier has brought to Fenger or the ones that a group called
Turnaround for Children provides in several low-income schools in New York City
and Washington, D.C. In high school,
these students would benefit from some combination of what both One-Goal and
KIPP Through College provide – a program that directs them toward higher education
and tries to prepare them for college not only academically but also
emotionally and psychologically.
A coordinated system like that, targeted at the 10 to 15
percent students at the highest risk of failure, would be expensive, there’s no
doubt. But it would almost certainly be
cheaper than the ad hoc system we have in place now. It would save not only lives but money, and
not just in the long run, but right away.”
(Note: the individuals and programs noted above were all
explained in detail earlier in the book.)
Tough talks about the critical importance of children bonding
with at least one parent by age three.
He believes that measures of aptitude such as IQ testing fail to address
the highly important issues of children learning to deal with failures in life,
build curiosity, have “grit” and what he labels “character” so that they will
believe in themselves and strive to learn and grow. He talks of the importance of character skills
such as self-control, optimism, perseverance and conscientiousness. While he
focuses upon the needs for helping children throughout their upbringing, he
also talks of successful efforts that can help some teenagers turn important
parts of their lives around, despite earlier major life difficulties.
This book cites numerous research studies in various areas
particularly focusing upon neuroscience.
No comments:
Post a Comment