Talking Kids Out Of Poverty

For John, BLUF:  Little kids need a lot of nurturing.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Over at The New York Times we have a Sunday OpEd by Mr Nicholas D Kristof, regarding Pre-School.  Frankly, given the research data, I am always dubious about Pre-School, but the approach in Oklahoma, being touted by Mr Kristof has some additional parts which I think warrant attention.  The piece starts with a mischaracterization of what is a Liberal♠ and a putdown of the Republican fly-over states, but then it gets down to business.

Every 4-year-old in Oklahoma gets free access to a year 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.

Later the article notes:

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 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.

Thirty million more words.  That is a lot of words.

What I like about the Oklahoma program is that the school is coaching (repeat, coaching) the caregiver (in the article a step great-grandmother) about all those things "middle class parents" do to nurture their young children and prepare them for school.

This is the kind of effort former City Councillor Franky Descoteaux has been pushing under the title "Promise Neighborhoods".

We have to break the "cycle of poverty" and this kind of coaching of young parents seems to be an important step in the proper direction.

Maybe I should have run for School Committee.  No, on reflection, I have a job, License Commission, and we have the right folks on the School Committee to move in this direction.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  I'm a Liberal, just like Maggie Thatcher.  The Democrats on Beacon Hill are, by and large, Progressives.