Whatever it takes, and then some...

I recently wrote a report for school about a passion of mine- it was in regard to systemic change and educational reform where I talked about the Harlem Children's Zone (HCZ) created by Geoffrey Canada. Essentially, Geoffrey Canada discovered the vast differences in the way middle and upper class people raise their children versus the lower income families, so he wanted to create a way to bridge the gap between the success of the more affluent families and the ones in the HCZ. The HCZ is in an area in Harlem where violence statistics are abnormally high in comparison with other areas in the country and where incomes are low and dropout rates are high.

The program, which starts from birth and continues throughout the child's life, offers the community an alternative that will allow the children to succeed. The program teaches parents of lower income communities not to physically discipline their children, but to read, play, and sing to their children because they have discovered that these skills will help children throughout their lives. They also offer tutoring programs, charter schools, and more. Since the program was put into place, the area where the HCZ is has seen a decline in violence, as well as an enormous increase in the educational statistics. I could go on and on about the success stories because they are incredible, but instead, Paul Tough wrote a book about the program called "Whatever it Takes." The book is okay, but I really feel his piece on the podcast on thislife.org sums up the program in a more simplified and inspiring way.

The statistics in both resources are astounding because they discuss the success rate of the program and the amazing decrease in violence. Paul Tough even talks about the amount of children's funerals Geoffrey Canada used to attend back when he first started the program since the life expectancy in the HCZ used to be worse than in Bangladesh. The Kansas City studies done on professional families versus welfare families and the language differences between the families is the most amazing part in my opinion. The amounts of disparaging and encouraging remarks given to children of welfare families versus those in professional families in the study was dumbfounding. The professional families said more words to their children than the welfare family, as well as more encouraging remarks. Who knew?

This has been on my mind for awhile because it is a huge passion of mine. I would love to be able to start a standardized program like the HCZ in every community that starts at an early age and continues through the high school/college level. We need more programs that encourage people to raise their children in an educationally enriched environment and that offer people the same information and education offered to the middle and upper class. The problem is that there are not enough spaces in the HCZ program for everyone who wants to join, so they have to do a lottery to see who will be allowed in. So we can see people are looking for help, but are not offered help in the same way that is readily available to anyone who wants it in other areas of the country. For example, I just saw a flyer at my daughter's doctor's office for parenting classes for $10, which are being offered by the office's youth counselor. Just the fact that my daughter's doctor's office has it's own mental health counselor and a dietitian says a lot I think. Anyway, I found this to be very interesting stuff, I just wish I could think of a way to implement this type of program in my area. This is the very reason why I want to be a school counselor - to be able to help with things like this.

On a little side note: My husband and I went by a playhouse that was for sale near us, but there was not price, so we left a message for the seller just to see. It turns out it was $5,000! It was built by a custom home designer and has a kitchen, a satellite hook-up, a television, and more. Obviously we are not going to buy this for our daughter, as cool as it would be (and it would make a nice "guest house" for my mother when she comes to visit LOL), but we can see from this example how diverse our economy is and how this diversity filters down to our children at an early age.

********

Also, I saw this article today as well: Biden Visits Colorado
The article is not the issue, especially since it is supposed to be abut Biden but is more about McCain supporters. My issue was more about the comment given by a McCain supporter that talks about how spreading the wealth is not good for America. Really? I would imagine that there are a lot of people losing homes or people who can't afford the same opportunities for their children that wealthy people can who would probably beg to differ. It's disappointing that people don't care about their fellow human beings and their financial status, when in reality when you are a part of a system, every person's issues and concerns eventually impact the other people in the system. In a recession, an employee of Best Buy may not be able to afford his mortgage, while at the same time, other people who can't afford their mortgages can't afford to purchase things from Best Buy. If people don't buy things from Best Buy, the owner suffers, which causes the whole business to suffer- causing layoffs and even more economical hardship - and that's just one example!


References - More fancy college stuff! ;)

Tough, P. (Speaker). (2008a, September 26). 364: Going big [Audio]. This American Life
podcast. Retrieved September 30, 2008, from
http://thislife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=364

Tough, P. (2008b). Whatever it takes. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Company.