I remember exactly what I was doing when I first heard episode 364, Going Big. I was hanging out in my kitchen doing dishes. FYI, Listening to podcasts makes doing dishes so much more enjoyable. While scrubbing away, I first heard about Baby College and the Harlem Children's Zone. In the show's first act, Harlem Renaissance, Geoffrey Canada is interviewed about the origins of these projects. Geoffrey Canada grew up poor but his life had changed a lot since his youth. He was now a well educated, upper middle class man. He saw how his new neighbors as well as he and his wife were absorbing information about developing their children's brains. He also realized that the parents he was working with in Harlem really had no idea that this information was even out there. Harlem parents were not trying to develop their children's brains because this information skipped those of a low socioeconomic status. Geoffrey Canada wanted these poor parents to know what middle class parents already did, and that knowledge may just be the solution to poverty. Starting with babies, their parents, and brain development.
"If you can get to a poor child early on, in the first few years of life, even small interventions can have huge effects."
Baby College teaches parents to read to there children daily and how to handle discipline. If you grew up poor, chances are your parent probably hit you at least a few times, but what may be worse as far as brain development goes, talked to you in a very negative way. While the middle class kids are getting praised and encouraged, poor children are getting yelled and screamed at, called horrible names, and just generally being discouraged. Science is showing that the brain reacts to emotional abuse the same way it does to physical abuse.
Just as abuse is a cycle, so is poverty. Geoffrey believes that rather than focus on getting the parents out of poverty, we have to focus on saving the children. Though it seems unfair, the parents seem to get it. Just the simple act of reading to their children is going give them the skills they need to do well in school. When the program aired, the first group of third graders "on the conveyer belt" took the state tests. The children scored above average. These kids hadn't had the program since birth, so imagine how the next group of third graders will do!
On January 8th of this year, President Obama announced the first five "Promised Zones" which would be modeled after the Harlem Children's Zone. From Southeastern Kentucky to L.A., the federal government will offer assistance to these five zones to implement programs like those of HCZ. In the next three years, 15 more zones will be named.
For parents: I wanted to share this podcast, Zen Parenting Radio. To listen go here. For those of us who grew up with this...poor parenting style, it's often hard to know just how to be a different kind of parent to our children. It's so easy to fall back to what we are used to. ZPR has been so helpful for me in looking at my parenting and myself with awareness and learning how to be the parent I want to be. It may also be beneficial to your clients. Despite its title, it has nothing to do with Buddhism.
References:
Adams. C. & Adams. T. (2013, September 30). Are time-outs hurting your child? [Audio Podcast]. Zen parenting radio. Retrieved from http://zenparentingradio.com/195/
Fact sheet: president obama's promise zones initiative. (2014, January, 8). The white house, Office of the press secretary. Retrieved from http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/01/08/fact-sheet-president-obama-s-promise-zones-initiative
This American Life. (2008, September 26). Going big. (No. 364). [Audio Podcast]. Retrieved from http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/364/going-big
Weil. M. (2013). The handbook of community practice. Los Angeles, CA: Sage Publications
I have listened to This American Life in the car with my father for as long as I can remember. I love that program and ll the stories it has to offer. Although I never hear Baby College on the air it is really great to learn about now. What a novel idea! I am shocked by what little interaction or effort exerted really can lead to such a positive outcome. This was a great find for this weeks discussion piece.
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