A New Way To Stop The Poverty Education Cycle

  • Friday, October 24, 2014

For more years then proud to talk I have watched, sometimes up close and very personal, the plight and future of so many kids.  Mostly black and a few others this group was destined not to greatness or success, but to a life of food stamps, welfare, poor education and poorer still educational prospects.  So often in my own work I would see and feel the excitement of the five-year-old starting that first important grade in school. Sometimes the mom would share in that excitement.  New clothes, shoes and bright smile and then something happens. Something so cruel we had to wonder just why it continues.

That same smiling face with the new shoes has a functioning sight vocabulary of possibly a couple of hundred words.  On the Slosson Oral Reading Test the primer list of 20 include see, look, mother, little, here, etc. Doubtful if the list was recognized in its entirety.  The child has few if any books; is not read to; encouraged to learn and instead has a television for entertainment or games. Very little stimulation.  

Oh, we love to blame this population for being lazy; on welfare; not working and fill the courts and jails. Lots and lots of money has been spent on the poor with not very good results. We have a tendency in our society to do things and if they don't work do them over and over hoping for a different result.  A few isolated people, institutions and even some school systems have begun to look at how things are done for this population. It is my goal to see Chattanooga be one of those innovators not afraid to try something new. 

We continue to fuss and pour money into programs to "save the child." That child, now 15, and an extensive police record, can somehow be changed. Oh, how woeful is that argument and countless consultants have collected lots of money saying that all will be well if only adopt my program for that same 15-year-old.  

Let me share something new; a bit radical and perhaps the saving of an entire population historically buried in the past. Ignored by their own; blamed by us as lazy or worse and we keep this population "stuck" in a plantation mode of living. Oh, I know using the word plantation brings up a doom rhetoric and I meant it to do that. Let me outline what my thinking is for this population. This is the same population that keeps ghetto housing filled, by the way. 

Each child born into poverty is identified and historical data is collected. That data would consist of birth mother, father of the child, all relatives and maybe a neighbor, kind soul. The mom and family members are introduced into a new program of interventions that would include parenting, preparing to and reading to the newborn with a set aside time each day. Classes for parenting bonding and helping one another are common and jointly conducted by trained people that are there to help, not collect a pay check. That person that supports this environment goes to and is willing to do whatever is necessary to sustain change.  

At approximately age three, the child, mom and key supporter enroll in Head Start. This is the program that is tasked to prep the child for the readiness of that first year in school. That readiness means solid foundation for reading and relating to the outside world, social graces, etc.  Small groups attend to this child also in small groups. Each child is assessed to determine strengths, weakness and etc. A triage of support enlisted to help the child achieve. Based progress is not timed and the mechanisms for progress are that the child can demonstrate progress and not move until he can. This individual education plan is reviewed often and changed when necessary. The triage team consist of a psychologist, supervising teachers of the small groups and a third person that is perhaps the link between home and school. This person is knowledgeable about the family and spends countless hours in the homes and reports back to the school team.  

What does it cost to support the jails, prisons, social agencies and the myriad of service providers for this population? I don't think the reader would want to know. The cost of educating this child, far cheaper then incarceration, would bring social change and social justice to a very underserved part of this country. We spend many thousands of tax dollars to educate just one child.  Some school systems even more, lots more than our state. But the statistics of how well the students do is a figure very low and very discouraging to see over and over and year after year of the same population, regardless of state, not being educated.  

Oh, I once had a discussion with a local assistant superintendent of schools.  I shared with him what I have shared here. His comment to me and I will quote him... "the schools are doing all they can and can do more..."   The  percent of children in the state of Tennessee that do not achieve reading progress by the 4th grade in 2013 was 33 percent; in 2003 it was 31 percent; in 1992 it was 34 percent. Get it?  The program for the masses fails a significant percentage of children. Can we really afford this or are we getting to the point emotionally that we need to do something else? I ask and I implore you to both think and help by lending your voices. 

Robert Brooks

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