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26
match or surpass their accomplishments.
There is no need for any slum child to
fail in school -
if
he is properly edu–
cated throughout infancy and childhood.
Parents Can Be Effective
Teachers
But the Milwaukee study is not alone
in showing that slum parents must
become effective teachers of their chil–
dren. The same condusioo had already
been reached during two similar pre–
school projects sponsoied by George
Peabody College at Nashville, Tennessee.
The first of the two programs, the
Early Training Project, was begun in
1962.
For three summers, a group of slum
children attended ten weeks of pre–
school. During the winter months, a
trained home visitor taught each child
once a week. More important, mothers
were instructed in how to teach their
children. They read them stories in
their free time and even taught them
while preparing dinner. The youngsters
learned the names, shapes, sizes, and
colors of foods, and how these foods
are grown and cooked. A gift sub–
scriptioo to a children's magazine aJso
proved to be a great hit - especially if
delivered in the child's own name.
At the end of the project, the experi–
mental children had made outstanding
L
Q.
gains. But at the suggestion of the
borne visitar, one more series of tests
was run - this time on the younger
brothers and sisters of the experimental
children. The youngcr siblings scored a
surprising 13-point
I.
Q.
superiority to
closely matched groups of chíldren
whose mothers had not received this
trainiog. Surprisingly, the combination
of a brighter older sibling and a mother
who had
leamed
"how to parent"
from
the home visitor
substantially boosted
the performance of the younger children
of the family - even
withortt
preschool
classes.
But Will Slum Children Learn?
The question now is: How can the
success of the Milwaukee Project and
other intensive generously funded
studies be used to benefit millions of
other slum children?
"We need to train parents
to
be bet–
ter teachers of their children," is Dr.
SQUARE-PINK
-
Color bingo ot its best!
Heber's reply. The public, he feels,
needs to be "more aware of the critica!
role of the parent." He describes child
growth-and-development classes on
the high school leve! as "absolutely
essential."
As anyone on the Center's staff will
tell you, early years are the most critica!
ones in a person's growth and develop–
ment. But, as they will also tell you,
establishing a sprawling network of
intensive, Milwaukee-style preschools
for all children is impossible.
Parents
must be taught to help their owo
children .
The Center's staff feels that a
national program of mind-stimulating
preschools
can provide learning mate–
rials and opportunities for group play
unavailable in most homes. Pre-schools
can also help introduce new advances in
our understanding of growth and learn·
ing. As one associate asked, "What do
you do for the child whose parents can–
not, or will not, learn to educate him
properly?"
Parents Must Participare
The basic answer to the problem of
massive school failure lies in an expan–
sion of the goal of preschool education
to include the training of parents. Par–
ents
mtJSt
participate in order to pro–
duce maximum good. Eady childhood
education must indude not only the
education of today's slum children, but
the education of parents and future
parents.
Parents must become aware of their
child's need for intellectual stimulation,
a wide variety of profitable experiences,
a chance to explore and discover their
world, and to have new experiences
explained to them by an adult. Parents
need to understand how to stimulate a
child's language development, as well
as build his confidence, promote his
love of learning and encourage his
muscular development, reading skills
and vocabulary.
A parent can teach a child to be
exci~ed,
enthused and interested m