TIME TO REDIRECT HEAD START'S MONEY

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TIME TO REDIRECT HEAD START’S MONEY

By Domenick J. Maglio PhD Traditional Realist

Almost every American has been lead to believe that Head Start is an excellent program. It is the government preschool program for financially deprived families. It is a well-established program that has been in existence for almost half a century. Many families have had grandparents, parents and now their children attending this program.

Head Start was launched in 1965 by Lyndon B. Johnson’s, War on Poverty. It’s mission was to give underprivileged children readiness skills to succeed in school. Originally it was an 8 week-long summer program. In 1998 Head Start became a full day, full year service program. 

This is a program that was supposed to assist students to better compete with more economically advantaged students. It has not. Head Start has been more of a jobs program for minority workers than an educational or anti poverty one. This is not how it has been sold to the American public.

On September 6, 2012, in his acceptance speech for the democrat party nomination for president, Barack Obama reiterated the need to fund Head Start.  He did this even though his administration’s Department of Health and Human Services found no lasting evidence of its effectiveness for students who attended.

Throughout the convention, speaker after speaker from his half sister, Maya Soetero. to the mayor of San Antonio, Julian Castro; to the governor of Massachusetts, Deval Patrick, praised the importance of Head Start. Maya related that President Obama said he has made sure more of our youngest children have the stable foundation it provides.

This 47-year old program has not produced the long-term expected results.  In 2010 an exhaustive study of 5000 Head Start students was done by the US Department of Health and Human Services. It found the advantages of the Head Start program disappeared by the end of the first grade except for vocabulary. This does not sound like the superlative results that the politicians proclaim when they are voting for increases in the program.

This $7.3 billion program for nearly one million students is not accomplishing its educational mission. When these students are placed in public school classrooms they are no better equipped to compete than if they did not have the Head Start experience.

Anyone who does not support Head Start is supposedly a person against giving a helping hand to minorities to put them in a level playing field. Opponents of Head Start have at best been considered heartless and at worse, racist.  The biased media consistently says everyone that votes against Head Start wants to keep minorities down rather than use the taxpayers money in a more advantageous way for those same students.

The left has unyieldingly supported the expansion of this program regardless of its track record. It is as if a financial group gave unlimited funds to a business that had not turned a profit for 47 years. These funds to keep the program going when it shows no results are tax payer dollars, not private funds.

The almost religious allegiance to this program by the progressive establishment can be traced to the entrenchment of its power to pay back its constituency rather than its ability to positively affect the academic prospects of children.

It is time to stop using the Head Start Program as a slush fund to repay favors for political allegiance to a party and begin in earnest to improve the beginning academic fundamentals of preschool children entering elementary classes. Our children need to learn to pay attention, stand in line, follow directions, answer questions, make eye-contact, listen to others- especially adults before specific academic material can be mastered. The firm establishing of skills and core knowledge are essential building blocks for a child to be successful on the next academic level.

The Head Start Program’s curriculum should be driven by improving academic educational outcomes of students not, by appeasing powerful community leaders and politicians. The question that has to be asked is, “do the curriculum activities enhance the student’s ability to do well in elementary school or not?” When the answer is a significant “Yes”, Head Start will be a credible program. It is not.

The cost per student for Head Start is rapidly rising. Giving direct tax credit or vouchers to families that meet the program’s qualifications would significantly and effectively reduce the cost of the program. This would allow private educational programs to compete for the federal dollars.  This would promote an increase in student achievement.

The Choice of Being Able or Disabled

THE CHOICE OF BEING ABLE OR DISABLED

BY Domenick Maglio, PhD, Traditional Realist

The returning wounded warriors from the Middle East inspire all of us. These soldiers are saddled with severe injuries that would overwhelm almost anyone. The loss of arms, legs, sight, facial disfigurement and devastating head injuries are more commonplace than ever. These injuries would have killed soldiers in the past but because of modern technology they survive. They are physically surviving but they have to overcome incredible handicaps.

These soldiers are disabled through acts of war although most choose to fight through rehabilitation to become able.  This same type of persevering to overcome birth defects and accidents that handicap a person are battled everyday. Oscar Pistorius of South Africa competed in the 400 meter Olympic run against world class runners although he has two amputated legs. There are many other amazing stories seen in the Para-Olympics where people who have overcome great odds are shown to be able competitors, not disabled.

Too many people are choosing to be disabled when they have been blessed with good health and an abundance of wealth as compared to populations of the past. We are becoming too soft to face the challenges that life gives us.

Parents cannot buy their child’s future success. Parental softness can partially be attributed to worldwide affluence but the major cause is the slacking of parental training. It is only by parents setting high work expectations for the child that he will reach his own goals and dreams.

Permissive Materialism (PM), laidback childrearing has spread throughout the world. This approach is less demanding in every way than our more traditional parenting. It has removed the responsibility of parents to train their children in confronting and solving of problems and dealing with difficult periods of life.

Instead parents are supposed to be friends with their children by giving them freedom to make their own decisions however, they are not prepared to make difficult decisions. They are given every material item they desire even these goods are counter productive stunting the child’s sense of reality and mental maturity.

The PM child rearing methods have been practiced worldwide for over half a century. It makes children susceptible to selecting a life style that produces disability rather than giving them the strength of character to become self-reliant.

There is an epidemic of people who have no idea of the effort it takes to reach a goal. These instant gratification individuals are all around us. The children raised under the PM approach range from Baby Boomers to today’s youngsters. They have been given every expectation to believe the world will take care of them in the same way that their parents did. This is not necessarily true.

Their parents have protected these people from dealing with the laws of reality. These overindulged invalids of the PM child rearing have inflated self-esteem and an almost non-existent work ethic.  Most of them are easy prey to join the government  disability ranks for a free lunch.

When parents are unwilling to allow their children the discomfort of studying on their own and facing the natural consequences of failing tests, they are unconsciously creating a mentally weak child.  In the short run the child may rationalize that he is as smart as the other students who do well but in the long run he has to use more drastic excuses to hide from himself his inability to measure up to his peers.

The lack of parental intensity in not following through on the expectations for their child is weakening the child’s belief in himself.  Without parents forcefully demanding the child do the work he does not want to do, eventually the parent becomes an accomplice to the child’s inability to independently function in the adult world.

This parental apathy is similar to a child falling into a pool, struggling to stay above water while the parent casually instructs him to kick harder as he sinks deeper into the water. When a child is drowning in his own laziness, lies and excuses it is the duty of the parent to rise to the occasion and stop this destructive behavior. There is no longer time to cajole the child.

Once a person is revived from nearly drowning he is often shocked back to reality. This is a wake up call to put their lives in order. They have another chance to learn to commit themselves to persevere until they reach their immediate objectives. After short term goals are accomplished, by doing one’s work with vigor, a person realizes he has the ability to reach his dreams.

The movie “Rudy” was a true story of a young adult who had a dream. Since he was a child he saw himself playing football for Notre Dame. Even though he had significant learning difficulties he went to Holy Cross Community College to learn how to study. He chose the school because it was next door to his beloved, Notre Dame. Even though he applied himself to his studies he was rejected from Notre Dame three times before being accepted.

 As a physically unimpressive and untalented athlete he made the team of his dreams only on the force of his will. Through his willingness to give 100% effort at every team scrimmage he was rewarded by being allowed to suit up and play in the last game of his senior year. On the last play of the game Rudy Rutegger sacked the quarterback and was carried off the field on the shoulders of his teammates to the applause of the fans.

This true story should be a reminder to parents that only through their child’s efforts will he or she  will be able to choose and reach the chosen goal. The parents should not allow their child to choose to be disabled.

CREATING VICTIMIZATION OR SELF-RELIANCE

CREATING VICTIMIZATION OR SELF-RELIANCE

By Domenick J. Maglio PhD. Traditional Realist

Americans are unwittingly being deprived of experiences that build character. Our children are chauffeured from one adult-supervised extracurricular activity to another.  They are hardly ever left alone with peers to learn their own way to handle social difficulties.

Our families are splintering. Even intact ones are living separate existences. Parents are working or involved in different pastimes.  Children have their virtual reality in the world of electronics, while their parents are doing something else. There are few occasions to eat together to teach and discuss important things. We have become so affluent that everyone is able to do his own thing.

In order to learn important natural laws of reality, you have to be given opportunities to learn from your own mistakes. An existence that allows a person to confront the effects of his choices teaches many lessons. Parents should no longer hover over their children to bail them out of their lousy choices nor should the “nanny state” attempt to take care of people from cradle to grave. Both attempts  at protecting a person from making unacceptable decisions breed dependency that inhibit maturity and self-reliance.

Government’s tendency to expand its territory exploits every conceivable human tragedy to initiate another program to supposedly assist a victim. The real objective is to grow the power of government.  Through spreading the belief people are entitled to rights and services government can supply. When these misguided people’s unreasonable expectations are not met by parents, and now by government, they claim victimization.

Even college students who have traditionally sacrificed to further their education and careers and are now eligible to receive food stamps and low interest loans paid by taxpayers.  Many learn to use the government system to have all their wants met without working. When they accumulate an overwhelming debt they cry victimization about having to pay it back.  Occupy Wall Street and other forums show people who acknowledge their debt was caused by their own choices.  They decided to take the easy path of living off the welfare of taxpayers, then demand their loans be paid by those same taxpayers.

This same type of selfish behavior and stupid choices can be said about having children without a husband, abusing pharmaceuticals or demanding a high level job without having the necessary credentials. The reason such a large segment of our population is perennial cry babies is because many were never allowed to suffer and learn from the consequences of their choices. They were not required to persevere until they succeeded.  Instead they were set up to be failures by being allowed to give up by weak, enabling parents.

Parents should encourage their children to be independent problem solvers. They should allow youngsters to solve their own issues with their friends and avoid jumping in to solve it for them. These parents would like their children to live a pain free, blissful existence although they are not training them how to confront and solve daily problems.

Parents should act as adults, understanding the importance of the child learning from his own decisions even if suffering is part of the equation.  Family discussions centered around, “you reap what you sow” and everyday events are powerful learning opportunities like the lack of studying results in low grades. Parents should refrain from doing their child’s homework when the child pathetically pleads at the last minute of the weekend.  When they demand money after blowing their unearned allowance on wasteful items, parents should refuse to give them more. Let your children overcome the obstacles of their own making.

We Americans should understand that the pampering we are doing with our children is not helping them mature into strong, self-reliant people. Rather we are crippling them, making them disabled.

Our out-of-control entitlement programs are having the same adverse effect on the overall society. These programs have turned into a slush fund for politicians to dip their dirty hands in to gain and retain greater power. Instead of temporarily assisting the victim, we are turning them into dependent wards of the state. Besides the food stamp expansion, there were more people joining the ranks of those receiving disability than those gaining employment. This is a modern form of slavery to the government.

When a person starts to believe he is entitled to things, he will eventually feel he has been victimized when he does not receive them. Mature, healthy people do not waste time crying over what they do not have. They sacrifice and work hard to obtain them if they think it is important enough.

Give your child the gifts of being self-reliant and independent. This can be accomplished by providing sufficient freedom to learn from the consequences of his choices. This will produce a strong, mature adult.

Dr. Maglio is an author and owner/director of Wider Horizons School, a college prep program. You can visit Dr. Maglio at www.drmaglio.com.