Right wing's latest talking point: Head Start has been a failure.

[proud2BlibKansan]

I've seen it all over in online comments and on their blogs. And this one once again shows the utter stupidity of RWNJs.

They are claiming that since most Head Start kids are performing at the same level as their peers by 3rd grade who were not eligible for Head Start, this proves Head Start is a failure. But that is the entire point of Head Start - to erase the gap between low income kids and their same age peers. WE WANT THEM TO PERFORM AT THE SAME LEVEL.

There is lots of research to support the necessity of Head Start.

Poverty dramatically affects children's brains: http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/health/2008-12-07-childrens-brains_N.htm

Low income children's language development: http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/search/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=EJ695690&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=EJ695690

Vocabulary rich childcare environments, in which children have opportunities to engage in conversations that nurture explanations, narratives, or pretend talk are essential for later literacy (De Temple, 2001; Dickinson & Tabors, 2001; Katz, 2001; Beals, 2001). Unfortunately, disadvantaged children are less likely to experience high-quality center-based care (NICHD ECCRN, 1997). Some characteristics of childcare centers that serve low-income communities are larger child-caregiver ratios, low caregiver warmth, sensitivity, and responsiveness to children, and the use of more authoritative commands and less open-ended questioning by caregivers (Phillips et al., 1994).
http://literacyencyclopedia.ca/index.php?fa=items.show&topicId=229

First graders from higher socioeconomic status (SES) back- grounds knew at least twice as many words as lower-SES children (Graves, Brunetti, & Slater, 1982; White, Graves, & Slater, 1990),
http://www.marylandpublicschools.org/NR/rdonlyres/75E1290D-1F33-47DA-BF20-A4CA86FA75BC/14884/VocTT.pdf

Betty Hart and Todd Risley concluded in their seminal study “The Early Catastrophe” that by age 3, children from families receiving public assistance have heard an average of 30 million fewer words than their affluent peers. This conclusion evidences the ‘word gap’ that exists between a typical 4 year old child of a professional family and a low income 4 year old student. “Simply in words heard, the average child on welfare was hearing less than 1/3 words per hour (616) then that of the average child in a professional family (2153).” Extrapolate this per hour, per day (14 hour waking day) word gap over 4 years and the result is that over 30 million less words are heard over this period of time by the low income child.1
http://bayoudistrictfoundation.org/Files/Press/TheCaseforEarlyEducationinNewOrleans.pdf

What the president says is TRUE: "Every dollar we invest in high quality early education can save more than $7 dollars later on,"
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/obama-push-universal-preschool-proposal-142600889--election.html

[TwilightGardener]

1. I'd hate to see how those kids perform if they DIDN'T have Head Start or some kind of

early educational program.

[proud2BlibKansan]

8. That's exactly the point.

But way above the heads of our RWNJs.

[matt819]

2. Next thing you know

Republicans will come out against rainbows, kittens, and ponies.

Or have they already done that and I missed it?

[nobodyspecial]

3. The hate Big Bird

and want to pull the plug on Sesame Street.

[matt819]

9. Well, at least I can understand that one

After all, Sesame Street (acronym SS - coincidence? I think not) helps children to read, write, count, and be kind to one another - all leftist principles. So I can understand why they want to pull that.

Come to think of it, what was the political affiliation of the writers of the recent (January, I think) report that cats are evil bird killers who are destroying delicate ecosystems? Extremists. Gotta be. This gets very confusing, though. Follow me here: RW hates cats; after all, they kill birds. But then you'd have a situation where the RW would then be seen as being concerned about the bird population. And they can't have that. I think their heads might explode.

[bemildred]

4. The right wing is and will continue to be a failure. nt

[Gorp]

5. I think maybe said Republicans would have benefitted from a program like Head Start.

They're obviously not educationally functional at a 3rd grade level, much less their alleged "adult" level.

[1-Old-Man]

6. What Republicans hate is being taxed to provide education at any level.

It is public education that they hate, the pinpointing of Head Start is just a distraction.

[sad-cafe]

7. without headstart, they might not be doing that well

the RW is so devoid of human feelings anymore

[Initech]

10. Why don't they put educators in charge of education??

Instead of these profit hungry vulture capitalists who don't know shit?? There's a novel idea.

[proud2BlibKansan]

11. Makes sense to me!

[Starry Messenger]

12. k&r