Community Mental Health Journal
Volume 3, Number 1, Spring, 1967
ON EDUCATING DISADVANTAGED PARENTS TO MOTIVATE CHILDREN FOR LEARNING: A FILIAL APPROACH BERNARD GUERNEY, JR., PH.D., LILLIAN STOVER, PIt.D., Ar~l)MICHAEL P. ANDRONICO, Pu.D.*
ies repeatedly show that the home is the single most important influence on the in. tellectual and emotional development of children, particularly in the preschool years. The Educational Policies Commission has noted in its recommendations in Educa. tion and the Disadvantaged Americart (1962) : "So great is the impact of parents on the attitudes and aspirations of children that parent education must be considered a primary responsibility." Dr. Martin Deutsch at the Institute for Developmental Studies of the New York Medical College has directed longitudinal, cross-sectional studies on the integration of social, psychological, and developmental factors as they affect intellectual growth and school performance. The educationally disadvantaged young- He observed that the child from the lowerster has become increasingly a matter of na- class culture invariably has deficits that lead tional concern, not limited to the schools to disappointment of the expectations of the alone. There is growing awareness that "so- school. There follows rejection by both cially effective and democratic education parent and teacher because the initial enwould be more economical than the cost of counters result in failure. The child does delinquency, crime, bigotry, and other not receive any support or comfort from his symptoms of personal and social disorgani- parent for being at cross purposes with the zation" (Clark, 1963). Undoubtedly, a most teacher, because the parent lacks the skill influential spokesman for drastic reorgani- that would remedy the situation. zation and extension of education opporProposals aimed at making up for the tunity to all groups is James B. Conant, who, deficits in the home and aimed at schoolin his best seller, Slums and Suburbs (1961), age youngsters now are receiving added forecast explosions that he labeled "social impetus from federal funds under Title I of dynamite." the Elementary and Secondary Education Commenting on the remedial measures Act of 1965. Federal funds have been made that might be taken to compensate for con- available through the Economic Opportuditions developing in children who live in nity Act for a variety of compensatory exslums, Conant has written: "One needs periences for economically and socially deonly to visit a slum school to be convinced prived youngsters and involving represen. that the nature of the community largely de- tative citizens of lower-class groups as adtermines what goes on in the school." Stud. visors and participators. Programs such as The potential use of underprivileged parents in raising their children's academic aspirations has been largely neglected. Training of groups of parents through a client-centered approach, but with specific, structured techniques formulated originally for filial therapy, would provide a much needed new approach for in. volving parents more meaningfully in the education of their children. Emphasis on ira. provement of children's motivation for academic pursuits would include demonstration and role playing with parents of positive reinforcement approaches, requiring 10 to 15 minutes daily at home. Feedback and encouragement to pursue these newer approaches in the proposed intimate interaction with their child would be provided in regular group meetings with the parents.
*Dr. Bernard Guerney, Jr., a clinical psychologist, is Associate Professor of Psychology and Director of the Psychological Clinic of Rutgers, The State University, New Brunswick, N.J. Dr. Lillian Stover, a clinical psychologist, is Research Associate at Rutgers. Dr. Michael P. Andronico, a clinical psychologist, is Chief Psychologist at Hunterdon Medical Center, Flemington, N.J., and Research Associate at Rutgers. The preparation of this article was facilitated by Public Health Service Grant MH 2506-01 from the Mental Health Project Grants Section of the National Institute of Mental Health.
66
B. GUERNEY,JR., L. STOVER,AND M. P. ANDRONICO Head Start have begun to regard as a key problem the reaching of both the parents and children who need to be reached (John Abbey, administrative assistant for Project Head Start, quoted in The New York Times, July 3, 1966). It seems clearer now that deliberate efforts must be made to extend and expand the background experience of parents as well as children and to extend the involvement of the parent into something more meaningful than the role of passive observer in order to obtain cooperation and understanding of the school's aims. An assumption implicit in many of these proposals is that lower-class parents have been either unwilling or unable with their own limited resources to provide the minireal conditions for proper development of readiness for school. Lack of an "educational tradition" in the home, insufficient language and reading skills, inadequate motivation to pursue a long-range educational career, antagonism toward the school, poor health, improper diet, frequent moving, noisy, TV-ridden homes are among the conventional reasons, according to Riessman (1962), that are assumed to explain why underprivileged children do poorly at school. Riessman has noted, however, that, contrary to the widely held assumptions that lower-class people devalue the importance of education, 50 per cent of the white lower socioeconomic group and 70 per cent of the Negro lower socioeconomic group spontaneously responded, "Education," when asked what they missed most in life and what they wanted their children to have. Contrary to the common belief of typical middle-class designers of education, this suggests that education seems to be not only important for the lower-class parents but in the forefront of their minds. These parents very much want their children to succeed in school. A recent study reported that over 55 per cent of the children who had learned to read before coming to school came from lower socioeconomic homes (Durkin, 1961), and "family interviews consistently revealed a ready, even enthusiastic, acceptance of preschool reading ability on the part of lower class parents." It is our contention that, while many of
67
the proposals that are aimed at compensatory education for disadvantaged youngsters are primarily concerned with provision of stimuli to facilitate perceptual development and with experiences to enhance language facility and other intellective aspects of development, the most crucial area often overlooked is the enhancement of the child's motivation for scholarly pursuits. The child's attitude toward school, how he views his peers and his teachers, and how he views activities related to school performance seem to be of fundamental importance. The frantic effort simply to add to the number of experiences does not seem to have the predicted effect on future achievement, as is evidenced by the recent announcement that the New York City Higher Horizons Project is being closed for lack of evidence of the efficacy of the investment (The New York Times, July 10, 1966). Now, if the parents of lower-class children hold to a kind of motivation and expectation for their own child's success that is in some respects similar to that held by middle-class parents, wky do these motivations not more frequently translate into adjustment and sustained striving for achievement by their children? One possibility is that the lower.class parents have failed to translate their beliefs into the specific acts vis-a-vis the child that make this type of achievement emotionally important to the child. It has been suggested that there is a developmental progression from early childish dependency, expressed in seeking affection from the parents, to active seeking of their attention and praise for accomplishments, to a final stage of independence and reinforcement inherent in the self-evaluative information that one has successfully accomplished a task (BelIer, 1955; Gewirtz, 1954; Heathers, 1955). In young children, of whatever social class, a major basis for the desire of achievement in school is not in the intellectual projection of the importance of education or the inherent satisfaction in learning. It is, first of all, a desire to please adult figures--to obtain the attention and praise first of the parent and secondly the teacher. The desire
68
THE COMMUNITYMENTALHEALTHJournAL
to please the teacher is largely generalized from the desire to please the parent. Thus, generally speaking, the degree to which the child is motivated to please his parents probably strongly influences the extent to which he is motivated to please his teachers and thus meet one of the school's minimal expectations. What are some of the things we assume happen in the middle-class achiever's family that do not happen, or happen to a lesser degree, in the so.called culturally deprived underachiever's family? Among certain subcultures there are the historical traditions that produce parents who are masters of the art of extracting the maximum amount of intellectual achievement from their children (Zborowski, 1949). While such youngsters conceivably pay a dear price for scholarly overemphasis in terms of other aspects of their functioning, there are nevertheless certain techniques from which parents in lower-class subcultures can benefit. If, as professionals, we feel justified in advising mothers on how to be less pushing when we feel their children are paying too high a price in their personal adjustment for their achievement, are we not also justified in advising mothers on how to push more effectively when their children are paying too much in terms of educational failure? Are there not specific techniques that can be passed from the one subculture to the other, especially if, as was pointed out earlier, the motivation exists for adopting them? THE UNDERPRIVILEGEDCHILD Among the findings of the Institute for Developmental Studies (Deutsch, 1963) is that there is less interaction between the mother and child in the underprivileged household. In the noisy, overcrowded home, the child is not often actually spoken to; there is nothing like the prolonged conversation between adult and child that is routine in middle-class homes. The parents have been found not to give the individual attention to encourage the child to explore his world or to encourage him to ask questions. The working.class mother is described as desiring unques-
tioned domination of her offspring and of maintaining considerable social and emotional distance between herself and her children. Large families, the physical demands of poverty, and the need to escape the psychological consequences of poverty could account for much of this. Furthermore, lower-class parents are found to "extend less succorant care and to relax closely monitored supervision much earlier" than middle-class parents. "Lower class children are thus free to roam the neighborhood and join unsupervised play groups at an age when middle-class children are still confined to nursery school or their own backyards" (Ausubel & Ausubel, 1963). The lower.class child is accustomed to being cared for by a number of different individuals and learns to fend for himself at an earlier age. Probably this would have the effect of making these children less eager to please their parents, that is, make pleasing the parent less an emotional center in the child's life. This same relative difference would probably hold with respect to the emotional value placed on pleasing classmates as opposed to teachers. A major underdeveloped area in the culturally deprived child is the desire to please the teacher generally and especially insofar as intellectual achievement is concerned. The "exaggerated socializing influence of the peer g r o u p . . , characteristic of both White and Negro lower-class children" (Ausubel & Ausubel, 1963) tends to generalize to attention.seeking of classmates and distracting performance for their benefit, with resultant classroom disruption and loss of possible rapport and communication with the teacher. The mothers of the middle-class achievers are themselves more likely to be interested in pursuits related to educational skills, such as reading. They thus provide a model for the child to follow with respect to an academically important activity. Since children tend to identify with and want to emulate the activities of their parents, this creates a desire on the part of the middleclass child to learn to read. The reading of stories to children, of course, follows from the same motivations of the parents and
B. GUERN~.LJm, L. STOVER, AND M. P. ANDROmCO has the same effect on the children. Such sources of motivation for this most important of scholastic pursuits are much less present for the underprivileged child. According to Conant (1961), ~When the [lower.class] children leave the school, they never see anyone read anything--not even newspapers." "The ways in which parents spend time with their children at meals, in play, and other times during the day has been found to be an important factor in developing skills which prepare children for school. The objects in the home, the amount of parental interest in learning, and the amount of practice and encouragement the child is given in conversation and in general learning have been found to be significant influences on language and cognitive development, development of interest in learning, attention span, and motivation..." (Bloom, 1965). The parents of the underprivileged are, on the whole, less effective as positively reinforcing agents with their children than are middle-class mothers. 'r parents, for example, are generally more casual, inconsistent and authoritarian than middle-class parents in controlling their children, and resort more to harsh, corporal forms of punishment" (Ausubel &Ausubel, 1963). Children are expected to be obedient and submissive, and insubordination is suppressed by harsh and often brutal physical punishment. Yet the importance of praise for the lower-elass ehild appears even greater than for the commensurate.age middle-class ehild (Zigler & Kanzer, 1962). The types of reinforcement and the oeeasions on which lower.class and middleclass mothers administer positive and negative reinforeement for academie pursuits tend to be different. "A parent who spanks a child is less likely to provide a normal positive reinforcement" (Ferster, 1958). The lower.class mother tends to limit herself to punishment and correction with respect to lack of achievement, with the result that children fear and try to avoid the situation that calls for these punishments, namely, the school. The middie-class parent tends to make more subtle demands and tends to use more positive and
69
effective means of reinforcement with respect to scholastic achievement. , INVOLVEMENT OF PARENT
The fact that so many lower.class mothers do heavily employ the use of negative reinforcement in the area of schoolwork nevertheless supports the find. ing of a high level of motivation on the part of these mothers. This belief in the importance of education and maternal concern for her child's welfare suggest that she would be willing to acquire the skills necessary for raising the scholastic achievement of her youngster. We believe she is capable of acquiring these skills if approached in a manner in which she can feel accepted, secure, unthreatened, and of genuine value herself. "A community of interest between teacher and parents can in some cases do more to improve a child's schoolwork or behavior than all the remedial and punitive measures at the school's command" (Educational Policies Commission, 1962). However, many of the involvements of parents in preschool programs have been implicitly denigrating. The complaint often voiced by teachers in these programs is that parents are not involved in meaningful ways that really tap their strengths and sustained interest. Help in putting up bulletin boards, collecting milk money, sorting papers, conducting button, thread, and scrap material drives--even voluntary attendance at lectures on child rearing--are superfluous and meaningless in terms of the real contribution these parents can make. On the other hand, "parents often respond enthusiastically, themselves taking part in the learning, when a skillful teacher demonstrates how the children are being taught" (Educational Policies Commission, 1962). It is proposed that the parent must be involved meaningfully. This involves an important change in the posture of the parent toward more reliance upon himself rather than upon others as agents in the shaping of their children's aspirations. Unfortunately, it has long been assumed by professionals that the relatively uneducated cannot assume anything like the important
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THE COMMUNITYMENTALHEALTHJOURNAL
role implied above. Fortunately, the crisis in manpower in the helping professions has forced hospitals, clinics, and community agencies of all sorts to assign responsibilities for patient care, including the rein. forcement of programs prepared by professionals, to lay personnel--often with amazing success (Carkhuff & Truax, 1965; HaUowitz & Riessman, 1966; MacLennan, Fishman, Klein, Denham, Walker, & Mitchell, 1966; Rioch, Elkes, Flint, Usdansky, Newman, & Silver, 1963). Our experience in filial therapy with emotionally disturbed youngsters shows that parents, even though clearly involved in the production of the emotional disturbance in their youngsters, do have the capabilities, the motivations, and the flexibility to redefine their role in relation to their youngsters, in a structured play situation, and to modify their interaction significantly (Guerney, 1964; Guerney, Guerney, & Andronico, 1966; Stover, 1966). This leads us to predict that if lower-class, uneducated parents were to be placed in a position of trust and responsibility and were assigned the direction for their own children's aspirations, under the type of supervised and structured leadership that obtains in the filial therapy training program, tremendous parental energy would be released that would provide the motivations and skills for a more sustained involvement in academic pursuits.
clarification and help in perfecting their new role. The sharing of their experiences and their feelings in a therapeutic milieu has been found to provide gratification for the needs of the parent while he is meeting the needs of the child. The application of the filial therapy approach to the involvement of lower-class parents in a program designed to improve their children's academic incentives would include the following: 1. In most general terms, aspects of the home environment that seem to be most significant in affecting the level of measured intelligence of the child, as well as his school learning, are provisions for general learning, i.e., "models and help in language development, and parental stimula. tion and concern for achievement and learning on the part of the child" (Bloom, Davis, & Hess, 1965). On the basis of this, a key approach would seem to be to focus on the manner in which parents administer reinforcement for academically related pursuits, specifically, an emphasis on positive reinforcement for achievements. 2. The manner in which this approach can be taught must be one that is very practical and action oriented and one that demonstrates to the parent her crucial effect on the behavior of her child. Thus, demonstrations by the group leader with a youngster of the very specific manner in which the parent is urged to interact with her child should be part of the initial FILIAL THERAPY phase. Another way of illustrating the The training of the parents in filial specific desired behaviors would be by role therapy consists of observations of a skilled playing with the parent, with the group teacher interacting with children in the leader taking the stance of the parent manner being prescribed for the parents, of modeling the desired response, then giving practice in playing such a role under the parent opportunity for practice by asobservation of the therapist and other suming the child's role. parents in the group, and provision for 3. It would be recommended that the exchange of ideas and corrective feedback parent need find only 10 or 15 minutes from each other in a setting that is sup- during a day to give to the child on any portive of their own feelings as they specific agreed-upon assignment--to listen experience this new learning situation. to him, to share stories with him, to enPractice then is undertaken at home with courage him to talk, to ask questions, to their own youngsters, and continual con. make decisions, to play games, to use pencil tact is maintained with the parent group and paper, or to read to him. The emphasis under the supervision of the professional would be on sparking the child's motiva: psychologist on a weekly basis, for further tion rather than on inteUectual gains. The
B. GtrERNEY, Jl~.,L. STOVe.R, AND M. P. ANDRONICO crucial nature of this interaction is that it be an intensive and private interaction between mother and child, with other children momentarily but specifically excludr 4. While the parent's assignment is prescribed for only 10 to 15 minutes, it is important that it be performed daily, and an account of the parent's successes and difficulties would be brought back to the weekly parent group meetings, where an exchange of experiences with other parents would help to clarify their mastery of the technique and where they may experience some positive reinforcement for their progress. The feeling of receiving positive reinforcement for efforts must be experienced by the parent if she is to understand what the relative effects of positive and negative reinforcement are on learning. 5. The conduct of the regular parent meetings would be much like that in filial therapy--client centered, and in tune with the current needs expressed by the group, yet action centered in terms of the specific things they are being asked to do at home. The difficulties encountered by any parent in learning new behaviors to be employed in an intimate interaction with her own child are constantly kept in mind by the group leader in filial therapy and would seem to be equally essential here. Support and encouragement and recognition of the parent's feelings of frustration, anger, defensiveness, and resistance are dealt with as a natural consequence of this new experience. The strength and encouragement that the parents get from each other provides a major lever in, first of all, expressing these feelings, then in coping with them and overcoming them so that they can begin to experience the gratification that comes with seeing improvements that they themselves have stimulated in their children. Discussion may center about what they think their behavior meant to the child, how they think the child feels about the attention from the parent, how the child's attitudes toward accomplishments are changing, and how the child's expression of himself is increasing. Parents can be shown the importance of answering all questions raised by the child, of listening attentively to the
71
child, and of giving rewards--especially at. tention--instead of punishments in shaping interests and behavior. They can be helped with specific suggestions in child rearing as these are deemed appropriate. While the program may start at the preschool level or in the primary grades, it may continue as the child progresses through the grades, so that as new problems arise, e.g., report cards, newer and higher academic expecta. tions, inevitable peer group adjustments, the parents can continue to remain together and assist each other to attempt new behaviors appropriate to these particular childhood difficulties. 6. The appropriate setting for the program would seem to be the school, where "many underprivileged adults believe, often with good cause, that school people look down on them" (Educational Policies Commission, 1962). While many underprivileged parents may not generally be inclined to sign up for educational programs, there is general agreement now that "Parents develop new self-respect and readiness to assume responsibility when they realize they are important to the schdol in the education of their children" (Educational Policies Commission, 1962). We believe that their continued interest will reflect the manner in which the program is conducted, so that the parents recognize the meaningfulness of their participation and so that they can obtain real benefit from it. It should not be too difficult to work out a priority system to determine which parents may enter the group. The priority basis should be public knowledge and not based on need alone, because that implies deficits to be corrected rather than the acquisition of positive skills useful to all parents. We do, in fact, conceive of the program as being potentially useful to all and specify it for economically deprived areas because that is where schools can obtain immediate support through federal funds. What we take issue with is the now prevailing view that the home of the underprivileged child "rarely, if ever, negatively predisposes him toward the school situation" (Deutsch, 1963). We maintain it does negatively predispose him, and not simply
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THE COMMUNITYMENTAL HEALTH JOURNAL
by default, precisely while striving, as b e s t the parents know how, not to do so. We take issue with the prevailing view that the school "offers the only mechanism by which the job can be done" (Deutsch, 1963). We maintain that the school alone cannot provide the proper acculturation of these children with nearly the speed required. We see the use of underprivileged parents as a largely overlooked reservoir of untapped power for raising their children's academic aspiration. None can be more interested in working for their children's welfare than the parents themselves. I f this power can be harnessed, it should prove vast and economical, but we maintain that it is more than that. We propose that the positive influence upon the child of the parent in the home m a y be the missing catalyst necessary to transform the two ingredients now in suspended solution--the latent motivation of the underprivileged child for learning and the specialized programs designed to educate him--into an effective formula for change. REFERENCES AUSUnEL,D., & AUSUEEL,PEARL.Ego development among segregated Negro children. In Passow, A. H. (Ed.), Education in depressed areas. New York: Teachers College, Columbia University, 1963. Pp. 109-141. BELLEn, E. Dependency and independence in young children. J. genet. Psychol., 1955, 87, 25-35. BLOOM, B. S. (Ed.). Research problems of education and cultural deprivation. Cooperative Research Project No. F-057, U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare. Chicago: Department of Education, University of Chicago, 1965. BLOOM, B. S., DAVIS,ALLISON, & HESS, R. Compensatory education for cultural deprivation. Cooperative Research Project No. F-057, U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare. Chicago: Department of Education, University of Chicago, 1965. CARKHUFF,R. R., & TRUAX,C. B. Training in counseling and psychotherapy: an evaluation of an integrated didactic and experimental approach. J. consult. Psychol., 1965, 29, 333-336. CLARK, K. B. Educational stimulation of racially disadvantaged children. In Passow, A. H. (Ed.), Education in depressed areas. New York: Teachers College, Columbia University, 1963. Pp. 142-162.
CONArCr,J. B. Slums and suburbs: a commentary on school in metropolitan areas. New York: McGraw. Hill, 1961. DEUTSCH,M. P. The disadvantaged child and the learning process. In Passow, A. H. (Ed.), Education in depressed areas. New York: Teachers College, Columbia University, 1963. Pp. 163-179. DUnKIN,DOLORES.Children who learn to read prior to first grade: a second-ycar report. Paper presented at American Educational Research Association Meeting, Chicago, February 1961. EDUCATIONALPOLICIESCOMMISSION.Education and the disadvantaged American. Washington, D.C.: National Education Association, 1962. FE~STER, C. B. Control of behavior in chimpanzees and pigeons by time out from positive reinforcement. Psychol. Monogr., 1958, 72, No. 8 (Whole No. 461). GEWIRTZ,J. Three determinants of attention seeking in young children. Monogr. soc. Res. Child Developm., 1954, 19, No. 2 (Serial No. 59). GUERNEY, B., JR. Filial therapy: description and rationale. ]. consult. Psyehol., 1964, 28, 304310. GUERNEY, B. G., JR., GUERNEY,Louise F., & ANDRONICO, M. P. Filial therapy. Yale Scientific Magazine, March 1966, 6-14. HALLOWITZ,E. & RIESSMAN,F. The role of the indigenous nonprofessional in a community mental health neighborhood service center program. Paper presented at American Orthopsychiatry Association Meeting, San Francisco, April 1966. HEATHERS, G. Emotional dependence and independence in nursery school play. Y. geaet. Psychol., 1955, 87, 37-57. MAcLE~NAN, B. W., FISHMAN,J. R., KLEIN,W. L., DENHAM,W. H., WALKER,W. L., & MITCHELL, L. E. The implications of the nonprofessional in community mental health. Paper presented at American Orthopsychiatric Association Meeting, San Francisco, April 1966. RIESS~.N, F. The culturally deprived child. New York: Harper, 1962. RIOCH,MARGARET,ELKES,CHARMIAN,FLINT,A. A., USDANSKY,BLANCHE,NEWMAN,RUTH, & SILVER, E. National Institute of Mental Health pilot study in training mental health counselors. Amer. f. Orthopsychiat., 1963, 33, 678-689. STOVES,LILLIAN.Efficacy of training procedures for mothers in filial therapy. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Rutgers, The State University, New Brunswick, N.J., 1966. ZBOROWSKt,M. The place of book-learning in traditional Jewish culture. Harvard educ. Rev., 1949, 19, 87-109. ZIGLER,E., & KANZER,P. The effectiveness of two classes of verbal reinforcers on the performance of middle- and lower-class children../. Pets., 1962, 30, 157-163.
Volume 3, Number 1, Spring, 1967
ON EDUCATING DISADVANTAGED PARENTS TO MOTIVATE CHILDREN FOR LEARNING: A FILIAL APPROACH BERNARD GUERNEY, JR., PH.D., LILLIAN STOVER, PIt.D., Ar~l)MICHAEL P. ANDRONICO, Pu.D.*
ies repeatedly show that the home is the single most important influence on the in. tellectual and emotional development of children, particularly in the preschool years. The Educational Policies Commission has noted in its recommendations in Educa. tion and the Disadvantaged Americart (1962) : "So great is the impact of parents on the attitudes and aspirations of children that parent education must be considered a primary responsibility." Dr. Martin Deutsch at the Institute for Developmental Studies of the New York Medical College has directed longitudinal, cross-sectional studies on the integration of social, psychological, and developmental factors as they affect intellectual growth and school performance. The educationally disadvantaged young- He observed that the child from the lowerster has become increasingly a matter of na- class culture invariably has deficits that lead tional concern, not limited to the schools to disappointment of the expectations of the alone. There is growing awareness that "so- school. There follows rejection by both cially effective and democratic education parent and teacher because the initial enwould be more economical than the cost of counters result in failure. The child does delinquency, crime, bigotry, and other not receive any support or comfort from his symptoms of personal and social disorgani- parent for being at cross purposes with the zation" (Clark, 1963). Undoubtedly, a most teacher, because the parent lacks the skill influential spokesman for drastic reorgani- that would remedy the situation. zation and extension of education opporProposals aimed at making up for the tunity to all groups is James B. Conant, who, deficits in the home and aimed at schoolin his best seller, Slums and Suburbs (1961), age youngsters now are receiving added forecast explosions that he labeled "social impetus from federal funds under Title I of dynamite." the Elementary and Secondary Education Commenting on the remedial measures Act of 1965. Federal funds have been made that might be taken to compensate for con- available through the Economic Opportuditions developing in children who live in nity Act for a variety of compensatory exslums, Conant has written: "One needs periences for economically and socially deonly to visit a slum school to be convinced prived youngsters and involving represen. that the nature of the community largely de- tative citizens of lower-class groups as adtermines what goes on in the school." Stud. visors and participators. Programs such as The potential use of underprivileged parents in raising their children's academic aspirations has been largely neglected. Training of groups of parents through a client-centered approach, but with specific, structured techniques formulated originally for filial therapy, would provide a much needed new approach for in. volving parents more meaningfully in the education of their children. Emphasis on ira. provement of children's motivation for academic pursuits would include demonstration and role playing with parents of positive reinforcement approaches, requiring 10 to 15 minutes daily at home. Feedback and encouragement to pursue these newer approaches in the proposed intimate interaction with their child would be provided in regular group meetings with the parents.
*Dr. Bernard Guerney, Jr., a clinical psychologist, is Associate Professor of Psychology and Director of the Psychological Clinic of Rutgers, The State University, New Brunswick, N.J. Dr. Lillian Stover, a clinical psychologist, is Research Associate at Rutgers. Dr. Michael P. Andronico, a clinical psychologist, is Chief Psychologist at Hunterdon Medical Center, Flemington, N.J., and Research Associate at Rutgers. The preparation of this article was facilitated by Public Health Service Grant MH 2506-01 from the Mental Health Project Grants Section of the National Institute of Mental Health.
66
B. GUERNEY,JR., L. STOVER,AND M. P. ANDRONICO Head Start have begun to regard as a key problem the reaching of both the parents and children who need to be reached (John Abbey, administrative assistant for Project Head Start, quoted in The New York Times, July 3, 1966). It seems clearer now that deliberate efforts must be made to extend and expand the background experience of parents as well as children and to extend the involvement of the parent into something more meaningful than the role of passive observer in order to obtain cooperation and understanding of the school's aims. An assumption implicit in many of these proposals is that lower-class parents have been either unwilling or unable with their own limited resources to provide the minireal conditions for proper development of readiness for school. Lack of an "educational tradition" in the home, insufficient language and reading skills, inadequate motivation to pursue a long-range educational career, antagonism toward the school, poor health, improper diet, frequent moving, noisy, TV-ridden homes are among the conventional reasons, according to Riessman (1962), that are assumed to explain why underprivileged children do poorly at school. Riessman has noted, however, that, contrary to the widely held assumptions that lower-class people devalue the importance of education, 50 per cent of the white lower socioeconomic group and 70 per cent of the Negro lower socioeconomic group spontaneously responded, "Education," when asked what they missed most in life and what they wanted their children to have. Contrary to the common belief of typical middle-class designers of education, this suggests that education seems to be not only important for the lower-class parents but in the forefront of their minds. These parents very much want their children to succeed in school. A recent study reported that over 55 per cent of the children who had learned to read before coming to school came from lower socioeconomic homes (Durkin, 1961), and "family interviews consistently revealed a ready, even enthusiastic, acceptance of preschool reading ability on the part of lower class parents." It is our contention that, while many of
67
the proposals that are aimed at compensatory education for disadvantaged youngsters are primarily concerned with provision of stimuli to facilitate perceptual development and with experiences to enhance language facility and other intellective aspects of development, the most crucial area often overlooked is the enhancement of the child's motivation for scholarly pursuits. The child's attitude toward school, how he views his peers and his teachers, and how he views activities related to school performance seem to be of fundamental importance. The frantic effort simply to add to the number of experiences does not seem to have the predicted effect on future achievement, as is evidenced by the recent announcement that the New York City Higher Horizons Project is being closed for lack of evidence of the efficacy of the investment (The New York Times, July 10, 1966). Now, if the parents of lower-class children hold to a kind of motivation and expectation for their own child's success that is in some respects similar to that held by middle-class parents, wky do these motivations not more frequently translate into adjustment and sustained striving for achievement by their children? One possibility is that the lower.class parents have failed to translate their beliefs into the specific acts vis-a-vis the child that make this type of achievement emotionally important to the child. It has been suggested that there is a developmental progression from early childish dependency, expressed in seeking affection from the parents, to active seeking of their attention and praise for accomplishments, to a final stage of independence and reinforcement inherent in the self-evaluative information that one has successfully accomplished a task (BelIer, 1955; Gewirtz, 1954; Heathers, 1955). In young children, of whatever social class, a major basis for the desire of achievement in school is not in the intellectual projection of the importance of education or the inherent satisfaction in learning. It is, first of all, a desire to please adult figures--to obtain the attention and praise first of the parent and secondly the teacher. The desire
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THE COMMUNITYMENTALHEALTHJournAL
to please the teacher is largely generalized from the desire to please the parent. Thus, generally speaking, the degree to which the child is motivated to please his parents probably strongly influences the extent to which he is motivated to please his teachers and thus meet one of the school's minimal expectations. What are some of the things we assume happen in the middle-class achiever's family that do not happen, or happen to a lesser degree, in the so.called culturally deprived underachiever's family? Among certain subcultures there are the historical traditions that produce parents who are masters of the art of extracting the maximum amount of intellectual achievement from their children (Zborowski, 1949). While such youngsters conceivably pay a dear price for scholarly overemphasis in terms of other aspects of their functioning, there are nevertheless certain techniques from which parents in lower-class subcultures can benefit. If, as professionals, we feel justified in advising mothers on how to be less pushing when we feel their children are paying too high a price in their personal adjustment for their achievement, are we not also justified in advising mothers on how to push more effectively when their children are paying too much in terms of educational failure? Are there not specific techniques that can be passed from the one subculture to the other, especially if, as was pointed out earlier, the motivation exists for adopting them? THE UNDERPRIVILEGEDCHILD Among the findings of the Institute for Developmental Studies (Deutsch, 1963) is that there is less interaction between the mother and child in the underprivileged household. In the noisy, overcrowded home, the child is not often actually spoken to; there is nothing like the prolonged conversation between adult and child that is routine in middle-class homes. The parents have been found not to give the individual attention to encourage the child to explore his world or to encourage him to ask questions. The working.class mother is described as desiring unques-
tioned domination of her offspring and of maintaining considerable social and emotional distance between herself and her children. Large families, the physical demands of poverty, and the need to escape the psychological consequences of poverty could account for much of this. Furthermore, lower-class parents are found to "extend less succorant care and to relax closely monitored supervision much earlier" than middle-class parents. "Lower class children are thus free to roam the neighborhood and join unsupervised play groups at an age when middle-class children are still confined to nursery school or their own backyards" (Ausubel & Ausubel, 1963). The lower.class child is accustomed to being cared for by a number of different individuals and learns to fend for himself at an earlier age. Probably this would have the effect of making these children less eager to please their parents, that is, make pleasing the parent less an emotional center in the child's life. This same relative difference would probably hold with respect to the emotional value placed on pleasing classmates as opposed to teachers. A major underdeveloped area in the culturally deprived child is the desire to please the teacher generally and especially insofar as intellectual achievement is concerned. The "exaggerated socializing influence of the peer g r o u p . . , characteristic of both White and Negro lower-class children" (Ausubel & Ausubel, 1963) tends to generalize to attention.seeking of classmates and distracting performance for their benefit, with resultant classroom disruption and loss of possible rapport and communication with the teacher. The mothers of the middle-class achievers are themselves more likely to be interested in pursuits related to educational skills, such as reading. They thus provide a model for the child to follow with respect to an academically important activity. Since children tend to identify with and want to emulate the activities of their parents, this creates a desire on the part of the middleclass child to learn to read. The reading of stories to children, of course, follows from the same motivations of the parents and
B. GUERN~.LJm, L. STOVER, AND M. P. ANDROmCO has the same effect on the children. Such sources of motivation for this most important of scholastic pursuits are much less present for the underprivileged child. According to Conant (1961), ~When the [lower.class] children leave the school, they never see anyone read anything--not even newspapers." "The ways in which parents spend time with their children at meals, in play, and other times during the day has been found to be an important factor in developing skills which prepare children for school. The objects in the home, the amount of parental interest in learning, and the amount of practice and encouragement the child is given in conversation and in general learning have been found to be significant influences on language and cognitive development, development of interest in learning, attention span, and motivation..." (Bloom, 1965). The parents of the underprivileged are, on the whole, less effective as positively reinforcing agents with their children than are middle-class mothers. 'r parents, for example, are generally more casual, inconsistent and authoritarian than middle-class parents in controlling their children, and resort more to harsh, corporal forms of punishment" (Ausubel &Ausubel, 1963). Children are expected to be obedient and submissive, and insubordination is suppressed by harsh and often brutal physical punishment. Yet the importance of praise for the lower-elass ehild appears even greater than for the commensurate.age middle-class ehild (Zigler & Kanzer, 1962). The types of reinforcement and the oeeasions on which lower.class and middleclass mothers administer positive and negative reinforeement for academie pursuits tend to be different. "A parent who spanks a child is less likely to provide a normal positive reinforcement" (Ferster, 1958). The lower.class mother tends to limit herself to punishment and correction with respect to lack of achievement, with the result that children fear and try to avoid the situation that calls for these punishments, namely, the school. The middie-class parent tends to make more subtle demands and tends to use more positive and
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effective means of reinforcement with respect to scholastic achievement. , INVOLVEMENT OF PARENT
The fact that so many lower.class mothers do heavily employ the use of negative reinforcement in the area of schoolwork nevertheless supports the find. ing of a high level of motivation on the part of these mothers. This belief in the importance of education and maternal concern for her child's welfare suggest that she would be willing to acquire the skills necessary for raising the scholastic achievement of her youngster. We believe she is capable of acquiring these skills if approached in a manner in which she can feel accepted, secure, unthreatened, and of genuine value herself. "A community of interest between teacher and parents can in some cases do more to improve a child's schoolwork or behavior than all the remedial and punitive measures at the school's command" (Educational Policies Commission, 1962). However, many of the involvements of parents in preschool programs have been implicitly denigrating. The complaint often voiced by teachers in these programs is that parents are not involved in meaningful ways that really tap their strengths and sustained interest. Help in putting up bulletin boards, collecting milk money, sorting papers, conducting button, thread, and scrap material drives--even voluntary attendance at lectures on child rearing--are superfluous and meaningless in terms of the real contribution these parents can make. On the other hand, "parents often respond enthusiastically, themselves taking part in the learning, when a skillful teacher demonstrates how the children are being taught" (Educational Policies Commission, 1962). It is proposed that the parent must be involved meaningfully. This involves an important change in the posture of the parent toward more reliance upon himself rather than upon others as agents in the shaping of their children's aspirations. Unfortunately, it has long been assumed by professionals that the relatively uneducated cannot assume anything like the important
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role implied above. Fortunately, the crisis in manpower in the helping professions has forced hospitals, clinics, and community agencies of all sorts to assign responsibilities for patient care, including the rein. forcement of programs prepared by professionals, to lay personnel--often with amazing success (Carkhuff & Truax, 1965; HaUowitz & Riessman, 1966; MacLennan, Fishman, Klein, Denham, Walker, & Mitchell, 1966; Rioch, Elkes, Flint, Usdansky, Newman, & Silver, 1963). Our experience in filial therapy with emotionally disturbed youngsters shows that parents, even though clearly involved in the production of the emotional disturbance in their youngsters, do have the capabilities, the motivations, and the flexibility to redefine their role in relation to their youngsters, in a structured play situation, and to modify their interaction significantly (Guerney, 1964; Guerney, Guerney, & Andronico, 1966; Stover, 1966). This leads us to predict that if lower-class, uneducated parents were to be placed in a position of trust and responsibility and were assigned the direction for their own children's aspirations, under the type of supervised and structured leadership that obtains in the filial therapy training program, tremendous parental energy would be released that would provide the motivations and skills for a more sustained involvement in academic pursuits.
clarification and help in perfecting their new role. The sharing of their experiences and their feelings in a therapeutic milieu has been found to provide gratification for the needs of the parent while he is meeting the needs of the child. The application of the filial therapy approach to the involvement of lower-class parents in a program designed to improve their children's academic incentives would include the following: 1. In most general terms, aspects of the home environment that seem to be most significant in affecting the level of measured intelligence of the child, as well as his school learning, are provisions for general learning, i.e., "models and help in language development, and parental stimula. tion and concern for achievement and learning on the part of the child" (Bloom, Davis, & Hess, 1965). On the basis of this, a key approach would seem to be to focus on the manner in which parents administer reinforcement for academically related pursuits, specifically, an emphasis on positive reinforcement for achievements. 2. The manner in which this approach can be taught must be one that is very practical and action oriented and one that demonstrates to the parent her crucial effect on the behavior of her child. Thus, demonstrations by the group leader with a youngster of the very specific manner in which the parent is urged to interact with her child should be part of the initial FILIAL THERAPY phase. Another way of illustrating the The training of the parents in filial specific desired behaviors would be by role therapy consists of observations of a skilled playing with the parent, with the group teacher interacting with children in the leader taking the stance of the parent manner being prescribed for the parents, of modeling the desired response, then giving practice in playing such a role under the parent opportunity for practice by asobservation of the therapist and other suming the child's role. parents in the group, and provision for 3. It would be recommended that the exchange of ideas and corrective feedback parent need find only 10 or 15 minutes from each other in a setting that is sup- during a day to give to the child on any portive of their own feelings as they specific agreed-upon assignment--to listen experience this new learning situation. to him, to share stories with him, to enPractice then is undertaken at home with courage him to talk, to ask questions, to their own youngsters, and continual con. make decisions, to play games, to use pencil tact is maintained with the parent group and paper, or to read to him. The emphasis under the supervision of the professional would be on sparking the child's motiva: psychologist on a weekly basis, for further tion rather than on inteUectual gains. The
B. GtrERNEY, Jl~.,L. STOVe.R, AND M. P. ANDRONICO crucial nature of this interaction is that it be an intensive and private interaction between mother and child, with other children momentarily but specifically excludr 4. While the parent's assignment is prescribed for only 10 to 15 minutes, it is important that it be performed daily, and an account of the parent's successes and difficulties would be brought back to the weekly parent group meetings, where an exchange of experiences with other parents would help to clarify their mastery of the technique and where they may experience some positive reinforcement for their progress. The feeling of receiving positive reinforcement for efforts must be experienced by the parent if she is to understand what the relative effects of positive and negative reinforcement are on learning. 5. The conduct of the regular parent meetings would be much like that in filial therapy--client centered, and in tune with the current needs expressed by the group, yet action centered in terms of the specific things they are being asked to do at home. The difficulties encountered by any parent in learning new behaviors to be employed in an intimate interaction with her own child are constantly kept in mind by the group leader in filial therapy and would seem to be equally essential here. Support and encouragement and recognition of the parent's feelings of frustration, anger, defensiveness, and resistance are dealt with as a natural consequence of this new experience. The strength and encouragement that the parents get from each other provides a major lever in, first of all, expressing these feelings, then in coping with them and overcoming them so that they can begin to experience the gratification that comes with seeing improvements that they themselves have stimulated in their children. Discussion may center about what they think their behavior meant to the child, how they think the child feels about the attention from the parent, how the child's attitudes toward accomplishments are changing, and how the child's expression of himself is increasing. Parents can be shown the importance of answering all questions raised by the child, of listening attentively to the
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child, and of giving rewards--especially at. tention--instead of punishments in shaping interests and behavior. They can be helped with specific suggestions in child rearing as these are deemed appropriate. While the program may start at the preschool level or in the primary grades, it may continue as the child progresses through the grades, so that as new problems arise, e.g., report cards, newer and higher academic expecta. tions, inevitable peer group adjustments, the parents can continue to remain together and assist each other to attempt new behaviors appropriate to these particular childhood difficulties. 6. The appropriate setting for the program would seem to be the school, where "many underprivileged adults believe, often with good cause, that school people look down on them" (Educational Policies Commission, 1962). While many underprivileged parents may not generally be inclined to sign up for educational programs, there is general agreement now that "Parents develop new self-respect and readiness to assume responsibility when they realize they are important to the schdol in the education of their children" (Educational Policies Commission, 1962). We believe that their continued interest will reflect the manner in which the program is conducted, so that the parents recognize the meaningfulness of their participation and so that they can obtain real benefit from it. It should not be too difficult to work out a priority system to determine which parents may enter the group. The priority basis should be public knowledge and not based on need alone, because that implies deficits to be corrected rather than the acquisition of positive skills useful to all parents. We do, in fact, conceive of the program as being potentially useful to all and specify it for economically deprived areas because that is where schools can obtain immediate support through federal funds. What we take issue with is the now prevailing view that the home of the underprivileged child "rarely, if ever, negatively predisposes him toward the school situation" (Deutsch, 1963). We maintain it does negatively predispose him, and not simply
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by default, precisely while striving, as b e s t the parents know how, not to do so. We take issue with the prevailing view that the school "offers the only mechanism by which the job can be done" (Deutsch, 1963). We maintain that the school alone cannot provide the proper acculturation of these children with nearly the speed required. We see the use of underprivileged parents as a largely overlooked reservoir of untapped power for raising their children's academic aspiration. None can be more interested in working for their children's welfare than the parents themselves. I f this power can be harnessed, it should prove vast and economical, but we maintain that it is more than that. We propose that the positive influence upon the child of the parent in the home m a y be the missing catalyst necessary to transform the two ingredients now in suspended solution--the latent motivation of the underprivileged child for learning and the specialized programs designed to educate him--into an effective formula for change. REFERENCES AUSUnEL,D., & AUSUEEL,PEARL.Ego development among segregated Negro children. In Passow, A. H. (Ed.), Education in depressed areas. New York: Teachers College, Columbia University, 1963. Pp. 109-141. BELLEn, E. Dependency and independence in young children. J. genet. Psychol., 1955, 87, 25-35. BLOOM, B. S. (Ed.). Research problems of education and cultural deprivation. Cooperative Research Project No. F-057, U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare. Chicago: Department of Education, University of Chicago, 1965. BLOOM, B. S., DAVIS,ALLISON, & HESS, R. Compensatory education for cultural deprivation. Cooperative Research Project No. F-057, U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare. Chicago: Department of Education, University of Chicago, 1965. CARKHUFF,R. R., & TRUAX,C. B. Training in counseling and psychotherapy: an evaluation of an integrated didactic and experimental approach. J. consult. Psychol., 1965, 29, 333-336. CLARK, K. B. Educational stimulation of racially disadvantaged children. In Passow, A. H. (Ed.), Education in depressed areas. New York: Teachers College, Columbia University, 1963. Pp. 142-162.
CONArCr,J. B. Slums and suburbs: a commentary on school in metropolitan areas. New York: McGraw. Hill, 1961. DEUTSCH,M. P. The disadvantaged child and the learning process. In Passow, A. H. (Ed.), Education in depressed areas. New York: Teachers College, Columbia University, 1963. Pp. 163-179. DUnKIN,DOLORES.Children who learn to read prior to first grade: a second-ycar report. Paper presented at American Educational Research Association Meeting, Chicago, February 1961. EDUCATIONALPOLICIESCOMMISSION.Education and the disadvantaged American. Washington, D.C.: National Education Association, 1962. FE~STER, C. B. Control of behavior in chimpanzees and pigeons by time out from positive reinforcement. Psychol. Monogr., 1958, 72, No. 8 (Whole No. 461). GEWIRTZ,J. Three determinants of attention seeking in young children. Monogr. soc. Res. Child Developm., 1954, 19, No. 2 (Serial No. 59). GUERNEY, B., JR. Filial therapy: description and rationale. ]. consult. Psyehol., 1964, 28, 304310. GUERNEY, B. G., JR., GUERNEY,Louise F., & ANDRONICO, M. P. Filial therapy. Yale Scientific Magazine, March 1966, 6-14. HALLOWITZ,E. & RIESSMAN,F. The role of the indigenous nonprofessional in a community mental health neighborhood service center program. Paper presented at American Orthopsychiatry Association Meeting, San Francisco, April 1966. HEATHERS, G. Emotional dependence and independence in nursery school play. Y. geaet. Psychol., 1955, 87, 37-57. MAcLE~NAN, B. W., FISHMAN,J. R., KLEIN,W. L., DENHAM,W. H., WALKER,W. L., & MITCHELL, L. E. The implications of the nonprofessional in community mental health. Paper presented at American Orthopsychiatric Association Meeting, San Francisco, April 1966. RIESS~.N, F. The culturally deprived child. New York: Harper, 1962. RIOCH,MARGARET,ELKES,CHARMIAN,FLINT,A. A., USDANSKY,BLANCHE,NEWMAN,RUTH, & SILVER, E. National Institute of Mental Health pilot study in training mental health counselors. Amer. f. Orthopsychiat., 1963, 33, 678-689. STOVES,LILLIAN.Efficacy of training procedures for mothers in filial therapy. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Rutgers, The State University, New Brunswick, N.J., 1966. ZBOROWSKt,M. The place of book-learning in traditional Jewish culture. Harvard educ. Rev., 1949, 19, 87-109. ZIGLER,E., & KANZER,P. The effectiveness of two classes of verbal reinforcers on the performance of middle- and lower-class children../. Pets., 1962, 30, 157-163.
