teaching disadvantaged children in the preschool

Carl Bereiter

Siegfried Engelmann

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cultural deprivation as language deprivation

if children receive instruction in reading and writing in school but fail to learn it or fail to learn it to the usual standards because they have been denied prerequisite learning experiences afforded other children in our society

if the child did not understand the meaning of the word or,he would experience innumerable and serious difficulties with instructions,concepts,and problems,and this lack is not one that can be remedied on the spur or the moment with a picture,example,or brief explanation

anyone familiar with the more unstructured approaches to preschool education for disadvantaged children is probably aware that more time is devoted to learning about sheep,fire engines,supermakets,guinea pigs,hair ribbons,freight trains,and similar impedimenta than is devoted to such elementary necessities as learning the meaning of or

sensory deprivation versus cultural deprivation

providing with an abundance of varied sensory experiences

automobiles passing in the street are as good as story books,old shoes are as good as dolls, and trash cans are as good as toy durms

verbal versus nonverbal factors in cultural deprivation

the kinds of perceptual and logical organization that piaget considers essential for the development of intelligence are general enough that they can be provided by almost any sort of concrete experience

blind children,on the average,show little or no intellectual and academic deficiency,whereas deft children ara typically about 10 points below normal in IQ and show gross inadequacies in academic achievement

a comparision of blind with deaf children thus reveals that children can be quite markedly deprived of concrete sensory experience and yet develop normal intellects and function well academically,whereas if they are deprived of language experience,they are seriously handicapped in these areas even through they have full access to concrete experience

it is quite possible to make one's want known,to enter actively into play and other social relationships,and to give vent to one's feelings without language

language becomes a virtual necessity,when one moves form the social uses of language to the transmission of knowledge from one person to another and to the performance of certain operations with concepts

language is primarily used to control behavior,to express sentiments and emotions,to permit the vicarious sharing of experiences,and to keep the social machinery of the home running smoothly

the use of language to explain,to describe,to insturct,to inquire,to hypothesize,to analyze,to compare,to deduce,and to test

the deaf child cannot understand what is said

the lower class child is not sufficiently exposed to language in its cognitive uses

面對孩子不提倡use of simple imperatives(leave it alone;shut up)

而應use of explanations and statements 

give clear explanations or directions

motivate the child

the lower class child is not without cluture,but he is deprived of that part of culture that can only be acquired through teaching-the knowledge,the meanings,the explanations,the structured beliefs that make up the conceptual furniture of cluture

the child spends his early childhood in an environment where teaching does not take place and where the language with which teaching is carried out is not used,therefore,he may not even learn how to be taught,and when he is exposed to teaching,he may behave much as if he were mentally retarded or devoid of language altogether