Introduction
The growth of human civilization rests on the development and education of human beings, and it is quite impressive how dedicated most scholars are to this growth. Although education has been around for millennia in both animals and human beings, the use of institutions to pass on knowledge is a trait common only in human beings. As of the 21st Century, the school structure is still an experiment which educators and scholars strive every day to improve. Such scholars include Betty Hart and Todd Risley, who, in their book, Meaningful Differences in the Everyday Experience of Young American Children , stipulated the findings of more than decade-long research on the impact of schools on children from different backgrounds.
Summary of the Book
The study focuses on children's verbal growth and how it is affected by their social setting, that is, their parents and guardians. The children studied were between two to four years old. Hart and Risley noted that most educational interventions, however efficient, had only been temporary. For instance, the American government's War on Poverty tried to improve children's attitude toward education by introducing preschools. Although the strategy proved effective at first, its effect was only a wave, and after a few years, the strategists were back where they had started. With this in mind, Hart and Risley began the study hoping that they could find a long-term solution for the educational problems they were trying to solve.
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Hart and Risley compared two preschools; one was populated by African American children while the other was predominantly white. Although race was the major defining factor in the two schools, the two authors focused on the economic gap between the two. Children from the African American preschool came from low-income families, while those in the other school came from financially stable families and had educated parents, some even professors. It is important to note that as capitalism spreads across the globe, education and wealth grow proportionately, which is why there was a significant vocabulary growth gap between the two factions. The study focused on vocabulary growth because it is a determining factor in a child's cognitive development (Hart & Risley, 1995 p. 6). By improving the level of vocabulary growth in the African American preschool, they hoped to enhance the children's attitude and effort towards higher education levels. To do so, Hart and Risley needed to determine the cause of the difference in learning between poor and rich children. They came up with and tested three hypotheses that attempted to explain and solve the educational gap.
The first hypothesis focused on cultural differences and implied that the difference in vocabulary command in the two factions was because the tests did not include the cultural use of vocabulary. To test the hypothesis, the authors created a home-like environment for the children and recorded their vocabulary. Even with the consideration of cultural differences, there was still an alarming difference between African American children and white children, making the hypothesis null and void (Hart & Risley, 1995 p. 13). The second one proposed that advantaged children, that is, those from educated and financially stable families, had extensive and varied experience as opposed to the disadvantaged children. This hypothesis was disproved after a period of six months, during which the African American children were exposed to various environments through weekly field trips.
The third hypothesis was a modification of the second. It proposed that experience was not enough; it had to be mediated by teachers or parents. The field trips taken in the second hypothesis were modified to include a teacher. For instance, on a field trip to the bank, the teacher in charge would indulge the children in conversations about money and banking even before they got to the bank. In the bank, the teacher would ask them questions about what they have learned while offering definitions of new words they encountered. The mediated experience continued even after the field trip; with their teacher's help, the children reviewed the vocabulary and general experience they had picked up in the bank and applied it on a makeshift bank their teacher had prepared. Unlike the other two hypotheses, the third one had better results, but the effect faded after a while. Words like "deposit slips" or "teller" that the children had picked up from the field trip were no longer applicable in their everyday lives (Hart & Risley, 1995 p. 14). At this point, it would have made sense for Hart and Risley to give up but dedicated as they were, they continued to look for the cause of the disparity in vocabulary growth.
With the failure of the three hypotheses, the authors decided to observe the children in their homes to determine the difference in parenting and its effect on education. This experiment proved to be exhausting and time-taking. The plan was to observe one hundred and twenty families for one hour every month. Since the experiment was to run for the whole year, Hart, Risley, and their research group would have about 1440 hours of videos to transcribe, an effort that required more than twice their staff (Hart & Risley, 1995 p. 23). For this reason, the study targeted fewer families so that it would be easier for the observers to create a rapport with the families. The goal was to record every interaction around the child, although the presence of an observer was bound to alter the general behavior of the family members. At the end of the experiment, Hart and Risley found that children whose parents talked more and gave clear instructions emulated that and had more vocabulary up their sleeve. In the same way, children whose parents gave simple instructions and talked less imitated it and had less vocabulary.
Personal Evaluation of the Book
Hart's and Risley's work is more than impressive. Despite all the obstacles, their dedication to the cause is quite commendable, especially considering that the study was only the foundation of a viable transformation of the education system. The prose is also top-notch, making the book easy to understand. There is no excessive use of unnecessary jargon since the authors explain basic words that may have a different meaning in the context. The study is extensive and thorough, making it all the more credible.
Aside from the interesting prose and commendable research, the experiments conducted shed light on so many parenting issues, particularly the direct observation of families' interactions with children. For instance, in response to an instruction by the mother to a child and their sibling to "Leave it alone. Both of you," the child asked, "Both of me?" (Hart & Risley, 1995 p. 40). Since the child was not yet familiar with the use of pronouns, especially that the pronoun "you" can be used in both singular and plural forms, she questions the peculiar use of language by her parent. Despite the financial stability of a family or the education level, children are generally inquisitive. Although the study was intended for teachers and educators to help manage different children by considering their families, it can also be useful to parents and guardians. Understanding how one's actions and words affect a child's development should be the first step in parenting. Hart and Risley provide that information through their systematic explanation in the book.
Comparison of Information from Other Sources to the Book
Although plenty of research had been done on the effect of parents' verbal engagement with a child on their cognitive growth, Hart and Risley pioneered studying the vocabulary gap between children from higher and lower SES backgrounds. Fernald and Weisledernote that
due to the credible research Hart and Risley presented, "claims that early interactions between parents and infants lay the foundation for children's later language and cognitive development are no longer dismissed as scientifically questionable and culturally disrespectful" (Fernald & Weisleder, 2015 p. 3). While studies in the War on Poverty focused on the differences in parental verbal engagement depending on their educational and financial levels, Hart and Risley redefined the study altogether. The two authors statistically recorded the formerly abstract disparity in vocabulary growth between children from different backgrounds. They also drew the connection between particular verbal engagements and their effect n the cognitive growth of a child. For instance, Hart and Risley write that, "Parents who said, "Move" and, "Shut up," had children who did the same and those who explained, "You're going to hafta play by yourself, okay, because I'm trying to make lunch" had children who also explained at length." (Hart & Risley, 1995 p. 58). The authors did not just study the differences; they studied what caused them and provided solutions. As mentioned earlier, the book could be used as a parental guidebook because by reading the book, parents could learn how to verbally engage their children to improve their cognitive growth.
Conclusion
Hart and Risley have been cited by scholars trying to build on their work because their research was phenomenal. The book uncovered so many things that have since been used to improve learning and parenting. Since the improvement of education also comes financial growth, Hart and Risley have contributed largely to the War on Poverty.
References
Fernald, A., & Weisleder, A. (2015). Early language experience is vital to developing fluency in
understanding. Handbook of early literacy research , 3 , 3-19.
Hart, B., & Risley, T. R. (1995). Meaningful differences in the everyday experience of young
American children . Paul H Brookes Publishing.
