Monitor on Psychology - November 2011 - (Page 87)

New APA Handbooks how did you get involved with head Start? I was invited to the Center for Advanced Studies at Stanford, and it was out there that I got involved with several folks who were being tapped for President John F. Kennedy’s ventures into progressive political, social and economic endeavors. Then Kennedy was assassinated and Lyndon Johnson was in office, and Johnson turned to two or three people out of that group for advice on his war on poverty. I was invited to take on the challenge of evaluating the Head Start program. I think that was as much because of the work I had done on my doctoral dissertation — which had to do with the holistic development of children in Harlem — as it was because of affirmative action. But I think they thought the research effort would succeed better in some of the targeted communities if they had a person of color leading it. Do you think that head Start has been successful? As a political and social endeavor, it has turned out to be one of the most successful and effective of the federal government’s experiments. When one looks at it in terms of its potential for what it could be, I’m more inclined to call it a failure because we are a long way from what we’d hoped for. It has become identified as a child development project and we had thought of it as a family and community development project. From the beginning, we had as our central target poor children, but we thought that the way to do that was through strengthening the families and communities from which those kids came. The core concept was to greatly improve the environments and opportunities for learning. The community development part of it, I think, was perceived by the politicians as politically threatening because some of the projects became instruments of political action. Those parts were pretty much stripped from Head Start and the concentration became exclusively on early education programs for kids. What are the biggest challenges to educating black people today? The maldistribution of the resources necessary to live a decent life. When we look across the world at educated people and uneducated people, it’s interesting that the educated people tend to be those who have access to the resources necessary to become educated. One could take that finding and say that the most important intervention ought to be in the placing of a floor under the existence of all people to raise their quality of life so they can live effective lives, including getting an adequate education. However, that is politically not a useful concept; society regularly rejects it as too socialist. What would you recommend to psychologists just starting their careers? Get as much and as broad an education as you can. Psychologists ought not limit themselves to the things we identify as “psychology.” Most problems of the world aren’t going to be solved by any single discipline. Students of human behavior need to be well versed in the sciences of behavior, the arts and the humanities. From the perspectives thus provided, professional and wise judgments can be expected. —M. PRiCE APA Handbook of Industrial and Organizational Psychology 2010. 3-Volume Set. 2,700 pages. Hardcover. List: $695.00 • APA Member/Affiliate: $395.00 ISBN: 978-1-4338-0727-5 • Item #: 4311502 Editor-in-Chief: Sheldon Zedeck, PhD Handbook of Clinical Hypnosis Second Edition Edited by Steven Jay Lynn, Judith W. Rhue, and Irving Kirsch 2010. 792 pages. Hardcover. List: $129.95 • APA Member/Affiliate: $69.95 ISBN 978-1-4338-0568-4 • Item # 4317205 APA Handbook of Intercultural Communication Edited by David Matsumoto Co-published with Walter de Gruyter 2010. 394 pages. Hardcover. List: $79.95 • APA Member/Affiliate: $59.95 ISBN 978-1-4338-0778-7 • Item # 4317223 Sales limited to North America. APA Handbook of Interpersonal Communication Edited by David Matsumoto Co-published with Walter de Gruyter 2010. 406 pages. Hardcover. List: $79.95 • APA Member/Affiliate: $59.95 ISBN 978-1-4338-0780-0 • Item # 4317224 Sales limited to North America. FAD0036 www.apa.org/pubs/books 800-374-2721 n ov e M b e r 2 0 1 1 • M o n i to r o n p s yc h o l o g y 87 http://www.apa.org/pubs/books http://www.apa.org/pubs/books

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Monitor on Psychology - November 2011

Monitor on Psychology - November 2011
Letters
President’s Column
Contents
Guest Column
‘Grand Challenges’ offers blueprint for mental health research
Documentary seeks to reach parents of LGBT kids
Treating veterans will cost at least $5 billion by 2020
Selfless volunteering might lengthen your life
Combat and stress up among U.S. military in Afghanistan
South Africa to host international psychology conference
Study uncovers a reason behind sex differences in mental illness
Navy psychologist gives a voice to combat trauma
In Brief
Psychologist suicide
On Your Behalf
Journey back to Heart Mountain
Psychology is key to pain management, report finds
ACT goes international
Judicial Notebook
Random Sample
Time Capsule
Questionnaire
Science Watch
Behavior change in 15-minute sessions?
Health-care reform 2.0
Perspective on Practice
Giving a heads up on concussion
Practice Profile
Searching for meaning
Inspiring young researchers
Aging, with grace
Public Interest
Thank you!
APA News
Division Spotlight
American Psychological Foundation
The man who gave Head Start a start
Personalities

Monitor on Psychology - November 2011

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