A study by AmericaÆs Kindergarteners reported in Reading Today maintains that most children in the U.S. enter kindergarten ôready to learn,ö (Most, 2000, p. 17). Despite this assessment, the study also found that at-risk factors impact ` childÆs readiness to learn in kindergarten, including single-parenthood, minority non-English speaking household, and homogenized environment and culture. Indeed, Ricciuti (1999, p. 450) reports similar results, arguing that single parenthood, ethnicity, and family income and educational status can ônegatively impactö on ôdevelopmental readiness to learn.ö This is why the fact that behaviorists see development as an incremental sequence of specifically condition behaviors is so important to parents, kindergarten teachers, and others responsible for children during their formative years.
The importance of preparing children for readiness to learn in a manner that reflects an awareness of the realities of the general population, school environment, and workplace cannot be underestimated for healthy development. Culture and diversity have an enormous impact on readiness to learn, especially when children are isolated from children of other socioeconomic backgrounds or ethnicities. Vygotsky (1962) theorizes that children learn a great deal from their environment, especially data needed to process more complex thought processes. Such development is enhanced by children who are exposed to the richness of diversity in the environment by parents, educators, and others responsible for them during their formative years. As Soria (2004, p. 22) argues, there is a significant relationship between culture and development, a development parents and educators can assist by ôexposing their children to different culturesö in order for them to develop a ôbroader perspectiveö that is more reflective of the growing diversity of the U.S. culture.
Failure to expose children to diversit
...