Money Talks

Summary:
This article reviews a study by Stanford researcher, Anne Fernald. She focused on child
language proficiency at the ages of eighteen months and two years between children from
privileged families as well as underprivileged households. Her studies are some of the first to
identify a gap in achievement at such a young age and before schooling even begins. Fernald
tested the toddlers processing speeds by showing pictures and telling them to look at a certain
one by saying what its name is in a sentence. She then reviewed the exact millisecond the
toddler looked at the correct object. Her studies concluded that at eighteen months the
underprivileged children were already 200 milliseconds behind the children from families with
better socioeconomic standing. What seems like such a small amount of time is actually a huge
difference in cognitive processing. When she re-tested all the children at two years old she
found they were on average six months behind the more privileged kids. These kids eventually
made lower test scores on average in the language portions on standardized tests all through
their kindergarten and elementary education. Fernald suggests that this gap begins with the
families and how much they direct their own language towards their children. Engaging and
supportive talk directed towards babies/toddlers makes them more likely to fully reach their
cognitive potential in language. Other studies have proven that there is generally less supportive
and engaging talk to children in disadvantaged homes which could partially explain the
vocabulary and language processing gap according to Fernald.

Rhetorical Analysis:
Money Talks by Lisa Lapin has the purpose to inform and then get people talking. The
article explores the semi new idea that the achievement gap is not just an issue within the public
school system but it is in fact an issue often beginning with parents and at as early as 18
months old. Lisa makes no point to try and persuade or fix the issue in a direct way but instead
aims to inform and leave the rest up to the audience. I imagine this article is directed primarily
towards other problem solving scholars or politicians who are wishing to do something about the
achievement gap and actually get to the root of the issue. The intended secondary audience
may also be parents from the disadvantaged homes possibly hoping to better their child's future
and not allow them to fall into this statistic. The author made sure to explain every step in the
study instead of just state the findings. I believe this sort of validates the study and shows the
average person the steps which make it easier to understand and believe. Doing this also
confirms she wants the average person to see this study and realize that the achievement gap
is a real life issue that needs to be addressed. Lisa also makes sure to compare and contrast
the advantaged vs the disadvantaged in every part of this article in order to imprint on the
reader's brain that the disadvantaged are just getting more disadvantages and that it is in no
way equal.
 Citation
LAPIN, LISA. 2017. "Money Talks." USA Today Magazine 145, no. 2862: 77. Academic
Search Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed March 30, 2017).