On looking back at Head Start and other early childhood program plans, it is felt that several false assumptions have been made, the most obvious being the idea that poor children are understimulated; another is that poor children can be stereotyped, although there are relationships between poverty and health problems and language development. The proliferation of curriculum models that have been developed to stimulate the child are said to have resulted in increasing polarization of curriculum goals: skills, knowledge, and personal strengths and resources. Distinctions are drawn between the authoritarian and authoritative teacher, between teaching and performing, between children having fun and getting satisfaction, and between excitement and learning. Instead of trying to foster excitement in children, it is stated that a more valuable purpose in education would be to strengthen a child's capacities for sustained interest and effort. Introducing things to children because they are exciting is a pervasive quality of American society, but it is pointed out that this will not produce real learning needed to overcome social, psychological, and economic problems. (LH)