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The at-risk student population is growing larger in number with educators finding increased difficulty in meeting their diverse needs. Traditional teaching methods are not always working successfully. Accommodative services and aternative methods of education must be implemented in a fashion that will ignite students to success. Standard forms of statistical measurement (attendance, dropout, and graduation rates) have consistently shown negative ratings in schools across America. These measurements are indicators that students' educational needs are not being appropriately dealt with. This study shows how increased accommodation has a major impact on the educational success rates of at-risk students. It also reveals the importance of going beyond societal expectations and limits to reach students educationally. Finally, this study proves at-risk students will take responsibility for their educational success without losing accountability or being enabled.

This study uses two short stories by Flannery O'Connor to explore D. W. Winnicott's theory of early childhood development. This thesis proposes that the "inherited potential" of the individual is determined by the quality of the early maternal environment, especially during the period of Winnicott's first two paradoxical stages of development: Absolute Dependence and Relative Dependence. The mother-adult/child relationships in O'Connor's two short stories "Good Country People" and "The Enduring Chill" serve as case studies to examine the ramifications of "not good-enough" mothering on the infant's psychological state during these first two stages of development. The concepts of mirroring, impingement, true and false self development, illusion, transitional phenomenon, and aggression are considered in the context of the mother-child relationship to demonstrate how maternal inadequacy undermines all aspects of the child's "going-on-being." In "The Enduring Chill" it was determined that protagonist Asbury Fox is psychologically fixated at the stage of Absolute Dependence because he exhibits symptoms indicative of repetitive early environmental impingement: He is maternally dependent, has little or no sense of self, exhibits primitive omnipotence and thwarted creativity. Conversely, Joy/Hulga Hopewell in "Good Country People" achieves the developmental stage of Relative Dependence based upon her ability to physically and psychologically separate from her mother, forge her own identity, accomplish educational goals, and make use of transitional objects.In conjunction with the observation of mother-infant dyads, the impact of the absent father is further assessed to determine the level of impairment and quality of the adult-child's achievement of independence. It was concluded that Asbury Fox was unable to complete passage of the Oedipus complex, because his father died when he was five. Divorce, when Joy/Hulga is ten, leaves her without a father to mediate between mother and daughter. Thus, these two angry adult children experience either dependency, like Asbury Fox who searches for fathers in life, or rejection of maternal closeness like Joy/Hulga who attempts to forge a father in the creation of a name.