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Early Childhood Development is Good Policy

12 March 2010 3 Comments

When asked to name the single biggest threat to the future of the American lifestyle, many people would perhaps say it is the escalating price of imported oil, or maybe the growing dominance of the Chinese economic machine, or maybe even the worsening of the world’s natural environment. The biggest threat to America’s future is, in fact, a little closer to home. It is the rapidly deteriorating condition of the public schools systems across the country. Just twenty years ago, the American educational system was second to none, but due to a number of factors, the American system of education has stood still while other countries have passed it by. The implication of this failure is that American workers will not be able to compete for jobs in a world that is increasingly dependent upon a technically proficient workforce.

: Image by woodleywonderworks via Flickr

Recently, the U.S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, spoke in New York to an annual conference of more than 8,000 teachers, school supervisors and administrators concerning the urgent need to improve the educational standards in America’s schools. Among other things, he pointed out the need for early childhood education. In far too many cases, the young children of American working families are left hopelessly behind by the time they enter the public school system at the age of five or six. Many of these children have poor comprehension and socialization skills, and are ill-prepared to adjust to a classroom environment. As these “at risk” children are moved on each year to higher grade levels , they become increasingly frustrated by academic failure and more prone to creating classroom disturbances. Eventually, many of the children who enter the American school systems without basic skills, end up learning very little, and dropping out as soon as the law allows. In order to decrease the appallingly high dropout rate (in some school districts it is over 50%) it will be necessary for America to significantly increase its investment in early childhood education.

Recognizing that increasing the investment in early childhood development will be very expensive, Secretary Duncan has suggested the elimination of government bank subsidies for student loans, with a potential saving of $87 billion. These funds could be diverted into early childhood development programs without costing the taxpayers any additional money. For a very long period of time, education system experts have pointed out the need to get to at-risk children at a very early age in order to greatly increase their chances for success. The time and money and attention that America spends on early childhood development programs today will very likely pay great dividends in the future, when technological know-how will be required from all job seekers.

—Rich

Is American Culture to Blame for Bad Schools? (tastelikecrazy.com)
P.E.I.’s move to school kindergartens ‘on target’: minister (cbc.ca)

3 Comments »

Dorothy Stahlnecker said:

Sadly this information will be swept under the rug, because we don’t have the lobby power that pharmaceuticals, oil and the other corporations have hired and use to get laws passed to support their coffers….

Our most precious natural resource is our children and they often seem to be last on the list and it makes me sick. I wish I was younger, stronger and richer so I could take action to help give them every effort they deserve. Education is the foundation to success and in the end these children will be our decision makers and care givers, and I wonder how they will view us when we need them and they are in charge of our needs…

Dorothy from grammology
grammology.com

# 13 March 2010 at 8:36 pm

Trulyfool said:

No question about this — human waste, national waste.

Removing subsidies from banks sure has a progressive sound, certainly a populist one, although you and I know that the banks will simply then say it’s not in their interest to service student loans at all.

We also know the conservatives will point out that the early childhood deficits in basic comprehension and socialization are due to the ‘irresponsibility of the families in which the children are wrongly raised’, implying, if not stating that the fault lies in a ‘permissive society’ that doesn’t teach ‘the right values in the home’. If children are to suffer, the parents are to blame, and we can only do ‘so much’ — and not ‘throw money at the problem’, but demand that ‘people take responsibility for themselves’.

I repeat this steaming pile of crap only to illustrate the common moves used on the political chessboard for the last 50 years at least. Enough people still feed off this myth to elect the very bozos we see dragging their bloody heels on health care.

Your advocacy I share, and your energy I wish I had. For now, I’ll signal an earlier refrain:

constitutional crisis

# 14 March 2010 at 4:09 am

Emm said:

I’m pretty out of touch with education (as i don’t have kids yet). But on the weekend I picked up my friend’s child’s GCSE Science study guide and said it looked like a great syllabus. She replied that yes, but they weren’t being taught that in class! If I understand correctly, they are taught contextually and are not required to take notes but the actual exams require solid learning and conceptual knowledge. She said that were it not for extra lessons, her son would continue to fail. That is just mind blowingly wrong.

# 15 March 2010 at 10:01 am

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