EXCERPTS
How do we, as a nation, perceive the child?
Do we see the child as a passive recipient of information, vulnerable to destructive emotions, who must be trained to meet uniform standards of behavior? Or, instead, as a capable, curious, creative, caring, connected individual who can naturally develop meaningful relationships from which knowledge and well-being are constructed?
A nation's image of the child has important implications for the kind of early-education system that it supports and what becomes of it. A country that values the social and emotional development of each child in relationship to other human beings-or social constructivism-is likely to invest in effective early-childhood education for all of them. Yet there are substantial racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic disparities in access to early-childhood education in America. Those gaps create early barriers to a child's educational, social, and economic success that can be very difficult to overcome.
The most prominent education reform movements thus far have focused on greater accountability and privatization as paths to lowering those barriers. However, as David Kirp has insightfully demonstrated in his latest book, Improbable Scholars: The Rebirth of a Great American School System and a Strategy for America's Schools, those movements tend to generate divisive and distracting debates, particularly about the efficacy of standardized tests, charter schools, and vouchers. Advocates on all sides of those debates who really want to improve educational opportunities for our children, and in the most cost-effective way, have a shared interest in supporting investments in early-childhood education.
Faced with budget deficits, some federal and state lawmakers and school district administrators have mistakenly redirected scarce resources away from early education. Farsighted and fiscally prudent policymakers recognize an investment in early-childhood education can ultimately reduce budget deficits and produce robust economic, educational, and social returns.
More than 120 separate empirical studies have demonstrated the dramatic benefits of such an investment in children and the country. Children who attend early-childhood-education programs at age 3 or 4 are better prepared for school. They also perform better academically, are likelier to complete high school, and require fewer remedial and special education services. They have fewer instances of externalized behavior, emotional impairment and disturbance, delinquency, encounters with law enforcement (including criminal activity or imprisonment), and mental and physical illness, and they incur lower health-care costs. Their marriages are more stable, and they have better familial relationships. They surpass their peers economically, including having sustained employment and a higher taxable income and rate of home ownership.
Read the full article at Education Week