The Carolina Abecedarian project is hugely persuasive, early education can prevent crime and it can help people in poverty get out of it.
- Children from low-income families received full-time, high-quality educational intervention in a childcare setting from infancy through age 5.
- Each child had an individualized prescription of educational activities.
- Educational activities consisted of “games” incorporated into the child’s day.
- Activities focused on social, emotional, and cognitive areas of development but gave particular emphasis to language.
- Children’s progress was monitored over time with follow-up studies conducted at ages 12, 15, and 21.
- The young adult findings demonstrate that important, long-lasting benefits were associated with the early childhood program.”
A September 14, 2013 blog in the New York Times by James Heckman discussed this amazingly great research.
And another piece today in the Times by Nicholas Kristof describes the great strides the Oklahoma has made in providing preschool education to its citizens. Thank you Oklahoma!
We need to put resources into early education. It works. All the detention centers and all the elaborate discipline systems we develop, will not do as much as preschool can to help children become law abiding and productive citizens. It’s never to let to work with anyone but prevention is much less costly and it makes for safer and healthier communities.
Let’s hope that the US Congress lets go of it’s resentment toward others and puts Americans first in addressing the legislation to come before it this week according to Kristof.