Preschool Makes a Lifetime Difference

I happened to catch a fragment on npr about an extended study of the effects of preschool -- in this case until the subjects were 40. The results indicated that preschool had a lifetime benefit which left people with better lives in every way -- jobs, lifestyle, etc.

I had a bit of extended education myself: serious illness at 4 which left me in the hands of a skilled nurse who tutored me so that I did not fall behind where I had been in kindergarten, later I spent an extra year as an exchange student in a British public school, and still later I did a degree in theology before starting graduate philosophy so that I did not start teaching until I was thirty. All of those extras made a vast difference in my life. They helped me choose the right career and made me good at teaching in it.

The sad thing now with our budget cuts is that precisely preschool education is being cut or mangled. Needless to say kids from backgrounds in which their parents are not well educated suffer even more from this loss. A quick check indicates that they are being hit the hardest of all. How sad that we are cheating the kids that need this support the most!

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Preschool Programs Hit By Budget Cuts

http://www.earlychildhoodfocus.org/artman2/publish/preschool/Preschool_Programs_Hit_By_Budget_Cuts.shtml

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British Research Confirms Benefits of Preschool for All
Myth of Fadeout Refuted By long-term Positive Effects of High-Quality Pre-K

http://nieer.org/psm/?article=273
--
"A war is just if there is no alternative, and the resort to arms is legitimate if they represent your last hope." (Livy cited by Machiavelli)
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Ed Kent [blind copies]