Listening to Bill Millett this morning on his talk about Early Education should derve as a cold slap in the face to Americans today!  This talk was sponsored by the Arapahoe County Early Education Childhood Council who puts on my Family Leadership Training and was well worthwhile getting up early and driving in the pre-rush hour, rush hour traffic.

Take note.

1. Early childhood education in the United States is "under-recognized, underappreciated and underfunded," Millett said in a recent interview.  But does it really make much of a difference to emphasize education and development in the preschool years?  Numerous studies, including a 2007 report by the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, say yes.  Children who develop strong language, motor and social skills before age 5 are less likely to drop out of school, go on welfare and commit crimes, according to the study.  There also is an economic payoff of as much as $17 for every $1 invested in early childhood education programs, the study found.
2. If pre-kindergarten isn't expanded in Colorado and across the nation, U.S. children will continue to fall behind their peers abroad, Millett said.  And when it comes time to compete for jobs in the global economy, they'll be at a disadvantage, he said  The US used to be ranked no.1 across the board in education with China way behind.  Recently China has narrowed the gap and will continue to pull ahead, and Korea who was under them are now rapidly advancing on the Chinese.  They came to the realization on the importance of early education and did something about it and at the current rate the US will continue to fall behind.  Pretty startling, huh?
3. It’s not about painting a fuzzy, warm picture of doing what is right for children, though that’s fine. Rather, Millett said, the case for investing in early childhood education is a financial one.

Pretty scary don't you think?  And it gets worse.  I think the our state's governor should have attended and taken notes for his successor, too bad Governor Ritter is stepping aside in these crucial times as the glory years of being the first on the moon and being home to the major technology companies will be nothing but a memory.  And that is exactly why I have wanted Dakota involved in his pre K years to be involved in a ore K program and Cub Scouts.  He saw an Eagle Scout up-close and personal last night and I think that dramatic effects on the way he looked at scouting.

I will get off my soap box now, but please consider investing in our youth now befor we are playing catch up in a game we will never win.

Written by :

MileHighDad

 

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