The Oregon Community Foundation annual meeting theme was "we shouldn't be pointing fingers; we should be offering helping hands" as spoken by New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof to emphasize the dissatisfaction of providing early childhood education in Oregon. The performance on educational outcome is below expectation despite the many accomplishments the state has.
Let's look at the economic issues at play. It's true that early childhood education is expensive but economists proved that the cost-benefit families' pay is worth many times over. Early childhood education has a lifetime benefit such as lower crime rate, lower cost for remedial education, increased academic success and higher productivity in adulthood, according to The Bulletin.
Another state calling for the need of early childhood education is the last in ranking, Oregon's neighboring state Idaho. Idaho is among the eight US states without a state-funded preschool program, 69 percent of 3 and 4-year-olds were not sent to school in 2012-14, as per Magic Valley.
Although parents play a deep-rooted influence on childhood development, parents' educational attainment play a crucial role. At age 3, toddlers' vocabulary maybe two or three times higher when parents are college-educated compared to those who didn't finish high school. At the age 5 or 6, children's brain architecture is 90 percent complete; sending a child to kindergarten is too late since the learning that takes place in preschool has a life-long impact, they may never catch up with their peers' vocabulary.
Another issue on hand is the lack of fund for early childhood educators, they earn far less than other teachers. For one, preschools need a lot of materials for the early childhood programs to raise educators pay. Karen Paciorek of Eastern Michigan University explains it with Michigan Radio.
The bottom line: Kids are a worthwhile public investment. Decades of research revealed that high-quality early childhood education prepares them and affects their ability to succeed later in life such as increase graduation rates and future earnings.
