Recently, the Wall Street Journal printed an opinion piece by Shikha Dalmia and Lisa Snell titled Protect our Kids from Preschool. The article took the position that early childhood education is not a good investment and can even be harmful to children. There are a number of inaccuracies in the piece that are pointed out in responses by Early Ed Watch, NIEER, Pre-K Now and others in the Journal. It is disappointing that the nation’s premier financial journal would allow such inaccuracies to be printed and to negate the strong investment that is early care and education.
Steven Barnett of NIEER and David Kirp from UC Berkeley had a counter piece in the San Francisco Chronicle, The War Against Preschool. They offer a strong point and counterpoint to the Dalmia/Snell article.
In a time of economic downturn, investing in the first five years of children’s lives is the smartest thing that we can do. Economists and policy analysts including Art Rolnick and Robert Reich agree that early investments are a key strategy to shoring up our long-term economic standing. As the election season kicks into the highest gear, it’s time to remind our candidates that strong early investments are the first step for our future.
photo by merebearlandon
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