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Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Susan Ochshorn: Prioritizing Early Childhood Education: We Can't Afford to Wait

Susan Ochshorn: Prioritizing Early Childhood Education: We Can't Afford to Wait

Prioritizing Early Childhood Education: We Can't Afford to Wait


As Father's Day disappeared into Monday morning, the Times Union of Albany posted a positivelyeloquent editorial. "Still failing after all these years" highlights New York's persistent achievement gap, declaring it "as insidious as if it was the result of outright bigotry or class warfare" and lambasting the state and federal governments for retreating from the problem.

Talk about telling it like it is.

This welcome piece, of course, follows a virtual tsunami of editorials and blogs -- including right here on this page, this week, championing the benefits of early childhood education and the dangers of putting it on the chopping block.

Just in case you've been distracted, by the debate over Medicaid, health care, and the war in Afghanistan, or the endless number of local, national and global crises, here are three good reasons, oft repeated, why we need to make early childhood education a priority:

  • Children's brains grow at a dazzling pace in the first years of life. High-quality early care