The Raising of America

The Raising of America

What strikes you as most important in this discussion of the relationship between social policy, child development and later achievement?

The Raising of America Sample Reel/Preview and Are We Crazy About Our Kids: The Cost / Benefit Equation videos brought up many important points about the relationship between social policy, child development, and later achievement. One thing that really struck me about the discussions in these videos was that our own experiments and studies in the U.S. have influenced other nations policies and investments in early childhood education and yet our country continues to invest money in a failing model. These other nations discussed in the video, Quebec for example, have seen that investing money in early childhood education can produce a large return on investment and lower the country’s spending on social welfare programs in the future. Additionally, I found it striking that the video states that every other rich nation guarantees paid material leave and many provide some form of free or affordable childcare and preschool.  Overall, both videos drive home the point that if we as a country want sustainable economic growth we need to invest in our children!

What do you think this perspective adds to the discussion of school reform?

The perspective presented in the videos adds a great deal to the discussion of school reform. Essentially, we are investing our money in the wrong places. Coming from the viewpoint presented in the videos, we should be spending less on test prep and the implementation of the latest and greatest standardized tests and more on preparing those children at an earlier age for success. The preschool program discussed in the video in Salt Lake City, Utah shows that we have substantial evidence to support the argument that investing in high quality early childhood education such as the preschool in the video provides us with a greater return—a significant reduction in the achievement gap between low and high income school communities.

What is one question that these videos raise for you?

One of the major questions that these videos raised for me was in regard to the state of California in particular. The video states that only one out of ten of our early childhood education centers are accredited, and even scarier the state inspects cemeteries more frequently than childcare centers. This led me to question---what does this say about our priorities? What difference could be made in our state if we were to introduce a sustainable pilot preschool program such as the one shown in Utah? And why haven’t we explored that option instead of dumping more and more funds into the failing education model in place?

Blogs that I have commented on:

Taylor Terhune

Michelle Graffis