An editor at Wired took another look at the economic study of the benefits of a good preschool program for low income children, particularly the conclusion that
[...] "For every dollar invested in preschool for at-risk children, society at large reaps somewhere between eight and nine dollars in return."
Improvements in self-control and self-discipline are credited with the better high school graduation rates and life outcomes, including lower arrest rates, of a group of students given a good quality preschool education and followed by researchers through the age of 40, compared with a control group of similar children who had no preschool education.
This squares with what early education advocate Ellen Galinsky has pointed out on a number of occasions--that life skills such as sustained attention, and patience and good manners have been consistently shown to have a large impact on both school performance and long term success.
The economic research just puts a price tag on the extra value returned to society: an 800 to 900 percent return on investment.
But who gets that profit? Here's where everything gets tricky.
When government saves money on intervention, jails and law enforcement and gets increased tax revenue from higher wages, those benefits accumulate over such a long period of time and are spread among so many people that it's been hard to organize around making the investment in the first place. So in times like these, when states are cutting back on spending, the easiest thing to cut is often early education money.
Children don't vote, and they can't pay for their own education. If they come from low income families, their parents can't pay for it, either. The government can afford to pay for it, but organized business activists often insist that government invest taxpayer resources in speculative finance, corporate welfare, tax cuts for the rich and other dubious schemes before looking after the well-being of vulnerable citizens.
Business activists can offer politicians the enticing carrot of immediate campaign contributions for themselves, and the threatening stick of campaign contributions to a politician's opponents, in order to get their way, and their money, immediately. The opportunity cost to society is large, but the loss may not be realized for decades. By which time, the politicians and their business activist friends will probably be long retired.
Educators and parents have tried to encourage the government to take the longer view in investing public money, but the fashion in politics has been to move ever closer to the pop economics fads of the stock market. In stock market terms, an investment that doesn't mature for 30 years is one barely worth making.
Good thing parents and teachers don't think like stockbrokers, and here's to hoping their opinions become more popular with politicians.
Have you checked out our new website for SEIU early learning professionals' yet? Go to http://earlylearning.seiu.org for legislative milestones, child care tips, news about developmental research and the needs of the families child care providers serve.
