Early Childhood Education-Is the U.S. Doing Enough?by Michele Cheplic | More from this Blogger 10 Aug 2009 01:18 PM Michelle Bachelet used to treat children whose parents had been tortured by General Augusto Pinochet, one of the most controversial military dictators in Chilean history. Today, Bachelet is Chile's president, and since she took office in March 2006 she has made great strides to insure her country's youngsters receive a proper education. One of Bachelet's defining projects has been to provide free access to health and education programs for all Chileans under the age of 4. As part of the education initiative Chile has been building new preschools at an astounding rate of 2.5 a day, increasing the country's total from 781 to 4,300 in just three years. Bachelet maintains that the program is a vital investment in the country's future, and is especially important during the current economic crisis, when more parents are forced to work and fewer have money for school. Bachelet, who made her living as a pediatrician prior to becoming president, is also a single mother and a committed socialist, who knows the value of a strong educational foundation. The success of Chile's early childhood education programs has not gone unnoticed by some of the world's leading economists, scientists, and experts, who argue that the best way to strengthen a society is to improve health, education, and other services for its youngest citizens. To prove their point some of the aforementioned advocates volunteered to be part of a panel to discuss ways government money could help solve Latin America's most pressing problems. The group, using cost-benefit analysis, concurred that the most effective use of money would be to invest it in programs like day care and preschool. The group's recommendations were similar to ones offered by James Heckman, a Nobel Prize-winning economist at the University of Chicago. In 2007 Heckman found that introducing preschool education to disadvantaged kids resulted in at least a 10 percent annual return for communities by improving students' intelligence scores and social skills, which in turn led to better school performance and employment prospects in later years. Heckman's research also found that early childhood education helped reduce crime and teenage-pregnancy rates. In the last half-century, U.S. preschool attendance has gone up significantly. Still, some education experts maintain that more could be done to help kids get a jump-start on elementary school. Conversely, critics of early childhood education programs maintain that instead of pouring billions of dollars into preschool, the government should focus its attention on fixing the K-12 system. What do you make of Chile's successful early childhood education program? Do you think the U.S. and other countries could learn something from Chile's education initiative? Related Articles: Back-to-School Supplies: It's All About the Bag Kindergarten Teacher Arrested for Trashy Move How Long is Too Long for Kindergarten? How Much Do You Help With Homework? Learn more about Michele Cheplic  Michele Cheplic was born and raised in Hilo, Hawaii, but now lives in Wisconsin. Michele graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a degree in Journalism. Relevanteducation tags User Comments No comments on this article yet. Be the first to comment! Discuss this article
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