Early-childhood education: an issue of national security

Early-childhood education is not just an education imperative — it needs to be a national security priority.

Seventy-five percent of young Americans are not qualified to join the military, according to the U.S. Department of Defense. The three primary reasons are inadequate education, criminality and physical unfitness.

According to the U.S. Army Accession Command, approximately one out of four young Americans lacks a high school diploma. One in 10 young adults is ineligible due to a criminal conviction, and 27 percent of young Americans cannot enlist because they are too overweight to meet military physical requirements.

The research behind early education is irrefutable. Thirty years of research has demonstrated that 90 percent of a person's adult brain weight is achieved by age 5. In the Institute of Medicine report “From Neurons to Neighborhoods,” brain scans and neuroscience demonstrated that the best time to influence a child's intellectual development is when the brain is under most intense development. The most important changes in brain structure and development occur during the first five years.

Nobel laureate economist James Heckman estimates that for every dollar we fail to invest in early-childhood education, it will cost us $8 in addressing other social needs. He states that “early intervention reduces crime, promotes high school graduation and college attendance, reduces grade repetition and special education costs, and helps prevent teenage births.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/outlook/6849841.html

Babies in the first year learn languages a hundred time faster and better than adults. Find out more on Early Brain Development & Language Acquisition at the Parenting Seminar on coming Saturday (free)
10-11:30 a.m. 6/F, Sands Building, 17 Hankow Rd, TST Tel:2376 1808
2 - 3:30 p.m. 5/F, Tower One, Admiralty Centre Tel: 28 66 20 28