Feb. 21 (Bloomberg) -- “Study after study shows that the
earlier a child begins learning, the better he or she does down
the road,” said U.S. President Barack Obama in Feb. 14 speech
in Decatur, Georgia. “Every dollar we invest in high-quality
early education can save more than seven dollars later on --
boosting graduation rates, reducing teen pregnancy, reducing
violent crime.”
Obama wants to help our nation’s children flourish. So do
I. So does everyone who is aware of the large number of children
who are not flourishing. There are just two problems with his
solution: The evidence used to support the positive long-term
effects of early childhood education is tenuous, even for the
most intensive interventions. And for the kind of intervention
that can be implemented on a national scale, the evidence is
zero.
