The introduction thisweek of the StrongStart for America’s Children Act by Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) andRepresentatives George Miller (D-CA) and Richard Hanna (R-NY) is a hugelyimportant and long overdue step forward towards leveling the playing field forchildren, especially poor and low income children. Investing in them in theirearly years to be ready for school will provide a foundation for future successwith lifelong benefits for them and economic and social benefits for our entirenation. Its enactment would demonstrate our commitment as a nation to doingwhat we know works for all of our children as research shows that poor childrencan perform as well as nonpoor children if we provide them the supports to doso.
At a 2012 Children’s Defense Fund conference session on the nationalimperative for preparing all children for school and building a publiceducation system that prepares all children and our nation for the future,knowledgeable panelistsspoke about the enormous benefits we all stand to gain if we chooseto rise to the challenge.
Dr. Craig Ramey, professor and Distinguished Research Scholar at theVirginia Tech Carilion Research Institute and School of Medicine, received manynods of recognition and agreement when he shared this opinion during the panel:“I believe there’s been a vast underestimation of the amount of work and moneythat goes into children who do well, and I believe that there is a systematicattempt on the part of some people in this country to be sure that those kidswho got the short end of the stick don’t get what they need—because what weknow is that if children doget what they need from birth, we can level the playing field such that kidsfrom the poorest families perform just as well as kids from college-educatedfamilies. And I think that scares some people to death.”
Dr. Ramey is a leading expert on what a level playing field should look like. Hedeveloped the Abecedarian Project, which is widely cited as setting a standardfor documenting the long-term lasting benefits of early childhood education andhealth care for children in poverty. Throughout his career he and his wife Dr.Sharon Ramey have conducted multidisciplinary longitudinal research with morethan 100,000 children in over 40 states. He summed up what they’ve learned:“What we know is that if we do a good job in the first five years, and if wecouple that with helping kids get the reading and math skills that they need toget up to third grade, we can have those kids performing well above thenational average. We will have them succeed in math and reading all through theelementary and secondary schools. They will be four times more likely to go tocollege . . . .There is a big payoff. It pays off economically, but moreimportantly for me, it pays off in the way people become participants in thisdemocracy, and they have better jobs. They are full-fledged citizens, and Ithink that’s what we owe each of our citizens in this country, whether you’reborn poor or born rich.”
Children whose families dohave extra resources to put into giving them a leg up are at a hugeadvantage—“that’s why they spend in New York and Washington and Los Angeles$50,000 a year on their children’s education in all of its different ways,private school, camps, all of which adds up to what the kids know and whatskills they have.” For these children, the cycle of privilege continues. But,Dr. Ramey pointed out, our nation is still refusing to do this for all children. Manychildren, including the vast majority of poor children and children of color,are simply left behind. “I believe [the public school system] is what builtthis country, without which we would not have a democracy or competitive economy.When we systematically starve the public school system, we are contributing toour own demise as a great civilization.”
Dr. Jerry Weast, another speaker on the same panel, has been widely praisedfor making great strides in narrowing the achievement gap for poor children andchildren of color during his tenure as superintendent of the Montgomery County,Maryland Public Schools. But he immediately agreed with Dr. Ramey’s observationthat we aren’t doing the same as a whole nation: “I don’t think we are asegalitarian as we think we are . . .We systematically don’t want to level theplaying field. We’re afraid to put race on the table. We’re afraid to putsocioeconomics on the table. We’re afraid to put housing patterns on the table.We’ve mouthed a lot of things, we have a lot of knowledge, but we don’t havemuch courage. We don’t have much will.” We have not found the will to level the playing fieldfor all children—and there are many people who still don’t even believe allchildren deservean equal playing field. Until this big elephant is put squarely on the table,all other education reform fights are marginal.
Harlem Children’s Zone President and CEO Geoffrey Canada, the panel’smoderator, also spoke about our ongoing failure to provide a quality educationto all children—and reminded the audience that it’s up to us to do somethingabout it. “People are beginning to write about the vast gap between those whohave money and can spend the time and resources to educate their children,which is the top five percent in this nation, and what's happening to all theother children in America . . . There are no jobs that are going to beavailable if you don’t have a quality education in this country. And we havewatched our country squander its resources and somehow decide that we can’tafford to provide quality education for our children. This is a huge mistake .. . It’s the social service equivalent of Katrina. Do you remember those peoplestanding on the rooftops with the signs—‘Come save us’? ‘Nobody is coming’? Ifwe don’t save our own children, they will not be saved.”
When a majority of all American fourth and
eighth grade public school students can’t read or do math at grade level,
including almost three quarters of Black and Latino students, we are continuing
to allow a system that serves and saves just a few children and starves many
others. We know what we need to do to level the playing field for all
children beginning with putting the resources in place to provide a quality
early education for every child. The Strong Start for America’s Children Act
will take us far. It is the right thing to do and the smart thing to do. We
must do it now as we all stand to benefit. If we do not commit to save all of
our children, America’s dream is an illusion. God did not make two classes of
children and neither should we.