Experts agree early learning is important

Research on the first years of life is clear

The time and energy that adults and others invest in building relationships with children are critically important to the healthy development of the baby's brain. Therefore, what research has found is that what's best for the baby developmentally, unfortunately, has little to do with parent convenience.

 

• James Heckman of the University of Chicago, says...
  "Even at age 4 or 5 you may be starting too late," Heckman said.
  "I wouldn't say it's hopeless to help kids after those early years, but it's extremely expensive." ~ Baltimore Sun - May 12, 2008
  

• Wisconsin Council on Children and Families, says...
  For speech and vocabulary development, the critical window is open between birth and 3 years of age. The sounds a child hears in those years will largely determine the size of his/her adult vocabulary. In addition, children who are not spoken to regularly early in life do not learn to think conceptually as well as those who are exposed to a lot of spoken language.
• Ronald Kotulak, author of Inside the Brain, says...
  "During this period and especially the first three years of life, the foundations for thinking, language, vision, attitudes, aptitudes, and other characteristics are laid down."
• In their 1997 research, Dryden and Vos, say...
  "There are six main pathways to the brain. They include learning by sight, sound, taste, touch, smell, and doing. Later in life, everything an individual learns will grow from the information gained during these early years. To learn anything fast and effectively, you have to see it, hear it, and feel it"

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Science says: Children are active learners and the more involved they are in their own learning, the better they learn. Some researchers have compared children’s learning to that of scientists—children try to figure out what is happening to them and what effect they have on others by testing their ideas and theories, discarding those that don’t fit their experience and building on those that do.

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• From Neurons to Neighborhoods: The Science of Early Childhood Development, says...
  Your child's development depends on both the traits he or she was born with (nature), and what he or she experiences (nurture). All areas of development social / emotional /intellectual / language / motor are linked. Each depends on, and influences, the others. ~ Zero to Three Foundation
• Economic Opportunity Institute, says...
  Early education is the most cost-effective way to decrease the number of unskilled adults in the future. A report issued by the Committee for Economic Development cited research showing that when children are better educated, they are more productive as adults, likely to be healthier, pay more taxes, and are less likely to require welfare and other public assistance. Nationally, business leaders have called for increased early childhood education quality, access, and funding. ~ How does high quality child care benefit business and the local economy? (2002)
  
• Committe for Economic Development, says...
  Preschool is far more cost effective than programs that correct educational and social problems in later years. Furthermore, states will likely recoup most of their own investments, because it is estimated that 85 percent of 16 year olds will live in the same state where they attended preschool, and 65 to 75 percent of children will continue to live in that state during their prime working years. “The Economic Promise of Investing in High-Quality Preschool: Using Early Education to Improve Economic Growth and the Fiscal Sustainability of States and the Nation,” 2006, p. 3

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Science says: The adult’s role is to encourage and increase children’s engagement in learning. While reading, talking and singing to children are truly important, how these activities happen are what’s most important. Adults who bombard children with factual information—like colors or numbers or letters—every moment or who feel that they must entertain children non-stop, are likely to over-stimulate and turn children away from learning, just as much as if they criticize or ignore children’s engagement in learning. The motivation to learn comes from the pleasure in learning, the joy in learning. When learning becomes a duty, the child rebels against it or gets bored with it.

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• Jeremy Manier writes...

  The notion of intervention before age 3 even draws qualified support from author Charles Murray, who has argued that Head Start programs in general do little to improve children's outcomes. Murray is skeptical about any government-run intervention, but said early investment makes the most sense. Still, he said, "There is no way on God's green earth that these select programs can be expanded to a national level." - Jeremy Manier writes for the Chicago Tribune.

• Harvard professor Burton L. White said...
  "Every one of the four educational foundations-the development of language, curiosity, intelligence, and socialness—is a risk during the period from eight months to two years."
• Author of Educating the Possible Human, Jean Houston says...
  "Children can learn almost anything if they are dancing, tasting, touching, seeing, and feeling information."