[Reading-hall-of-fame] Toward Life Cycles Education Policy

[tsticht at znet.com]

January 17, 2006

Toward Life Cycles Education Policy:
Parenting Should Precede Preschool

Tom Sticht
International Consultant in Adult Educaton

In the United States and some other industrialized nations there are
movements for preschool for all four year old children. Proponents for what
is sometimes called "universal preschool"  say that studies show that
preschool contributes to academic success later on. But this overstates the
case. Studies that show the long term benefits of preschool have not
included the full range of children, but rather children from economically
deprived backgrounds.

New research by Frederick Morrison, Heather Bachman, and Carol McDonald
Connor (Improving Literacy in America, Yale University Press, 2005)has
questioned the effectiveness of both childcare and preschool programs that
do not focus on improving parenting skills.  Concerning childcare, they
say, "Overall, parenting appears to be a more important source of influence
on children’s development than is childcare. 
 the contribution of parenting
was about three to four times greater than that of early childcare.

high-quality childcare will not offset the negative effect of poor
parenting, and poor-quality childcare will not prevent success for children
with effective parents." (pp. 48,49).

The authors go on to devote chapters to parenting and preschool programs and
conclude that preschool programs without parent outreach and adult education
are not effective. Further, they point out that starting preschool at four
years old is too late, language and literacy development start at birth and
rely upon the love, motivation, language (vocabulary; knowledge) that
parents provide.

Based on this and other new research, education advocates need to think
about providing high quality parenting and adult education programs to
young adults who are or are about to become parents. This way the majority
of adults can prepare their own children for school, and only the children
in greatest need will require access to high quality preschool education.

Life Cycles Education Policy explicitly recognizes the importance of adult’s
education in the intergenerational transfer of motivation, language, and
literacy from parents to their children and how this supports the
successful educational achievement of the adult’s  children. All children
have a right to educated parents.

Thomas G. Sticht
International Consultant in Adult Education
2062 Valley View Blvd.
El Cajon, CA 92019-2059
Tel/fax (619) 444-9133
Email: tsticht at aznet.net