McCain and Obama on Early Education
By: Ana Kamila Quijano
“Infants and toddlers experience life more holistically than any other age group”. The first few years of a child’s life need to be focused on the development of different skills and knowledge that will prepare them for Kindergarten. Since Early Childhood Education is am important part that contributes to the development of people, the importance of the position of the presidential hopefuls on this cannot be emphasized more.
John McCain and Barack Obama have details on their websites on how they see the U.S. government promote Early Childhood Education under their leadership. John McCain wants the Centers for Excellence in Head Start to work on outcomes and not focus on the process. For example, student development will be measured and will also be used to evaluate the effectiveness of the federally funded programs and quality of instruction. The financial support will be dependent upon the availability of funds (at least $200,000 for Centers of Excellence per year). Health of the children, parental education and involvement are also going to be pursued by McCain.
Barack Obama wants to launch the “Zero to Five” plan which will support the parents and children. The focus of this plan is the care and education for infants. He will also create Learning Challenge Grants that will fund “Zero to Five” and hope to achieve voluntary and universal pre-school. Obama will significantly increase the funding for Early Head Start and Head Start, at the same time improve the quality of both programs. Lastly, Obama will provide affordable and high-quality child care to help American families.
So when you vote this November 4th, keep in mind the positions of the candidates on important issues such as Early Childhood Education. Their positions will reflect what kind of leadership the United States will be under once either one of them is elected.
Filed under: Legislation
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