Everyone wins investing in early childhood education

Early childhood education should be prioritized in Idaho.

Benjamin Franklin once said, “An investment in education always pays the highest returns.” As a pediatrician, I have a duty to see to the optimal health and development of my patients. Keeping this in mind, I want to emphasize the importance of early childhood education. This has been studied and papers have been published in medical journals clearly showing the benefit to children's intelligence and personality when they are exposed to high-quality early childhood education.1 Failure to provide these opportunities results in the lost possibility to help these children become their best selves and ultimately later in life to be a functioning adult member of society. Targeting those children at risk for gaps in their early formative years and helping them with high-quality educational programs helps not only the individual child and family but greatly benefits our society.

Our legislative body, namely those in the House of Representatives in Idaho, have grossly mis-characterized the purpose of early childhood education through their recent action of not approving nearly $6 million in federal grant funding that would support that very cause. Some have stated it is a tool for parental shirking of their responsibility to raise their children and go off and have fun during their children's education time, as well as being a “social justice indoctrination” program. Such characterizations are untrue and only serve to hurt those children who need these educational opportunities to assist them in their growth and development. The refusal to approve federal grant money for early childhood education is most disturbing. Setting political rhetoric aside for the sake of these children is what is needed. We are as a society on the hook to care for those less fortunate than ourselves, and children being the most vulnerable members of society need our help and protection.

Frederick Douglass once said it well “It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.” I am optimistic because a number of our leaders and elected officials demonstrated their commitment to early childhood education. Thank you to those legislators who supported their communities and championed this for Idaho’s children, including Rep. Paul Amador from my district and Gov. Brad Little, for his work in getting our state legislators back on track to approve the federal funding for this valuable program.

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Beth A. Martin, MD, FAAP

1Donoghue and Council on Early Childhood, Pediatrics August 2017