Letter to Governor's Commission on Early Learning

<<Address>>

August 24, 1998

Mrs. Mona Locke,

Mrs. Belinda French Gates

Co-Chairs, Commission on Early Learning

Office of the Governor

PO Box 40002

Olympia, WA 98504-0002

Dear Mrs Locke, Mrs Gates,

It has come to my attention that at the August 18, 1998, meeting of the Commission on Early Learning, Rob Reiner, founder of the I Am Your Child campaign, was the guest of the commission. Evidence to the contrary, it appears that Mr Reiner was a guest of the commission at taxpayer expense. The bottom-line contention of the I Am Your Child campaign is that early childhood brain development is contingent upon early childhood experiences. When I contacted the I Am Your Child campaign, in April, 1997, and requested (twice) of them the scientifically validated research proving their contentions, they were unable/unwilling to forward that requested information. When Governor Locke made this same contention in his news release announcing the Commission on Early Learning, I requested of his office the same research. What I was sent was a packet of magazine articles that do not meet the requirements of scientifically validated research. In the absence of the scientifically validated research, the contention that early childhood brain development is contingent on early childhood experiences is nothing more than opinion.

Early childhood development is important. If the goal is to truly understand early childhood development in the interests of addressing the same, then we must be willing to hear, understand, and consider the vast amount of knowledge available on the subject. In this endeavor, I wish to request that you invite, as a guest, to a monthly meeting of the Commission on Early Learning in the near future, Dr John Bruer, president of the James S. McDonnell Foundation. His phone number is 314-721-2068; e-mail bruer@jsmf.org. Dr Bruer's qualifications, in addressing early childhood brain development, are attached and can be found at http://www.jsmf.org/jtbbio.htm. He has written two papers, Education and the Brain: A Bridge Too Far and Put Brain Science on the Back Burner; the former of which was published in the November 1997 issue of Education Researcher and may be ordered from the foundation; the latter of which may be downloaded from the foundation website at http://www.jsmf.org/brain%20back%20burner.htm. Both papers address what Dr Bruer terms the "neuroscience and education argument."

Dr Bruer's knowledge of the "neuroscience and education argument" would be a positive addition to your work.

Sincerely,

Lynn M Stuter

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