THE EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION DEBACLE

The early childhood education debacle

December 27, 2002

"Read to your children." So the television ads go, "If you read to your children, they will, in turn, become readers."

Sounds like the perfect solution to the literacy problem, doesn't it? Why is it then, that so many of us of prior generations weren't read to from the day we were born, but became literate and also became avid readers? Are the ads maybe missing something?

In a word, "yes". To believe that by merely reading to your child, your child will become an avid reader, leaps the bounds of logic as one has no direct correlation to the other.

Then on what are the ads based? The ads are based on what has become known as pseudo-science or junk-science. There is much junk science in the realm of the "experts" these days.

Take early childhood education, for instance. When Governor Gary Locke established the Early Childhood Commission in Washington State, a request was made of the Governor's Office for a copy of the research on which the work of the commission was to be based. What was received in response to that request was a stack of magazine articles. That was Governor Locke's "research". Appalling!

Too boot, the magazine articles appeared to come from a National Governor's Association meeting at which Rob Reiner was a guest. Reiner is best remembered as "Meathead" of the "All in the Family" television series.

Reiner would establish the "I Am Your Child" campaign. When a request was made to see the research on which the "I Am Your Child" campaign was based, the foundation could not/would not supply it. That's usually a pretty good clue that things are not on the up and up.

Reiner would, however, be invited to speak at a meeting of the Early Childhood Commission in Washington State. When the Commission was also requested to invite John Bruer, PhD, a noted researcher in the area of brain development, to address the commission, they declined. Why? Because John Bruer was exposing the fallacy of the "research" being used by the commission to justify its work. Obviously, only that which furthered the biased political agenda would be allowed. And obviously, the best interests of the child was not at the heart of that political agenda.

The Early Childhood Commission, over the protests of concerned parents, completed its charge to justify the establishment of a public/private partnership, the focus of which is, in final analysis, the forced subjugation of the family unit to the state.

In this endeavor, Washington State has spent well over $1.5 million tax dollars and received federal grant money (also tax dollars) over and above that.

This expenditure was a fraudulent use of taxpayer money as the commission's work was not based on solid research but on junk-science. And the continued state support of the public/private partnership is also a fraudulent use of taxpayer money for the same reason. Yet not one legislator in Washington state has had the intestinal fortitude to demand an investigation.

Early childhood commissions are being established nation-wide. While they claim their focus is "the good of the child", were such the case, their work would be based on solid research, not junk science.