In his State of the Union address Tuesday night, President Obama proposed Congress provide all- low and moderate income 4-year old children with high quality preschool.
The President was in a suburb of Atlanta today to visit pre-k classes and speak about his "early head start" program and how he intends to bolster education for all of our youth.
President Obama made it clear that states that make it a priority to educate the youngest children have students grow up more likely to graduate high school and have more stable families of their own. We visited an Aberdeen pre-school today and the faculty there agrees...education for our young children is crucial.
Pat Buechler has been teaching pre-k for over twenty years and couldn't imagine doing anything else. "The love of children...we still get hugs at this level, you don't get that at the high school or junior high age haha. They love to learn, the excitement and we hear from parents are excited their children are to come to school."
Buechler teaches two classes of students ages three, four and five ..and knows how far ahead her students are compared to those who didn't attend a pre school. "I hear from kindergarten teachers a lot. They can tell what kids went to preschool. Most have a little bit of an advantage over the other children who didn't get the opportunity to go to pre school."
But not every parent can afford to send their children to pre school...and that bothers Jay Lamb...principal of Aberdeen Roncalli. "The name first it perfect...when you're having a head start...that should be open to anyone you know. I know that the head start is based on income and acceptance into the program on income and that's not necessarily the best policy."
In his State of the Union, The President says he wants every child to get this head start and be able to attend a structured pre school regardless of what their families income is...and Lamb says that helps in the long run. "There are some problems that we can hopefully fix. And we have these problems weather they are a learning disability or a behavioral issue. We have some of this curbed before they enter kindergarten."
And Buechler agrees. she believes the opportunity to attend pre school will put parents' minds at ease. "I think they are concerned about the child when they start kindergarten, that they will do okay, that they will succeed in school so they look for opportunities to give them that opportunity to succeed."
President Obama's biggest plan is to increase the amount of children that qualify for the Head Start program...and he says that will increase the amount of students who graduate high school in the long run.
