...(and, really, it's not, but...) here is what I have been driving at, in one way or another, for a long, long, long, time:
The family into which a child is born plays a powerful role in determining lifetime opportunities. This is hardly news, but it bears repeating: some kids win the lottery at birth, far too many don’t — and most people have a hard time catching up over the rest of their lives.
So what do we do about inequality? Early childhood education, says University of Chicago Economist, James Heckman.
As with all of these articles, the evidence is found in The Perry Preschool Project and the ABC Project.
Like I say, maybe not the best way to frame it, but persuasive nonetheless:
Quality early childhood programs for disadvantaged children are not “entitlements” or bottomless wells of social spending. They foster human flourishing and they improve our economic productivity in the process. There is no trade-off between equity and efficiency, as there is for other social programs. Early investment in the lives of disadvantaged children will help reduce inequality, in both the short and the long run.
