On the educational experience that I wish all American children could have.
Today is the birthday of my
first Guest Poster, one of the
most inspiring Americans I know, and, yes, my Mom, Ilene Railton. I wrote
in the post hyperlinked under “the most inspiring Americans” about the amazing
work that she has been able to do and contribute to as part of the Albemarle
County (Virginia) Bright Stars preschool program. I also made the case, in
the first paragraph of this
post on John Dewey, for why preschool should be universally available to—in
fact, mandatory for—all American children (especially those in the most
desperate situations, such as the Bright Stars kids; but really all of them,
with no exceptions). Given that, as I wrote in that Dewey post, a year of such
universal preschool for all American children could be paid for simply by the
additional revenue that would be gained if the Bush tax cuts for the highest
tax bracket were allowed to expire, I find it frankly disgusting that our
society seems to prioritize garage
elevators (for example) over universal preschool.
I don’t know that there’s much more I need to say, AmericanStudies Elves. I
wish that all American kids could get at least one year of preschool education.
But even more than that, I wish that we as a society could prioritize education
period, early childhood education specifically, and such ideas in general so
much more fully and centrally than we do. I believe a lot of our most
challenging and destructive problems would be substantially ameliorated by such
programs and priorities. But I also believe that we’d be a better, stronger,
more communal nation as a result, one significantly closer to the best of our
ideals and what we could be. Let’s make it happen, Elves!
Crowd-sourced wishes this weekend,
Ben
PS. So last chance: what do you think? Responses to this wish? Wishes of
your own you’d share with the Elves?
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