The Value of Early Childhood Education

There might have been reservations about the importance of early childhood education, but the evidence to confirm it have been piling constantly. Over a decade ago, California tried to pass a law which would make preschool education mandatory, but the attempt was futile. People didn’t want to use tax-payers’ money to fund it and there were many parents who firmly believed that home schooling was the best option for their kids.

The situation has changed dramatically since then. Early education programmes have been proven to have many positive effects on our young ones and they have been developing and improving constantly to maximise the results. It’s not only that a kid’s social skills are much more developed in such an environment, but they also learn much more than before or in any other setting.

Carefully designed programmes

Kids are known to flourish when they are not under too much pressure, which can happen if they are home schooled. Modern-day teachers are taught to adjust their requirements and activities to cover just a portion of the day, but to allow enough time for children to play, since it is a vital part of bringing up. Finally, it should be noted that classroom sizes have been reduced, which means teachers can devote more time to each kid.

Main benefits

Apart from boosting kids’ social skills, early childhood education has been proven to contribute to better academic success later on and, perhaps equally important, much better attention span. Some studies have also shown that kids who attended such programmes have fewer behavioural problems and are less likely to get entangled in crime in their adolescence.

New ideas

It’s not that just the class sizes have been reduced and programmes adjusted, but some new and rather revolutionary programmes have been set up. For example, the renowned Mulberry House in Hong Kong was set up on the idea that the best combination was to mix modern inquiry-based educational model with Mandarin immersion, where children will become fully fluent and literate bilinguals, ready for the bright future. This is another benefit of early childhood education that can be fully exploited.

Kids with disabilities

Unfortunately, there are many kids with learning and/or physical disabilities. Still, the best way to deal with this issue is to have them attend the right institution, where they’ll be able to spend time with their peers, playing and learning. It’s important to realise that each kid has a different potential and the goal is to make the most of it.

Is homeschooling completely wrong?

In a nutshell, no, of course, it isn’t. Some parents actually can provide enough attention to their kids and teach them a lot in the early age. However, if the time those kids spend at home is not organised in a way that it provides educational benefits too, the whole idea is simply ruined. The advantage parents have is that they know their kid’s unique personality better than everyone and if they can organise the time to stimulate learning at an early age, homeschooling will serve its purpose.

Learning responsibility

The sooner a kid realises that they have some kind of responsibility, the easier it will be for them later in life. Overprotected kids expect that there will always be someone to do things for them, but we all know that’s not the case. So, the idea is to teach your kids responsibility very early in order for them to become more independent and self-confident individuals later in life.

It has been established beyond any doubt that learning and mental development begin right after birth. So, if we miss that opportunity, there will be no opportunity to make up for that later and those kids will simply always stay behind others who were able to grow and develop in an environment which fosters learning.