The Seattle Times – Leah Todd
“A Nobel Prize-winning economist says investments in early learning pay off in the long haul, but that it’s a waste for governments to pay for preschool for kids whose families can already afford it. At a gathering of education writers in Chicago this week, University of Chicago economics professor James Heckman laid out the research — some of it his — that backs why educational programs for kids between birth and age 5 pay for themselves over a child’s life. Every dollar invested in strong programs for low-income children, Heckman said, returns between 7 percent to 10 percent each year through increased productivity and lower costs to society. Kids who go to excellent preschools generally make more money, he said, and are less likely to end up in jail, or be unemployed. (And a study of a group of men now nearing 40, which Heckman co-wrote, showed those who went to good preschools as children benefited medically too, with better cholesterol levels and lower blood pressure than men who didn’t go to preschool.) But Heckman doesn’t think governments should pay for every child to go to preschool.”(more)