Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/we-do-big-things/5021095/
Earlier this week (as I write this in mid-February), President Barack Obama delivered the first State of the Union address of his second term. The ‘SOTU’ as it’s short-handed in DC, is our annual moment of political pageantry, a high-profile speech that tends to be ‘full of sound bites.’ One of my favorites was from 2011, when the President picked up on the comment of a Pennsylvania businessman to push America’s potential: “We do big things.”Early childhood providers know about doing big things: teaching children to read, to self-regulate, to play well together; keeping our programs and schools running and improving; helping parents be able to go to work, and helping supply businesses with the workforce of tomorrow. These are big things that strengthen our families, communities, and the nation.
A Big Proposal
This year’s State of the Union will be remembered for the President’s unprecedented focus on early childhood education and a proposal to do something big.
President Obama called on Congress to make “high-quality preschool available to every single child in America.” The President pointed to the research showing that learning begins before school entry, that the sooner children have quality experiences the greater the benefits down the road. He ...