Show REPORT FROM WASHINGTON m r e aw Education System N Need Ca Revamping With More Emphasis Emphasis' at school Pre-school Level By R Rep p. p Laurence J. J Burton In the past few years our country has made a tremendous Investment Inthe in inthe inthe the education ol ot our young disadvantaged ed cd children in the Operation Program This investment has been a wise one for it has helped thousands of youngsters to adjust to school But the time has come for us to make early childhood education available to all American children not just to the disadvantaged We must help all children children child child- ren realize their full potential THE PSYCHOLOGIST 7 ir T. McVicker Hunt demonstrated all too clearly In his research in Teheran Iran that a achild achild achild child can can- be literally stunted In even the most b basic of growing experiences In an orphanage in Iran he found children children child ren who at the age of two could not sit up and others lothers who at the age of fours four could not walk These children were not I am sad to say exceptions within the orphanage but were in the majority Physical or mental disabilities were not what made them so slow but rather the fact that no one had taken the time or trouble to teach them these basic skills We have learned iron from Mr Mr Hunts Hunt's and other studies that intelligence is not fixed fixed fix fix fix- ed once and for all at birth but can be shaped by experience Therefore we should do our utmost to see that the experiences of the young are properly stimulating EDUCATORS ARE trying to discover exactly what kind of of educational programs pro programs grams would best develop our young children I am working hard in the Congress Congress Con Con- gress to see that the proper funds are appropriated to allow for the research necessary to determine the best educational educational methods for teaching the young Once a good program is developed a complete overhaul of our educational system must then be made For if U preschool pre pre- school scho l programs are to work we will have to revise th the educational system upwards from the bottom building the work of the primary grades upon that of early childhood education dl AS MATTERS st stand nc now we are workIng work work- log Ing backwards rather than trying to discern what three and four year olds are capable of learning we look ahead to what they will learn in kindergarten and first grade and water down preschool pre preschool school curricular content to make sure than lessons lessons les lese that it remains easier the sons to come Clearly this approach Is wrong The more preschool education flourishes the the more elementary school and later late educational programs will win have to change We have learned from our programs programs that If U a stimulating stimulating ing environment is not maintained educational educational ed ed- gains in children can can be lost last TH THROUGHOUT our our entire educational education education- al program then we must see that child child- ren are taught as early as possible what they can absorb and their education must Increase in stimulation as they grow older We must see that both boredom boredom bore bore- dom and frustration arc are minimized for both impair the educational process Boredom is a result of bel being g and frustration Is the result of being be ing challenged too greatly Unfortunately Unfortunate Unfortunate- ly once either of these two States of mind is allowed to crop up too often education will be tremendously retarded Early education is desirable for a reason reason rea rea- son other than the one that I have been discussing for it not only helps stimulate stimulate late the child into developing to his greatest potential b but fit it also is a means a of diagnosing and correcting physical emotional and mental disorders that impair learning and may never be overcome overcome over over- come at later ages Early identification of problems in children can help eliminate eliminate nate the need for later remedial measures measures mea mea- which are costly and far too often hopeless As a former educator I believe atlon should be one of our country's first priorities For if our young people are stimulated by their environment not bored or frustrated by it they willbe will willbe willbe be able to lead full interesting Interesting- and satisfying sat satisfying lives And if U our citizens are properly educated many of of Americas America's most pressing social ills will be alleviated |