Reversing the Skills Slowdown: The Critical Role of Early Education

In today’s New York Times, columnist David Brooks proclaims the “skills slowdown”–the stagnation of young Americans’ educational attainment in recent decades–“the biggest issue facing the country,” and endorses high-quality early education interventions, of the sort Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has called for, as the key to addressing this pressing problem. In fact, Brooks’ column offers a striking endorsement of Obama’s education agenda–in particular his early childhood agenda–over rival John Mccain’s. Sounds like Brooks thinks he’s found an answer to the question he asked last month.

Brooks is correct that the skills slowdown is a major challenge that threatens our nation’s economic future. He’s also correct that greater access to high-quality early education is essential to get America out of its skills slump and improve both educational equity and achievement for our nation’s children. It’s no coincidence that many of the countries that have surpassed us in secondary and higher education attainment also offer high-quality childcare and/or preschool programs for young children.

Of course, providing that access to high-quality early education requires both increased public investment and the recognition that families can’t do it all alone–two things that some conservatives have been loathe to support. But early childhood education doesn’t have to be a partisan or ideological issue, and increased attention to the research here is swaying more conservatives and Republicans to support early education investments–as seems to have been the case with Brooks and some other conservatives one might not expect to embrace early education, such as Alabama Gov. Bob Riley and Amway heir Doug DeVos.

Want further evidence that early education isn’t just a Democratic idea anymore: Last week McCain’s education adviser, Lisa Graham Keegan, told the audience at a New America event that McCain will release his own early education proposals soon. As we’ve noted previously, there are some smart, cheap things McCain could propose to improve early education and make better use of existing funds for young children. Yet McCain’s professed committment to maintaining domestic spending at current levels would probably preclude proposals substantial enough to reverse the skills slump. If there’s one area where McCain should consider breaking with that commitment, early education would be a good one.