Clash over Education

I recently read an article from the Fort Worth Star Telegram pertaining to the Texas governor candidates’ debate over education. The editorial, Texas governor candidates in classic clash over education, was written by Mike Norman. Mike Norman’s target audience is the citizens of Texas. The Texas governor candidate, Wendy Davis, believes early childhood education is essential for children. On the other hand, Republican candidate Greg Abbott does agree that early childhood education is important but “based on proven results, it’s becoming nothing more than tax-supported daycare.”

The argument of this article is whether early childhood education such as Head-start is necessary and how effective is preschool education. From reading this article, the author believes that early childhood education is necessary and he provided research reports and studies from a federal program called Head Start and the Department of Health and Human Services to prove that early childhood education has a long-term effect and produces cognitive and achievement outcomes. The Perry Preschool Student study focused on former African American students after later decades and showed that they had “gained higher earnings and was more likely to hold a job.” 

With all the studies and evidence that Mike Norman provided, his article clearly justifies that early education is vital. The author does provide many research and evidences to justify his claim. I believe that his credibility should be considered around 80-85% because he includes various studies from different research groups that have shown similar results. I think that early childhood education is important because children are most eager when they are young, unlike when they get into middle and high school where education is not there prime focus. I agree that cutting funding for preschool programs is not a great idea and that it will eventually hurt the future of America in the long run.