Dive Brief:
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Rahm Emanuel, a Democrat and the Mayor of Chicago, wrote a new editorial for The Washington Post: “Both parties need to grow up in discussing early education.”
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Emanuel argues that the current debate on early education is missing a discussion on the role parents play in early learning and experiences.
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Emanuel critiqued Republicans who ridicule the value of early education — even though many of them most likely benefited from parents who read to them — and Democrats who are so focused on funding universal pre-kindergarten without thinking through what the actual programs will look like.
- Emanuel detailed the steps Chicago took to increase access to and quality of early education — specifically promoting parent involvement — during his time in office.
Dive Insight:
Some of the things Chicago did, under Emanuel’s leadership, to increase the effectiveness of early education are: made full-day kindergarten universal; created a city-wide “Race to the Top” to give funding to providers of early childhood education; provided “wraparound services” for parents with children in pre-kindergarten; developed an early learning portal to help parents find programs.
Emanuel brings up great points and by critiquing both sides of the current debate his ultimate argument comes off stronger. His reasoning is very much in line with Hillary Clinton’s new early education initiative “Talking is Teaching,” which also places emphasis on the role of parents in successful early childhood learning.
