Of course I expected President Obama to address the big issues in his State of the Union speech: cutting energy waste, comprehensive immigration reform and … universal preschool education? Addressing the little guys — I didn’t see that one coming. The little guys — 4-year-olds across America — they made the agenda this year. 

Nuzzled between rebuilding the housing market and redesigning America’s high schools, it was an easy proposal to overlook. But I’m a child development major; I notice these things. A proposal offering high-quality preschool to every child in America is as important to our country’s future, families and parents as it is to our children. Providing about 1.85 million children from low and middle class families with an opportunity to start their education is monumental. But so is the number of American children living in poverty — nearly 16 million. 

The whole purpose of early education is to do exactly that — start early. The goal: mobility. The time when early education is most effective is also the time where inequality starts. Whatever wealth a child is born into is the wealth they inherit. If a child is born into a low-income family, they inherit the disadvantages that go along with it: cognitive and behavioral developmental delays, lack of access to health care and food insecurity. 

Early education aims to offset these disadvantages by putting children at par with those who are from middle- to high-income families, who have easy access to high-quality preschool education. With a head start and an equal playing field, children get that same chance for upward mobility and success. 

The University’s Child Development Laboratories are exemplars in early childhood education programs. Besides being a training and research site for students and early childhood educators, it is an accredited preschool too, even offering low-income undergraduate students with children financial assistance in covering the preschool’s tuition while pursuing an undergraduate degree through the Child Care Access Means Parents in School program. Working as a student teacher in a classroom of 2-year-olds certainly made Obama’s proposal come to light. I watched 2-year-olds spell their names every morning until they got it right, share building blocks (and even say please) with each other to build abstract structures and sit in group time silently unless called on. The skills seem basic, mostly because they are. But what’s important is that they’re lasting and relevant even into adulthood. What’s important is that the focus isn’t just on cognition and intelligence, it’s on life skills too.  

The immediate advantages to early education are to the child; the long-term advantages are to society. Obama’s vision extends beyond the classroom. Through investing more money in early education, Obama said that we save money later “by boosting graduation rates, reducing teen pregnancy, even reducing violent crime.” These are the same factors that affect children exposed to poverty and those who are from low-income families. Early education indirectly affects parents too. Parents who work long hours can send their children to preschool knowing they will be cared for. Families in crime-susceptible communities can send their children to preschool knowing they’ll be kept safe. 

The benefits of pre-K aren’t confined just to childhood, but above and beyond. Early educational intervention is as much targeted for adolescents and adults as it is for children. Children receiving early education were more likely to graduate high school and more likely to attend a four-year college than those receiving no early education. In the famed Abecedarian experiment, 4-year-olds in an early education program experienced an IQ boost of 0.75, and even at age 15, children in the treatment group were still experiencing a 0.33 gain in IQ. At age 21, these children reported fewer depressive symptoms.  

High-quality early education is no longer just a viable option; it’s become a necessity. And not just for low-income families. 

The increasingly competitive world and education system are affecting all families. Even families in suburban communities with high-achieving school systems are looking elsewhere, and that includes preschools. Regardless of socioeconomic status, children in high-quality pre-K programs are more likely to graduate high school, have higher earnings as adults and are less likely to be dependent on welfare. 

This goes back to that whole mobility theme mentioned earlier. The only way up is, well, to get off your feet. And if we don’t give children the chance, the opportunity to rise out of inherent disadvantages, then the inequality they face, will only grow stronger and more persistent with age. 

For children who are behind and need that lift, early education is the solution. And for families who need better access to early education programs, universal pre-K is the solution.

Adam is a junior in ACES. He can be reached at [email protected].