A little more than two months ago, I wrote a column about the rise in technology usage among children and the subsequent decline in reading. I had witnessed several students struggle to read aloud, stumbling over words and lacking any sort of rhythm.
I was expecting to receive some opposition to the column, but what I received was further evidence of the existing problem. A former Columbia teacher emailed explaining the lack of desire to read in students today. A local tutor came into the office and told me how unprepared some students seem to be when preparing for standardized tests such as the ACT.
I maintain, as I did then, this emerging epidemic is more of a societal issue rather than any shortcomings at any of the schools in Marion County. I am at the schools here often and have seen firsthand the overwhelming experience, dedication and professionalism the educators possess in our community. Teachers and administrators only have so much control over a child’s education, and it’s up to parents to continue education at home.
But I am elated to see that Marion County administrators and the Mississippi Department of Education are working hard to better prepare young students in our community. In our Dec. 27 issue of The Columbian-Progress, Mark Rogers reported on the pre-K grant of $1.1 million over the next three years to improve and add to the existing pre-school programs.
Three new state-funded classes will be added — one at East Marion, one at West Marion and one at Pearl River Valley Opportunity’s Head Start — and enhancements will be made to existing programs at Columbia Primary School, TLC Daycare and My Luv Daycare.
It’s amazing to see the group effort it took to secure the grant, along with the initiative to help make positive change in the community, but do these programs actually work?
According to a study conducted at Duke by 10 interdisciplinary scientists from all over the country, children who attend a publicly-funded pre-K program are better prepared for kindergarten than those who haven’t. They explain that neuroscientists estimate that the brain grows to about 80 percent of its ultimate adult volume by three years old. “This is a time when fundamental skill, knowledge, and beliefs about the world are developed. … The quality and reliability of early experiences and environments are the building blocks of early brain architecture.”
There’s no questioning the importance of establishing a foundation for young students to build upon and to be able to understand basic concepts within a school environment. Most people would be interested in what the curriculum would entail, but I think the skills one can learn in a pre-K environment go far beyond curriculum.
It’s understanding how to behave in a structured setting such as a classroom, learning respect for an authority figure like a teacher, building relationships with other classmates and becoming used to a set schedule day after day. Students without pre-K would likely be learning these things for the very first time when they enter kindergarten.
The study also researched how students who went through early pre-K programs in the 1960s and 1970s turned out as functioning members of society, and the results were telling. “Program attendees also showed later improvements in young adult outcomes like school completion and college attendance. As adults, they had higher earnings, less criminal activity, and better health. The benefits of these programs far exceeded their costs.”
Obviously, only time will tell how these particular programs will help Marion County’s youth as they enter into stages in their lives. But I’m hopeful that they will lead to encouraging results and will ultimately benefit the entirety of the county for decades to come.
Joshua Campbell is sports editor of The Columbian-Progress. Reach him via email at joshuacampbell@columbianprogress.com.
