Benefits Outweigh The Cost Of Attending Preschool Education

Children’s education has been a major topic of discussion in the past few years, specifically preschool education. It has been a controversial topic because most parents do not feel like their child is socially and cognitively ready to attend preschool. Teachers, researchers, parents, and even presidents have debated back and forth for many years on whether the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. Factually, the advantages of attending preschool outweigh the one major disadvantage, the cost. A child’s education is one of the most important things throughout their whole life, which is why preschool is so important, no matter what the cost is. Preschool lays the foundation for a lifetime of learning. It provides support for fundamental cognitive

This social interaction is crucial because it improves a child’s communication skills. “At age three, your child will be much less selfish than she was at two. She’ll also be less dependent on you” (Social). By the age of three or four, children are beginning to mature and understand different concepts. The children begin to use their words to explain what is wrong and how they are feeling. Preschool motivates the children to use their words and allows them to think for themselves. In the classroom setting, children are expected to communicate verbally instead of using body language. This is a big milestone once the child is able to accomplish this on their own. The social interaction that is provided also encourages children to cooperatively play with others. Three year olds play mainly imaginary games, which reduces the amount of fighting. By attending preschool there is a reduction in the amount of aggression and acting out during kindergarten (Yoshikawa). A preschool encourages these types of games by providing play areas such as the dramatic play that contains a pretend kitchen, a table, dress up clothes, as well as many other things. By encouraging this type of play children can be seen giving each other specific roles and jobs. Imaginative play helps them develop important skills such as taking turns, paying attention, communicating, and responding to one another’s actions

A high quality preschool is around $8700 per child a year (Cost). Most states have implemented a program that makes preschool either very cheap or free for low-income families which allows more children to attend. Even though it is expensive, the long term savings are worth it. By attending preschool, it lowers the future cost of special education and grade retention as well as lowering the involvement in child protection, welfare, and criminal justice systems (Yoshikawa). Another benefit for society is that adults who have attended preschool, will make more money than those that did not(Yoshikawa). Statistics have shown that adults who attended preschool as a child, are less likely to be involved in crimes(Yoshikawa). Students who attend preschool have a less likely chance of dropping out of high school. These benefits are enough to increase government involvement. The National Institute for Early Education Research has figured that the government would have to pay $70 billion a year to provide a quality preschool education for every child in America (Cost). They would split this cost between federal and state government as well as expect wealthier parents to pay a small amount. By providing this, every child would have an equal opportunity to gain the benefits from preschool. Before President Obama’s term was up, he started a plan to implement preschool for low- and moderate-income children as