Falling Behind

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/08/opinion/08besharov.html?_r=1

With all this talk about stimulus money and where it's going, I would hope that money wasn't just being thrown around (I know, extremely naive of me. You can stop laughing now.). Education is something that we do need to spend more money on but also more time. Yes, a lot of programs do need money to help them out, whether it's to get resources and help pay teachers to being able to offer it to more people. But if the program itself isn't working, why give it more money. Head Start, from what I know, is suppose to be a great place for children to start their education. Like its name, it's suppose to give them a head start when it comes to school. But according to this article, some of it's facilities aren't functioning to their full potential. The one example given was that after 6 months in head start, the average 4 year old could only identify two more letters than a child who had not been in Head Start. Why would anyone want to spend the money for a program that really doesn't seem to be working. Hopefully more research will go into these programs before the money is given.