Why Spend $10,00 to Educate a Child…When You Can Spend $10?
Here’s a simple solution to illiteracy: take your child to the doctor and turn him into a lifelong reader.
A 24-year-old program called Reach Out and Read costs just $10 a year–compared to the $10,000 it costs taxpayers to send a child to preschool–to equip doctors to train parents how to read to their toddler. A non-government program, Reach Out and Read operates on the premise that children who are read to as early as six-months-old tend to be three to six months ahead of their peers in vocabulary, language development and pre-reading skills. More than 28,000 doctors nationwide have been trained by the program, ultimately impacting 4 million low-income children a year.
According to WSJ columnist Steve Cohen:
Education is the only way to break the cycle of poverty and dependence, and preschool programs are far more complicated and expensive than a medical program like Reach Out and Read. Yet before Congress and the administration pour $10,000 per child, per year into traditional preschool programs, they should look carefully at evidence-based practices—and at how to leverage the demonstrated success of a program that costs only $10 per child, per year.
So, if you’re concerned about education in this country and don’t want to waste your money on programs that aren’t producing results, Reach Out and Read might be worth a philanthropic glance.
