Poverty, education and success--it's all connected
Recently, I received an email from Donna Beegle. She sent an article describing her life story – quite a life, and quite a story. She came from a family who picked crops from Arizona to Oregon and back. The first in her family to get past the 8th grade, Donna has an EdD and works on issues of education and poverty. You can read more about Donna here.
I share Donna’s belief that education is the portal to the promise of opportunity that lies at the heart of the American Dream. I think there is a very direct relationship between education and economic success and also between income and health. Jobs requiring at least a two year post secondary certificate are going to grow more than 60 percent faster than those requiring just a high school degree. Furthermore, those at the lower end of the income scale are twice as likely to suffer a serious illness or die prematurely as those at the upper end of the income scale. Indeed, education is the path out of poverty and is also an important determinant of health.
But children who suffer economic and social deprivation have far greater difficulty taking advantage of the educational opportunity offered by our public school system. That is why I believe that a sustained investment in early childhood health and wellness is the foundation for economic, social and civil success for all children.
We are developing policies that will create a much more integrated approach to early childhood development. Do you have ideas to share? Send them to me at ideas.johnkitzhaber.com.
