WEBVTT

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Education, education, education.

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Some people say that's
the key to success

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in this knowledge-based
economy that we're in.

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And they're right.

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But the reality is
the education model

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that we have inherited
today was built

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for the farming economy and
maybe the industrial economy

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of the last century.

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And so we're going
to have to adapt

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it to meet the needs of the
next generation workforce.

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And you, as members of the
next generation workforce,

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are going to have to
have your own strategy

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for addressing how,
when, where, and how much

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over the course of
your life of education

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you are going to invest in.

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Let's start with early
childhood education.

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And I'll start with a story.

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Several months
ago, I was sitting

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at a lunch with international
students here at MIT.

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And they were
mid-career students.

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And so I was sitting between
two mothers, one from Portugal

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and one from China.

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And I asked them, when
did your children start

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school in your countries?

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And one said, right after
I finished maternity leave.

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And the other
said, at age three.

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They were amazed to hear from
me that basically our children

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in this country start in
kindergarten at age five,

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unless there's some
private alternative.

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Well, about 70% of the
industrialized world

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starts education earlier.

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So why is this so important?

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Well, let's take a look.

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This is Professor James
Heckman from the University

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of Chicago, a Nobel
Prize-winning economist.

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And he is the world's
expert on the economics

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of early childhood education.

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He has studied this
in experiments,

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he's studied it in Chicago, he's
studied it around the world.

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And what he finds is
that there's a 7% to 10%

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rate of return for society for
every year of early childhood

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education.

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That return is measured not
only in lifetime earnings.

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It's measured in lower
dropout rates, less violence

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and less criminal
records, the ability

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to achieve one's objectives
within one's career.

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A whole set of data tell us that
getting children into school

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early is very, very
important to their success.

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Well, it's even more important
for children who are at risk.

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Inner city students from
disadvantaged neighborhoods

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have even higher rates of return
for early childhood education.

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So it's very clear
that if we want

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to have the next generation's
children well educated

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so they can move on to achieve
their dreams in the workforce,

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then we have to
get on with this.

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The challenge is that
it's very expensive.

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The good news is that mayors
and governors around the country

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are beginning to
recognize the importance.

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So from Seattle to New York to
Boston and many other cities,

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we're seeing mayors
take the lead in saying,

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let's figure out how we invest
in early childhood education,

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and let's get on with that task.

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For individual parents,
it is very expensive.

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And so we have to work
together as a community

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to figure out how we
can fund early childhood

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education for all.

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And for every
parent, it's critical

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that you think as
you can about what

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do you need, what do your
children need, what's

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appropriate for different age
groups, from early childhood

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right through elementary
school, what can you afford,

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and how can you make it fit
into your work and other family

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responsibilities.

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But if we don't
start early, then we

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will pay the price later.