How Early is Early Enough for Educating our Youth?

When it comes to the education of the next generation, no measures are too grand. The next generation might be just the generation that eliminates material waste, or the need for fossil fuels; the generation that wipes out starvation and crime. The next generation is the future; but how do we ensure a positive future? Education is the key, but when is the right time to begin unlocking it? How do we unlock it? There has been much debate on the effectiveness of pre-school on academic achievement. I intend to explore this issue and examine it more thoroughly. I will conduct my research using many sources, primarily scholarly journals, through an academic database. While conducting this research I will be looking at the long term effects preschool generates on academic achievement. I will be searching for any evidence of benefit or detriment; however the main variables I will be investigating are mathematical and reading comprehension skills. I will look at the methods used in preschool programs that are intended to increase mathematical ability and literacy and examine the overall effectiveness of their implementation. Furthermore, I intend to dissect the overall effectiveness of head-start programs on education in America. This research will be based primarily on quantitative analysis, however, behavioral analysis holds much significance in this area of study, and therefore qualitative analysis will be referred to occasionally. When looking at education, mathematics and reading comprehension seem to be the underlying elements that promote all academic achievement, which is why I will be focusing on these two areas. Whether preschool advances academic achievement in these two areas, and whether the advancement is significant enough to be worth mentioning, still remains to be