NEWS ROOM

In the United States, we do a smash-up job of putting people behind bars – we have the highest incarceration rate on the planet, with 22 percent of the world’s prisoners and only 4 percent of its population – but we do only a fair-to-middling job in providing education that might have kept some of those inmates out of the prison system in the first place.

Gov. Tom Wolf’s proposed expansion of pre-kindergarten education got an assist Tuesday from some unexpected boosters: district attorneys who see future crime reductions and cost savings from the plan.

Let’s ensure the hard work and sacrifice of previous generations is upheld and carried forward by our youth. Continuing Pennsylvania’s commitment to high-quality prekindergarten is a promise to prepare our next generation of citizens.

Research shows that 90 percent of brain development takes place in the first five years of a child’s life. How much a child learns in those formative early years — and, in particular, how great is his or her exposure to language — can determine how that child does in school and ultimately in life.