We have lots of evidence that putting investments in early

In the words of the wise Alison Gopnik, we hear a lament for our age: “We have lots of evidence that putting investments in early childhood education, even evidence from very hard-nosed economists, is one of the very best investments that the society can possibly make. And yet we still don't have public support for things like preschools.” Let us unfold this saying in the manner of the ancients, that the hearts of those who listen may be stirred to wisdom.

Behold, she speaks of evidence—not merely soft words of sentiment, but the iron judgment of economists, men and women trained to measure the weight of coin and the return of labor. If even they, whose vision is often narrow and fixed upon profit, proclaim that early childhood education is among the most powerful investments, should we not, with greater fervor, accept it as truth? For what treasure is greater than the mind of a child, and what wealth more enduring than the wisdom planted in tender years?

And yet, she mourns, society withholds its hand. The public support that should be as plentiful as the rain upon thirsty earth is scarce and faltering. We build towers for commerce, arenas for games, and machines of war with swiftness and zeal, but the preschools, where the seeds of virtue and knowledge might be sown, are left wanting. Is this not the folly of men who store their grain in barns but let their fields lie barren?

Consider the tale of the ancient Athenians. Their city rose not only because of warriors or merchants, but because they prized the paideia—the training of youth in body, spirit, and mind. From that soil came Socrates, Plato, Aristotle: teachers whose words still shape the world though centuries have passed. They did not scorn the education of children, nor delay it until maturity, but began early, so that every citizen might be shaped into a vessel of wisdom. What Athens did for a city, so too can we do for nations—if only we heed this call.

Mark also the story of Frederick Douglass, born a slave in America. He taught himself to read in secret, clutching at scraps of knowledge forbidden to him. In those stolen letters and words lay the power that later thundered forth in speeches against tyranny and for freedom. Imagine, then, if every child, not just the fortunate or the desperate, were granted from the beginning the tools to read, to question, to dream. Would not the world be filled with countless Douglasses, champions of justice, creators of new horizons?

The lesson is plain: to neglect the young is to impoverish the future. To invest in them is to plant orchards whose fruit shall nourish generations yet unborn. Education, begun early and tended with care, yields returns far greater than coin. It gives rise to inventors who cure diseases, poets who stir souls, leaders who rule with wisdom, and citizens who cherish freedom.

Therefore, O listener, let your heart be moved to action. Advocate for preschools, support those who labor in the fields of early education, and lend your voice when rulers debate how to spend the people’s wealth. But more than this, do not wait for governments alone: in your homes, in your neighborhoods, tend the minds of the young. Read to them, speak with them, nurture their curiosity. Let no child in your reach go unfed in spirit.

In this way shall we transform Gopnik’s lament into triumph. For when the people see that the prosperity of nations rests not upon gold or stone, but upon the bright eyes of children and the wisdom planted in them, then shall they turn at last to support what is most needful. And so the future will bless the present, saying: these were the ones who remembered the children, and because of them, we flourish.