From the Princeton Weekly Bulletin, May 12, 1997
First Lady opens symposium
Conference launches Bendheim-Thoman Center
for Research on Child WellbeingBy Mary Caffrey
First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton called on lawmakers to spend more on childcare and better schools in the keynote address that opened an April 25 conference, Early Childhood Education, which was the first Symposium on New Jersey Issues.
Clinton's address was a highlight of the day-long symposium, the first of what is to be an annual event designed to give N.J. legislators an opportunity to meet scholars and practitioners in a given field. The symposium, sponsored by the Woodrow Wilson School, was organized in consultation with the N.J. Legislature and the University's Office of Community and State Affairs.
Bendheim-Thoman Center
The event also served as a high-profile unveiling of the Bendheim- Thoman Center for Research on Child Wellbeing, recently formed under the direction of Sara McLanahan, professor of sociology and public affairs. The center, which draws on faculty from the fields of economics, sociology and politics, is involved in three major initiatives and more than two dozen research projects.
The initiatives include the Social Indicators project, which monitors trends in child wellbeing and investments for children; the Best Practices project, which assesses the effects
of specific policies and programs, including the national Child Support Reform and the N.J. Family Cap; and the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing study, which will follow a birth cohort of children born to low-income, mostly unmarried families in five to 10 communities across the United States.
More than 450 people attended Clinton's address in Helm Auditorium. The audience included legislators and members of their staffs, educators and childcare professionals, and Princeton faculty and students.
String of appearances
Clinton's Princeton address was one of a recent string of appearances aimed at raising public awareness of the importance of a child's first three years--hours before her appearance at Princeton, Clinton talked about the topic from the Nassau Inn on Good Morning America. Research shows that crucial brain development occurs in this period, the First Lady said, and without an enriching environment a child's ability to learn may be permanently impaired.
While government has a role in enriching young children's lives, Clinton noted that much of what is good for preschoolers comes naturally to parents. "Science confirms that the songs a father sings, the cooing of a mother as she talks to her baby help lay the foundation for the child's life," she pointed out. What parents may not know is that the neural connections in the brain form very early, and a baby's brain is literally waiting for stimulation to make those connections happen.
"Babies understand more than we have understood about them," Clinton said.
In her view, recent welfare reform efforts will provide funds that can be applied to a more comprehensive system of childcare. That makes the role of state legislatures more crucial than ever, the First Lady said, for they must decide how block grants will be spent. She praised an initiative by N.J. Gov. Christine Whitman that seeks to provide $8.5 million for 8,600 more childcare positions in the state. Partnerships between government and the private sector are essential to create enough quality childcare, Clinton said.
In addition, research on children should continue, she observed, noting that in 1997 the National Institutes of Health will spend $904 million on research on young children, a 25 percent increase since 1993.
But the First Lady repeated an observation she said had come from President Harold Shapiro, who is also chairman of the National Bioethics Advisory Commission: "We spend huge amounts of money on the last six months of life, and we spend a pittance by comparison on the first years."
N.J. legislators
Before Clinton's address, representatives from the N.J. Legislature and Whitman's office shared their own philosophies on government's role in early childhood education. Senate President Donald DiFrancesco noted that while some of the new research may seem confusing, "One common theme does emerge ... children need, demand, in fact, crave, the time, attention, the love and affection of their primary caregivers."
The demands of children are more than some families can provide, he said, and thus, they look to government. "How we provide such a safety net is the challenge we face as policy makers and educators," he said, adding that New Jersey recently dedicated $300 million for all-day kindergarten and prekindergarten programs.
Assemblyman David Wolfe, vice chair of the Education Committee, noted that the symposium occurred on the eve of the President's Summit on America's Future, when the entire country would be asked to find time for children.
"Quality early childhood education not only saves lives and gives hope to those in the most desperate situations," he said, "but it also has an effect on the strength of society."
After the First Lady's speech, McLanahan led a panel discussion with William Barnett, professor of economics and policy in the Graduate School of Education at Rutgers University; Dr. David Olds, professor of pediatrics, psychiatry and preventive medicine and the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center; Helen Taylor, associate commissioner of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Head Start Bureau; and Dr. Barry Zuckerman, professor of pediatrics and public health and associate dean for clinical affairs at Boston University School of Medicine and chief of pediatrics and medical director at Boston Medical Center.
In afternoon workshops, educators took part in workshops led by four legislators -- Assemblywoman Barbara Wright, Assemblyman Raul Garcia, Senator Gordon MacInnes *65 and Senator Robert Martin.