Origen del fracàs escolar: abans d'anar a l'escola

Així ho explica James Heckman, Professor de la Universitat de Chicago i Premi Nobel d'Economia ("The American Family in Black and White: A Post-Racial Strategy for Improving Skills to Promote Equality"):

Skill gaps emerge early before children enter school. Families are major producers of those skills. Inequality in performance in school is strongly linked to inequality in family environments.

Parenting matters, and the true measure of child advantage and disadvantage is the quality of parenting received.

Investment in the early lives of children in disadvantaged families will help close achievement gaps. America currently relies too much on schools and adolescent remediation strategies to solve problems that start in the preschool years. Policy should prevent rather than remediate. Voluntary, culturally sensitive support for parenting is a politically and economically palatable strategy that addresses problems common to all racial and ethnic groups.

És a dir, apart de la necessària intervenció a les escoles, cal actuar abans i donar suport als pares, en especial a aquells amb menor formació i recursos econòmics.

I per cert, James Heckman fa una conferència a la Casa de la Convalescència aquest 24 de març, convidat per MOVE (Markets, Organizations and Votes in Economics).