133. Are a person’s childhood years the most important years of a person’s life?
Coincident with concerns about the increasing juvenile criminal rate of nowadays has been a growing appreciation of the importance of early child care, which is aimed to support the healthy development of children. Child development has great effects into teen and ultimately adult years, so childhood is always regarded as the most important phase of an entire life.
Childhood is a critical period in human’s psychological and physiological development, especially brain development. Brain development takes place throughout life, and early childhood experience plays beyond doubt far more significant role in intelligence development. Take language skills as a concrete example. As some researchers and expects point out , the critical period for language-learning begins to close around five years of age and ends around puberty. Children require normal visual input, or they may suffer permanent impairment which leads to failure to master a language in the future.
Childhood with the absence of basic health care and economic security places many children at risk for academic failure before they enter school. In addition, young people with lack of quality childhood are more likely to cause juvenile crime. A study of preschoolers that began 40 years ago in Ypsilanti, Mich., the High/Scope Perry Preschool study, has shown that children from a quality preschool program out-performed a control group in educational achievement, economic performance and employment, and had a lower incidence of arrests for violent crimes as well as drug and property crimes. This is just one example, albeit a very significant one, of the growing body of research that is showing the positive effects over time of quality early childhood education.
To sum up, childhood has a sharp impact on human life, both physical and mental health and it is a dominant factor of person’s future behavior in society. If a child receives a qualified early care, he or she tends to more easily reaches social standard with adaptation to society and rarely deviates the normal routine, needless to say, commits a crime. |