When people think of national security, the first thing that comes to mind usually isn’t pre-K education. What military leaders like myself understand is that we can’t have a strong military without investing in American children and their families. In order to have the safest, strongest nation possible, we need young people who are healthy and prepared to succeed in any career path they choose, including military service.
Unfortunately, our current investments aren’t cutting it, and we are already seeing the consequences. The Department of Defense recently released an updated review of our nation’s military readiness, and their findings are shocking — 77% of 17 to 24-year-olds can’t qualify to serve in the military due to a combination of behavioral issues, education deficits and medical disqualifiers.
Even worse, this number is six percentage points higher than the figure released in 2017. If this trend continues, it will drastically impede any attempt to bolster our future national security. How can we have a strong military if no one is eligible to serve in it? And, if these young people aren’t qualified for military service, how many other careers will they not be capable of pursuing?
To help find a solution to this problem, I joined Mission: Readiness, a national, bipartisan organization of over 800 retired admirals and generals calling for smart investments that help ensure children stay in school, stay fit and stay out of trouble. What we found is that further investments in early childhood education and disqualifiers, as many of our country’s recruitment issues typically stem from challenges children face early in life.
Affordable, high-quality child care and pre-K programs are proven to help kids foster future academic success, healthy habits and social development. Infants and toddlers in quality child care environments receive nurturing, stimulating environments that are necessary for proper development. A report by Council for a Strong America highlighted a longitudinal study of more than 1,300 children that found that children in higher-quality child care were better prepared for school at age 4 compared to children in lower-quality child care. At age 15, they were still performing slightly above their peers and had significantly lower levels of behavior problems.
These statistics show that quality child care and pre-K programs build a successful early foundation that helps children grow up to have the choice to serve in the military or follow other paths successfully. By neglecting these programs, we strip young Americans of that choice.
As a father and a commanding officer, I can attest personally to the difference these programs make in the lives of children and parents. The Department of Defense has known for years the importance of prioritizing our youngest children, and has led the nation in creating a successful child care program through the Military Child Care System, or MCCS. The MCCS is the nation’s largest employer-sponsored child care program. It is successful due in part to providing adequate training and, importantly, competitive compensation for child care professionals.
We need to do in Texas for working families what the United States military has done for service members and expand our early childhood education sector to build a better foundation for the next generation of Americans. Fortunately, the Texas Prenatal to Three Collaborative released policy recommendations to the state legislature earlier this year that can be used as a roadmap for improving early learning programs.
These recommendations include expanding child care slots, especially in rural areas of the state that often suffer from “child care deserts,” improving child-teacher ratios in the classroom and increasing funding to ensure care is more affordable for parents. Expanded funding to child care providers can also help train and attract qualified professionals by offering them proper compensation for their critical work.
By taking these steps, we can help aid early education and child care providers and help reduce the barriers for future military candidacy. We all need to recognize what the military has known for decades — any investment in our next generation and those that help teach and care for them is an investment in our national security.
Major General Darren G. Owens, U.S. Army (Ret.), Class of 1973, is a member of Mission: Readiness.