Advocacy

Quality Early Learning for All

K-12 Essential Personal Life Skills Curricula in Schools

We can make America EVEN GREATER, and help everyone become their best selves.  We are the government's "customer", and it's OUR money they spend -- they need to stop wasteful spending and invest in America's families.

After all, what's more important than all our children and families?

Toddler with blocks

WE ADVOCATE for:

1. Quality early learning for all children from birth to 5 years, which is when they begin to learn essential personal life skills. This is the foundation of a person's life, and every child must begin learning these skills during these years to become their best selves.

To see this happen for all children in this nation, we believe that our government should eliminate wasteful spending, especially on programs that do not help Americans, and instead use our tax dollars to create a better society by investing in families and children, providing funding for quality early learning for all American children which is administered by each state, RUN BY THE PRIVATE SECTOR, and which is measured, monitored, and rated by a third party to assure excellence.

Head/brain

WE also ADVOCATE for:

2. Essential personal life skills (EPLS) curricula to be mandated as a stand-alone subject in all schools for K-12th grades so that students continue to learn and hone these vital skills.

Just like learning the alphabet is foundational to reading and writing, learning essential personal life skills and how to apply them is foundational to personal and interpersonal skills; the more they are learned and used, the more successful everyone will be in every area of their lives.

Quality early learning builds the foundation.
Essential Personal Life Skills build the structure.
Together, they both “help people become their best selves”.

The cost per child for early learning is just slightly more than the cost for public education - we must invest in all children to help them avoid emotional, personal and interpersonal problems. A person's character  -- if built on a weak foundation -- always needs repair.  It’s time to make a change!  America's children need and deserve this! 

Quality early learning and Essential Personal Life Skills are not separate ideas—they are part of the same continuum. Early learning introduces children to self-awareness, emotional regulation, and healthy relationships. EPLS strengthens those same skills year after year, ensuring children grow into capable, confident, and emotionally healthy adults.

THERE IS A COMMON-SENSE BUSINESS SOLUTION THAT CAN HELP ALL AMERICAN BECOME THEIR BEST SELVES:

  • WITHOUT raising taxes
  • Reducing government waste and eliminating programs that do not benefit all Americans
  • That 85-90% of Americans would like to see implemented
  • That can prevent many of the social problems in our nation
  • That will help children, parents, and our nation to be better -- everyone learns to become their best selves, so they can win the biggest game -- LIFE!
WeAdvocate
A collage of people with different types of social and personal life.
A chart showing the growth of human and technological advancements.

Q:  Why has human development NOT improved, and even declined, since public education was widely mandated in America in the mid-1850s?

A: The root issue is that we've never addressed a fundamental problem: all families, no matter their situation, need support in teaching their children essential personal and social skills. Parents are expected to guide their children in ways they've never been taught themselves, which is a tall order. Many parents lack the skills they’re supposed to pass on, so it’s unrealistic to expect them to teach something they don’t fully understand or possess themselves.

 

Q:  Why has technology advanced so much, so quickly, since the mid-1850s when education was widely mandated in America?

A: Because as a nation, we acknowledged a need and developed a plan to implement formal academic education for all children in our nation.


Q:  How do we improve human development?

A: We can improve human development in the same way we acted on the need for academic education, which propelled us technologically:  by putting a plan in place to provide quality early learning for every child, as a part of our system of education, every child will begin to learn the essential personal life skills they need.  Additionally, if we also routinely include curricula that teach these skills in all our schools from kindergarten to 12th grade, all children will continue to learn and hone these skills that are vital to human progress.


Q: That all sounds great, but how do we pay for it? 

A:  By cutting wasteful government spending, moving the budget around and providing funds from taxpayer dollars to provide quality early learning for all children, and including curricula in all schools from K-12th grades to teach students these skills.  Ultimately, our government must acknowledge that taxpayers are the government's "customers", and that our government must spend our money in ways that benefit all Americans, not just some.

Since essential life skills are just as important as academics—and can be learned from birth—we believe and advocate for the following:

  • Quality preschool education should be accessible to all children and funded by tax dollars, just like public education.

  • Schools should teach essential personal life skills as a dedicated subject, alongside academic subjects, from K-12th grades. Now more than ever, it’s crucial that every school includes essential personal life skills education as part of the core curriculum.

CLICK HERE FOR A FULL Q&A ABOUT THESE PROBLEMS
AND HOW THEY CAN BE SOLVED.

A poster with the steps to help children in need.

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How to use santorofoundation.org

This website is a free resource of material to help improve essential personal life skills.  The materials on this website range from individual “sayings” to a full personal life skills curriculum program called Alive2Thrive.  To help you become your best self, please review all this site has to offer.  Please also pass this site along to others so they can be the best they can be, and by doing so, we will build a better society.