It's Time to Reframe How We Think About Education and Health [RWJF.org]

My sister, Katy, and I grew up in a family of teachers. My mother, my father and my aunt all dedicated themselves to educating, inspiring, encouraging and supporting each student who came through their classrooms. While I chose to go into public health, Katy followed in their footsteps and is a fifth-grade teacher. Many of her students experience challenges at home that no child should have to face. So in order for her students to be engaged in learning, not only does she need to know her lesson plans, she also needs to know whether a student has eaten breakfast that day or is suffering from trauma that’s gone untreated. When a student acts out, she needs to understand what underlying issues are causing them to behave that way. She’s seen first-hand how difficult it is for her students to learn when many of their needs go unaddressed. And every day, I can see how the work we’re each doing in our respective fields intersects.

As the research shows, your education has far-reaching implications for your health. The more educated you are, the more likely you are to live a longer, healthier life. Now, more than ever, having a high school diploma can predict your likelihood of having diabetes, heart conditions or other diseases. And across racial and ethnic groups, life expectancy improves with increasing years of education.

Despite the strong and well-established connection between health and learning, the health and education sectors often work independently of each other even though we’re often serving the same children, in the same communities, on similar issues. Raising achievement levels in education, preventing dropouts and getting more of our students into college will save lives, prevent diseases and reduce health care costs down the road. And the earlier we start, the better chance we have of making sure all our children develop physically, socially, emotionally and cognitively to the best of their ability.