Dr. Kris’ Blog

Parents ask me a lot of questions about their child’s eyes. I am came across an interesting article with some statistics concerning your child’s eyes and their eduction in the future.

Children’s vision statistics

 

Illiteracy in children can be directly linked to problems in adulthood, and illiteracy in children is often a result of uncorrected vision problems. Look at these staggering statistics:

• 80% of what children learn comes through their eyes.

• 1 in 4 children has an uncorrected vision problem.

• 80% of children who have trouble reading also have vision problems.

• 50% of children who fail school eye screenings never see an eye doctor.

• 65% to 74% of juvenile offenders have vision problems.

 

Immediate and long-term benefits

 

There are immediate benefits to getting children the vision correction they need. Behavior, performance and school attendance improve.

 

Literacy in children has a direct correlation on productivity in adulthood. Kids who can’t read by 3rd grade are more likely to drop out, earn about 50% less annually as adults and are more likely to be incarcerated.

 

Prisons forecast the beds they will need in 10 years based on 3rd grade reading levels. – Essilor Vision Foundation

 

The benefits to helping children who need vision correction are astounding. But what about the costs?

 

Saving for the future

 

With uncorrected vision problems comes an increased likelihood of dropping out of school. Here are some more numbers provided by the Essilor Vision Foundation:

• Each dropout costs society $260,000 in lost earnings, taxes and productivity

• Dropouts are more likely to be arrested or become teenaged parents.

• If 1% more males graduated each year, the United States would save $1.4 BILLION annually and have 100,000 fewer crimes.

And the cost to make this a reality — simply the expense of taking a child to get an eye exam and purchase eyeglasses versus $91,000 a year to house an adult inmate.

 

Full Article