The role of early experience in human development has become a political issue: “Fifteen years ago, we thought that a baby’s brain structure was virtually complete at birth.  Now we understand that it is a work in progress, and that everything we do with a child has some kind of potential physical influence on that rapidly forming brain.  A child’s earliest experiences…determine how their brains are wired….These experieinces can determine whether children will grow up to be peaceful or violent citizens, focused or undisciplined workers, attentive or detached parents themselves.          Hilary Clinton, 4/97              -from an article by Malcom Gladwell, “Baby Steps”, New Yorker, January 10, 2000