Universal Preschool News
In this section, you'll find editorials, legislation, public policy and trends
on issues relating to preschool, pre-kindergarten, childcare and the push toward
universal preschool education. Particularly of note are articles concerning the
states claim of a compelling interest in compulsory preschool education. Visit
often for the latest preschool news.
1
Puffed up promise of preschool
If preschool is a requirement for success, how did so many of us succeed without it? And why are so many students today failing with it?
Robert Fulghum's bestseller All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten recounts the life lessons we carry from our early years. So it is with learning the ABCs: All Children Really Need to Know They Can Learn in Kindergarten. No preschool required. Nevertheless, kids are skipping off to class earlier and earlier. If the average mother in past generations felt pressure to be home with her children, the average mother today feels pressure to send her toddlers to preschool.
by Darcy Olsen
December 20, 2005
[More Results from The Arizona Republic [Free Subscription Required]]
Research Disputes Benefits of Early Education
Arizona's move toward more government preschool and kindergarten programs is not unprecedented. In France, Italy, and the United Kingdom, there is nearly universal enrollment of three-and four-year-olds in center-based institutions.
A few states across the country have adopted similar systems. Georgia created the first statewide universal preschool program for four-year-olds in 1993, and Oklahoma, New York, and West Virginia have moved in a similar direction. In 2002, Florida voters adopted a constitutional amendment requiring the state to provide free preschool for every four-year-old child.
by Darcy Olsen, with research assistance from Jennifer Martin
November 24, 2005
[More Results from Eagle Forum]
Trading Sippy-Cups for School Desks
At the American Federation of Teachers' biennial conference this summer, AFT President Sandra Feldman called for a "national commitment" to schooling all 3- and 4-year-olds.
At least Feldman was magnanimous enough to suggest that preschool remain voluntary. District of Columbia Councilman Kevin Chavous, on the other hand, sees no problem with forcibly taking young children from their parents. His ominously titled "Compulsory School Attendance Amendment Act" would make school, well, compulsory, for every preschool-aged child in the nation's capital.
by Darcy Olsen
August 14, 2001
[More Results from CATO Institute]
Don't Cry for Me, Head Start
It's been 33 years since the Head Start program was founded in hopes that it would end what President Johnson described as the "pattern of poverty."
Perhaps, its founders reasoned, federally subsidized early intervention could help all children enter school on an equal footing and thereby give disadvantaged children opportunities formerly reserved to the middle and upper classes. Unfortunately, the experiment has fallen short of fulfilling that hope.
by Darcy Olsen and Eric Olsen
August 15, 1999
[More Results from CATO Institute]
Benefits of Preschool Don't Last - Education and Child Policy
In the Roald Dahl tale Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, a golden ticket transforms a poor boy's life into one of opportunity and hope, precisely what Al Gore says "universal preschool" can do for all disadvantaged children.
Universal preschool" is the education establishment's catchphrase for expanding the public school system to include all 3- and 4-year-olds, and Gore is making it a centerpiece of his presidential run. "If you elect me president, I will make high-quality preschool available to every child," he announced earlier this month in Denver.
by Darcy Olsen
August 10, 1999
[More Results from CATO Institute]
Preschool in the Nanny State - Education and Child Policy
Make No Mistake: The push for universal preschool is on. Already the state of Georgia offers free preschool to every 4-year-old, and New York is phasing in a statewide system.
Legislators in California, Massachusetts, and New Jersey are itching to follow suit. If Al Gore is elected president in 2000, this state-by-state expansion could be preempted by a federal mandate. As the vice president recently told a Denver audience, "If you elect me president, I will make high-quality preschool available to every child."
by Darcy Olsen
August 9, 1999
[More Results from CATO Institute]
Universal Preschool Is No Golden Ticket: Why Government Should Not Enter the Preschool Business
Across the country legislators are deciding whether to require public school districts to provide no-fee
prekindergarten classes for all three- and four-year-olds.
Georgia and New York have implemented universal preschool
programs for four-year-olds.
Experience provides little reason to believe universal preschool would significantly benefit children, regardless of family income. For nearly 40 years, local, state, and
federal governments and diverse private sources have funded early intervention programs for low-income children, and benefits to the children have been few and fleeting. There
is also evidence that middle-class children gain little, if anything, from preschool.
by Darcy Ann Olsen
February 9, 1999
[More Results from CATO Institute]
1