WSJ.com - Protect Our Kids from Preschool

WSJ.com - Opinion: Protect Our Kids from Preschool

 

Universal preschool is now second only to universal health care on the liberal policy wish list. Democratic governors across the country -- including in Illinois, Arizona, Massachusetts and Virginia -- have made a major push to fund universal preschool in their states.

But is strapping a backpack on all 4-year-olds and sending them to preschool good for them? Not according to available evidence. 

"... the solid evidence for the effectiveness of early interventions is limited to those conducted on disadvantaged populations."  The only preschool programs that seem to do more good than harm are very intense interventions targeted toward severely disadvantaged kids.

Our understanding of the effects of preschool is still very much in its infancy. But one inescapable conclusion from the existing research is that it is not for everyone. Kids with loving and attentive parents -- the vast majority -- might well be better off spending more time at home than away in their formative years. The last thing that public policy should do is spend vast new sums of taxpayer dollars to incentivize a premature separation between toddlers and parents.