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none of these results.  I am not simply saying

that universal preschool education will be a

waste of time and money.  Rather there is a pos-

itive danger in asserting that the solution to

the poor school and later life performance of

the disadvantaged will be solved by a year of

preschool education.  The nation is on the verge

of falling into the over-optimistic trap that

ensnared us in the mid-sixties, when expectations

were raised that an eight-week summer program

could solve all the problems of the poor.  If we

wish to improve the lives of the economically

disadvantaged, we must abandon the short-term

"solutions" of the sixties and work for much

deeper social reforms. . . . We simply cannot

inoculate children in one year against the rav-

ages of a life of depravation.105

It is a truism that politicians relish the opportuni-

ty to be photographed with children--it isn't easy to say

no to anything with a child attached to it, be it a

politician or a program.  Perhaps that is one reason why

preschool programs have been so widely embraced.  But we

should be careful to scrutinize the facts behind these

programs.  Anything less would be a disservice to children

whose welfare is dependent on the decisions adults make on

their behalf.  Given the facts--that preschool does not

provide lasting benefits to disadvantaged or mainstream

children--Congress and state legislators should resist

calls to support or implement universal preschool for tod-

dlers and young children.

Notes

1.

See Anne Geggis, "Mandatory Preschool?" Burlington

Free Press, February 16, 1998.

2.

Bill Suchmann, "Not `Mandatory,'" Letter to the edi-

tor, Burlington Free Press, March 8, 1998.

3.

Superintendent's Universal Preschool Task Force,

California Department of Education, "Ready to Learn:

Quality Preschool Programs for California's Young

Children," Draft, December 24, 1997, pp. 3­4,

http://www.facilitate.com/clients/CDE/RPT1224B.html.

4.

Ruth McKey et al., "The Impact of Head Start on

Children, Families, and Communities," U.S. Department of

Health and Human Services, HHS 85-31193, June 1985,

Executive Summary, p. 1.