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Preschool is Overhyped

by David Salisbury

September 18, 2002

David Salisbury is director of the Center for Educational Freedom at the Cato Institute.

Advocates of universal preschool claim that starting kids in school earlier is the key to improved academic achievement and higher intelligence. This claim is made so often that one would expect it to rest on solid evidence. But that is not the case. Proponents exaggerate the benefits for young children, or fail to mention that the benefits fade after a few years. No wide-scale longitudinal study, representative of the American population, has found long-term positive effects from state-funded preschool.

Most mothers like being at home with their children, especially during the preschool years, and many make substantial financial sacrifices to be able to do so. Parents also recognize that it is wrong to make one struggling family pay for the child care of other families. According to a report from the non-partisan Public Agenda, more than seven in 10 parents with children 5 or under say they should be responsible for paying the costs of caring for their own children; only 24% say other taxpayers should help pay the costs. Even a majority of parents earning less than $25,000 a year believe that they, not their neighbors, should be responsible for the costs of raising their children.

The push for these programs doesn't come from parents, but rather from politicians, who prey on the weaknesses of parents who are often strapped financially. Pushing universal preschool may be good for politicians, but it is not good for children, nor does it help build a social structure of independent, healthy families. Instead of trying to "help" parents by offering "free" preschool, politicians need to adjust current policies so that parents and extended family members can spend more time with their children, not less. Providing non-discriminatory assistance through tax cuts would help all parents, whether or not they choose at-home parental care, preschool or a combination of both for their children.

The key to producing intelligent, healthy children does not lie in putting more of them in taxpayer-funded preschools. Although child care outside the home is necessary for some parents, especially single mothers, it should not be promoted as the norm for all families. Instead of forcing mothers into the workplace through heavy taxation, the government should reduce the tax burden on families and, thereby, allow child care to remain in the capable hands of parents.

This article originally appeared in USA Today on September 18, 2002.