Cons of Universal Preschool

This post will tell about he negative aspects of public, universal preschool.

Erika's 15 Websites

Canada’s Universal Childcare Hurt Children and Families (rating: 12)
http://www.nber.org/digest/jun06/w11832.html
This article discusses how “child outcomes have worsened since the program was introduced along a variety of behavior and health dimensions”.

Massive Study Finds Pre-School and Early Child Education Initiatives Show No Benefit (rating: 13)
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/aug/07083104.html A six year comparison of almost 35,000 children has shown that there has been no change in developmental levels of pupils entering primary school in this period.

Preschool Inhibit’s Children’s Social Development (rating: 16)
http://localhs.com/hs/new_preschool_studies.asp
This article discusses a study done by two colleges showing that children who attend preschool for more than fifteen hours a week display more negative social behaviors.

Preschool: Helpful, Harmful, or Simply Not Worth It? (rating: 7)
http://blogs.wsj.com/juggle/2008/08/25/preschool-helpful-harmful-or-simply-not-worth-it/
This article gives references to previous statements posted, but it also talks about how universal preschool may not be for everyone if the children have “loving and attentive parents”.

Will Universal Preschool for 3- and 4-year-olds improve academic achievement over the long term? (rating: 7)
http://www.helium.com/debates/102836-will-universal-preschool-3--4-year-olds-improve-academic-achievement-long
This web site asks the title question, and citizens post their thoughts on whether academic achievement improves or not.

Staying Home With Your Children (rating: 7)
http://www.universalpreschool.com/articles/staying-home.asp
This is an article written by a mother sharing that spending time with your children is very important, and sending your children to preschool can hinder that quality time.

Universal Preschool Is No Golden Ticket (rating: 15)
http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa-333es.html
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. Benefits to children in public preschools are unlikely to be greater or more enduring.


Washington Policy Center (rating: 17)
http://www.washingtonpolicy.org/Centers/education/policynote/07_finne_alldayschool.html
This Policy Note describes the child care environment for preschoolers in Washington state, examines the claims being made by universal preschool proponents, and reviews research of existing programs in other states which shows that the educational effect of universal preschool fades out over time. Studies conclude that the highly-regulated universal preschool programs for families in Georgia,[1] Oklahoma[2] and New Jersey [3] have provided no long-lasting learning benefit to children.

Stanford University School of Education (rating: 18)
http://ed.stanford.edu/suse/faculty/displayFacultyNews.php?tablename=notify1&id=448
This article talks about how universal preschool can hurt the social development of children. For example, acting out or having trouble cooperating.

UC Berkeley News (rating: 12)
http://berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2005/11/01_pre.shtml
This article discusses how the earlier a child starts preschool, the worse their social development is. Also, it mentions how ethnicity has an effect on the outcome of universal preschool.

Preschool Education and It’s Lasting Effects (rating: 14)
http://nieer.org/resources/research/PreschoolLastingEffects.pdf
Increasing child care subsidies under current federal and state policies
is particularly unlikely to produce any meaningful improvements in
children’s learning and development. Given the poor quality of much
child care, it might instead produce mild negative consequences.

Evidence of Academic or Emotional Harm
of Preschool Education or All-Day Kindergarten (rating: 14)
http://www.edwatch.org/updates08/031908-emotionalharmw.pdf
This article gives many examples of studies done showing that preschool children tend to be more aggressive in later elementary school years, and focuses on the negative social-emotional impact preschool has on children.

Impacts of Early Childhood Programs (rating: 12)
http://www.firstfocus.net/Download/Brief1.pdf
A portion of this article reports of the negative socio-emotional outcomes of children who attend pre-kindergarten school, and it discusses how preschool doesn’t show any health or safety outcomes.

The Influence of Preschool Centers on Children’s Development Nationwide (rating: 11)
www.preschoolcalifornia.org/assets/Fuller-Research-Summary.doc
“The effect of center attendance on children’s social development. We find that attendance in preschool centers, even for short periods of time each week, hinders the rate at which young children develop social skills and display the motivation to engage classroom tasks..”

Universal Preschool Trend Has Critics (rating: 11)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002691690_preschool19m.html
A small section of this article shows that not every state supports universal preschool because it “misses the point”. It goes on to talk about what is more important.

Tiffany's 15 Websites
1.) http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/10/16/EDQC13ISN1.DTLThe states who have already implimented universal preschool have failed to show any positive results. In fact, average reading and math scores have only gotten worse. Several studies have shown that even if children have an advantage from preschool, that advantage completely disappears by the second grade and there is no difference between them and the children who did not attend preschool. (Rating: 15)

2.) http://www.heritage.org/Research/Education/EdNotes27.cfmUniversal preschool has only shown to help those children who are very low-income and at-risk. For the majority of children who live in the middle or upper-middle class, there were no benefits shown, and even results showing that preschool could do more harm than good for children who are better off at home. For these chilren, it is unnecessary to force them into preschool. (Rating: 17)

3.) http://www.homeedmag.com/HEM/226/universalpreschool.htmlUniversal preschool is a war being launched on toddlers. Proponents for universal preschool want everyone to believe it's in the best interest of the children, but it also has a hidden agenda to take care of some adult problems as well. Such as: parents having a government-funded babysitter, a way to manage 39% of the preschool population that doesn't speak English, and boosting the agendas of special-interests groups. (Rating: 16)

4.) http://www.universalpreschool.com/articles/time_and_freedom.aspFrom a mother's perpsective. An article written by a mother who, after feeling pressured to put her son in preschool to "get ahead", began to rethink the decision and finally withdrew her son. An article advocating that preschool isn't right for everyone. (Rating: 12)

5.) http://www.reason.com/blog/show/129613.htmlUniversal preschool advocates tend to think that Universal preschool will solve the problems in the K-12 system, but it won't. Money should be spent on helping those children at a disadvantage, but for the children who don't need it, it's a waste of tax-payer's dollars. Universal preschool also decreases parent's choices in preschool and puts smaller privately-owned preschools and daycare centers out of business. (Rating: 11)

6.)http://www.iwf.org/inkwell/show/17494.htmlUniversal preschool can certainly sound appealing, but it doesn't live up to it's flouted promises. (Rating: 15)

7.)http://d-edreckoning.blogspot.com/2006/05/universal-preschool-follies.htmlUniversal preschool does nothing for language deficiencies in children. (Rating: 10)

8.)http://www.freedomworks.org/informed/issues_template.php?issue_id=2705Negative effects that universal preschool holds in store for the state of Vermont. Arguments in favor of universal preschool are "blatantly dishonest" and misleading. (Rating: 17)

9.) http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/05/ed-watch/8-2-universal-preschool.htmThis short article discusses the political agenda behind universal preschool, and how the arguments for it are solely based on helping "at risk" children. (Rating: 14)

10.) http://www.thomasjeffersoninst.org/pdf/articles/CNB_prek_II.docThis article takes an in-depth look at the research that adovocates for universal preschool base their arguments on. It strongly refutes the idea that universal preschool will result in massive returns and savings on tax dollars. (Rating: 12)

11.) http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121936615766562189.html?mod=googlenews_wsjA very well-written article in the Wall Street Journal, entitled, "Protect Our Kids from Preschool". This article discusses the claims that Barack Obama has made in regards to universal preschool and how they simply are not true. (Rating: 19)

12.) http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=41902An article by Michael Ackley on the government workings behind universal preschool and discussing the idea that universal preschool may start out being voluntary, but will eventually become mandatory. (Rating: 17)

13.http://www.homeschoolnewslink.com/homeschool/articles/vol8iss2/v8i2_universal_preschool.shtmlThis article discusses and exposes some of the tactics and arguments that are being used to convince and "brainwash" parents that their children need to go to preschool to get an advantage, when in truth, the majority of parents can do that for their children at home. (Rating: 11)

14.) http://www.thegraceacademy.org/issues/time_to_stop_1.htmAlthough this article begins by discussing the failings of the Head Start program, it also goes on to talk about how the idea for Head Start was taking and made worse with the introduction of universal preschool. This article is in two parts, and the second part is mainly about universal preschool. (Rating: 10)

15.)http://www.newswithviews.com/guest_opinion/guest63.htmThis article is written by a mother named Tricia S. Vaughan, who herself has struggled with the decision to send her children to preschool. She discusses how mothers are bombarded with propoganda that sends the message that they are not good enough or qualified enought to teach their children and prepare them for kindergarten, and that they are selfishly putting them at a disadvantage if they choose to teach their children at home. (Rating:9)