American Early Childhood Education: Preventing or Perpetuating Inequity?

Part I – Introduction and Background Unlike merely two decades ago, early childhood education (ECE) is currently regarded as a magical panacea that prepares young children for school and life, equalizes opportunity, and prevents welfare dependence, incarceration, teenage pregnancy and school dropout. While a veritable aura of success encases contemporary early childhood education, few analyses have seared these accolades and examined the realities. This paper dons an equity lens and addresses America's contemporary commitments to all its young children. It discusses early childhood education's successes as well as its failures, noting that depending on where children live, how much money their parents have, and the color of their skin, their access to, and experiences in, early childhood settings vary dramatically. The paper suggests that while ECE has the proven potential to prevent educational inequity, if not dramatically improved, it will do the reverse and perpetuate it. Setting the Stage Nations provide for the care and education of their young children in vastly different ways. Although some provide extensive, and others quite meager, services, all nations approach early childhood education according to their visions of childhood and their values for young children (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, 2001). Rhetoric aside, what countries actually do with and for youngsters is a mirror of their fundamental beliefs. America is not different. Historically, twin values have framed America's approach to young children (as well as many other social policies). Escaping tyranny and religious persecution, America's forefathers built a nation around the dual values of family primacy and privacy. With family life sacrosanct and primacy pre-eminent, the family was regarded as the basic unit of society. Moreover, what went on within the family was a private matter. Government had little right and less reason to pierce the family unit. Only under the most limited of conditions—when families could not help 2 themselves—was government called upon to intervene. A close scrutiny of early public policies regarding children and families clearly reflects this ethos. In, arguably, the first American comprehensive family policy, the 1935 Social Security Act provisioned for widows and orphans—those without complete " traditional " families. Sustaining this orientation, all subsequent public policies for young children have focused on those who were at risk or otherwise in need of special supports. Amidst this ethos, it is not surprising that America's earliest programs for young children emerged in the private sector. Evangelical women, hoping to …