The Cat in the Hat

The Atlantic magazine blog discussed having school the whole year, and the idea of preschool....alas, there is no data to support either idea...

Using a rich data set for the entire Swedish population born 1935-84, we find that children who start school at an older age do better in school and go on to have more education than their younger peers. Children from families with weaker educational tradition have more to win from starting school later. The long-run earnings effects are positive but small. However, since starting school later entails the opportunity cost of entering the labor market later, the net earnings effect over the entire life-cycle is negative.

I see how my granddaughter, at age 5, has "exams" and has to be drilled for what she learns at school...

Now, I support her preschool: She is an only child of older parents, and would have few friends if she didn't go to school. But the dirty little secret of all the "preschools" and "after school programs" is that they allow the mothers to work...and in urban environments, where there is danger all around, and where children have no chores to do and no older siblings or extended family to watch them, these things are badly needed....

However, what is lost is the idea of fun time, of sitting around dreaming, and the idea of doing your own thing...