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Controversies in Early Childhood Education — Finding the Balance
Early Childhood Education is a movement that gained popularity in the 1960s. Both its ideology and practice attract adamant supporters and equally adamant critics. While some developmentalists argue that moving from mere minimal supervision (attending to the basic needs and safety of the child) to programs of actual education for young children promotes their physical, cognitive, and social-emotional development, others question the extent to which such programs have any real long-term effects.
Agencies (state, local and federal governments, private institutions, etc.) responsible for funding the development and implementation of such programs often require evidence of a ‘return on their investment’, i.e., proof that their money is being well-spent. Practitioners often argue that such evidence is difficult to obtain, confounded by a myriad of extenuating circumstances and unnecessary given the fundamentally obvious advantages of providing enriched environments and experiences to young children. They insist that prevention is a difficult outcome to measure (Black & Puckett, 1996; DeHart, Sroufe & Cooper, 2004).
Even among those who agree that early childhood education is beneficial to both the individual children and the society at large, controversy remains regarding how to best implement the programs. One…
