The age at which formal schooling should begin has been a subject of continuing debate. One side of the debate says that longitudinal research proves the benefit of preschool education, while the other side contends that early education serves the daycare needs of adults more than it does the needs of children. This paper will examine both sides of the debate from the above, and several other, angles.
School age readiness continues to be at the forefront of educational debate because the number of young children in preschool has steadily increased over the past 20 years and is expected to continue to rise (DelCampo, 1995, p. 198). On the one hand, children have an innate curiosity and enjoy playing with other children from an early age. This fact indicates that preschool attendance is beneficial; on the other hand, however, attendance at a preschool means that children must be separated from parents and placed in a setting that is foreign to them.
The High/Scope Perry study showed the longitudinal effects of preschool on young adults to the age of 27 (as of 1993). The following passage demonstrates the importance of the High/Scope Perry study:
[The study] has more than ever to say about the importance to society of doing early childhood education programs right. By virtue of an experimental design rarely achieved in research of this type, this study reveals that high-quality, active-learning programs for young children living in poverty return $7.16 for every dollar invested, cut in half participants' crime rate through age 27, significantly increase participants' earnings and property wealth as adults, and significantly increase participants' commitment to marriage (Schweinhart, Barnes, & Weikart with Barnett & Epstein, 1993, cited in DelCampo & DelCampo, 1995, p. 200)
By quantifying the long-term benefits to young adults who received preschool education over a long period, the authors of the High/Scope Perry s...