Standardized Childhood: The Political and Cultural Struggle over Early Education

by Bruce Fuller

A array of childcare and preschool options blossomed in the 1970s as the feminist movement spurred mothers into careers and community organizations nurtured new programs. Now a small circle of activists aims to bring more order to childhood, seeking to create a more standard, state-run preschool system. For young children already facing the rigors of play dates and harried parents juggling the strains of work and family, government is moving in to standardize childhood. Sociologist Bruce Fuller traveled the country to understand the ideologies of childhood and the raw political forces at play. He details how progressives earnestly seek to extend the rigors of public schooling down into the lives of very young children. Fuller then illuminates the stiff resistance from those who hold less trust in government solutions and more faith in nonprofits and local groups in contributing to the upbringing of young children. The call for universal preschool is a new front in the culture wars, raising sharp questions about American families, cultural diversity, and the appropriate role of the state in the lives of our young children. Standardized Childhood shows why the universal preschool movement is attracting such robust support―and strident opposition―nationwide.

Genres: Education, Nonfiction, Politics

383 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Leah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mostly boring with a few really interesting things that I had never thought about before. It reads like the longest study I have ever read

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book probably deserves only 2 1/2 stars. I didn't finish reading it, and that's a shame because I feel the information is important. I place a hefty portion of the blame for me not finishing on the author - his writing style is hard to follow and boring. It was like he was trying to write a textbook, but couldn't get quite organized enough to call it such.
Again, I think this is a shame because he makes some good points, they're just buried. The main thing I got from his book is that there is a tremendous political push to create Universal Pre-Kindergartens. The author refers to the history of the kindergarten movement and how this new political push is quite similar. Kindergartens were initially introduced as a "garden of play" that would be voluntary. Over time, they were assimilated into grade schools, and became more and more academic and now almost EVERY child attends kindergarten. Might the same thing happen with preschool (isn't it already?). Then what's next?
I don't think preschool is necessarily a bad thing, I just don't like doing things because it's expected or the norm if it's not what's best for me and my family. And I don't like that children are being taken out of the home, away from their parents, at earlier and earlier ages and exposed to a "prescribed curriculum."

[Kellyanne]

Child care and preschool ARE NOT THE SAME THING. NJ's aim in expanding preschool across the state is to not only bridge the achievement gap, but to give kids, particularly kids from low-income families, experiences and skills that they might not otherwise get. There is hardly a one-size-fits-all attitude towards it (quite the opposite), from my experience and research.

I barely made it through the preface and the first fifteen pages. This author's tone is condescending, know-it-all, and he labels everyone and everything unnecessarily (and rather indignantly).

[Shawna Prather · Rating 3 out of 5]

interesting to read right now with everything going on in education, a lot of this talked about the learning best through play approach vs. skill and drill approach (in preschools), also talked about the cultural differences in child-rearing and the growing gap in between social classes

[Linda · Rating 1 out of 5]

Didn't get through this one. Way too political for me. But I guess the word 'political' IS in the title!

[Lisa Wuertz · Rating 1 out of 5]

So boring. Reads like a major study summary. Could not get through it. I have better things to do with my life than read boring books about preschool statistics.