Beyond Pre-K

Rethinking the Conventional Wisdom on Educational Intervention

By James J. Heckman

Most parents can readily attest that earlier is better when it comes to helping children. Indeed, the oft-repeated parenting maxim “Get them while they’re young” is not just homespun wisdom but a consistent finding of social scientists who study government programs for disadvantaged youths. One of the best investments government can make to raise academic achievement and reduce welfare dependency and crime is the provision of quality preschool programs. Yet popular support for early intervention has a more pessimistic if less publicized corollary among both parents and policy analysts: Namely, that not much can be done to alter the paths of children once they hit the rebellious teenage years. Then, the baleful influence of peers, the lure of street culture, and the failure to have developed skills in childhood all take their toll—or so the theory goes. In practice, remediation programs for adolescents have proved...