Early Childhood

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ Ambitious Pre-K Move Sparks Wary Reactions

By Michele Molnar — September 24, 2018 2 min read
Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos speaks at the Economic Club of Washington, D.C., earlier this month. Bezos has committed $2 billionto open preschools in low-income neighborhoods and support nonprofits that help homeless families.
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

The world’s richest man says he wants to help tackle one of the biggest issues in education: improving early-childhood learning.

But what exactly does Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos mean when he says the new network of nonprofit preschools he’s planning will be “Montessori inspired,” and will “use the same set of principles” that have pushed his giant online retail and cloud-computing company toward a $1 trillion valuation?

Experts in the fields of early childhood, the business of education, and ed tech confess to not being sure.

“I really have no idea,” said Trace Urdan, the managing director of investment-consulting firm Tyton Partners. “We’re all just imposing our predispositions onto the whole thing.”

Here’s what we do know: Bezos and his wife MacKenzie are contributing $2 billion to establish the philanthropic Bezos Day One Fund. The effort will have two main thrusts: launching and operating new preschools in underserved communities, and tackling homelessness among young families. And further details? “Stay tuned,” Amazon vice president of corporate communications Drew Herdener told Education Week.

For some observers, Bezos’ big areas of focus are reason enough for optimism.

Take, for example, W. Steven Barnett, the director of the National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University. He said the new fund’s potentially massive commitment to early-childhood education speaks to the growing recognition of the problems presented by a lack of equitable access to high-quality preschool programs.

“In the vast majority of communities, the government response has not been adequate,” Barnett said.

But for others, the lack of details in Bezos’ announcement, combined with the dark sides of Amazon’s meteoric ascent, are cause for skepticism.

Consider, for example, the company’s reliance on low-wage workers who often require public assistance to make ends meet, wrote education-technology researcher Audrey Watters in a recent essay. That’s a potentially dangerous model for the preschool sector, where a mostly female workforce is already significantly underpaid, she contended.

“Honestly, [Bezos] could have a more positive impact here by just giving those workers a raise. (Or, you know, by paying taxes),” Watters wrote.

There also remain lots of questions as to whether Amazon’s data-heavy, algorithm-driven model of customer service has a place in classrooms of 3- and 4-year olds.

And leading researchers say when it comes to Montessori education, the devil is in the details.

Related Reading:

The ‘Montessori Mafia': Why Tech Titans Like Jeff Bezos Support the Model

What’s Motivating Amazon CEO’s Early-Childhood Ed. Approach?

Related Tags:

Staff writer Benjamin Herold contributed to this report.
A version of this article appeared in the September 26, 2018 edition of Education Week as Jeff Bezos’ Pre-K Move Sparks Wary Reactions

Events

Student Well-Being K-12 Essentials Forum Boosting Student and Staff Mental Health: What Schools Can Do
Join this free virtual event based on recent reporting on student and staff mental health challenges and how schools have responded.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Curriculum Webinar
Practical Methods for Integrating Computer Science into Core Curriculum
Dive into insights on integrating computer science into core curricula with expert tips and practical strategies to empower students at every grade level.
Content provided by Learning.com

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Early Childhood What the Research Says 6 Challenges for Early Educators as Preschool Growth Halts
School enrollment for the nation’s youngest learners has nosedived—and could cause long-term problems.
4 min read
Close crop of the back of a pre-school girl's head showing her playing with foam puzzle pieces of shapes and numbers.
iStock/Getty
Early Childhood What the Research Says Starting School in Infancy Can Help Low-Income Children Keep Up With Peers in Elementary School
Research on a birth-to-4 initiative in Tulsa finds academic gains through 3rd grade.
4 min read
Teacher Silvia Castillo, center, reads a book about dinosaurs with Everett Fisher, left, and Jaz Endicott in a toddler classroom at Kids First on Jan. 30, 2019 in Lincoln, Neb.
Teacher Silvia Castillo, center, reads a book about dinosaurs with Everett Fisher, left, and Jaz Endicott in a toddler classroom at Kids First on Jan. 30, 2019, in Lincoln, Neb.
Gwyneth Roberts/Lincoln Journal Star via AP
Early Childhood Why Parents 'Redshirt' Their Kids in Kindergarten
Parents have a number of reasons why they decide to delay their children's school entry, but it's not always a good idea.
5 min read
Students participate in a pre-kindergarten class at Alice M. Harte Charter School in New Orleans on Dec. 18, 2018. Charter schools, which are publicly funded and privately operated, are often located in urban areas with large back populations, intended as alternatives to struggling city schools.
Students participate in a pre-kindergarten class at Alice M. Harte Charter School in New Orleans on Dec. 18, 2018.
Gerald Herbert/AP
Early Childhood Q&A An Investment in Early-Childhood Education Is Paying Off Big
Richard Tomko believes that expanding the early education pipeline buffers schools against enrollment loss and academic struggles.
2 min read
Dr. Richard Tomko, Superintendent of Belleville Public Schools in Belleville, N.J., visits science teacher Paul Aiello’s Medical Academy Field Experience class on Tuesday, January 10, 2023. The Medical Academy’s class uses Anatamoge tables, an anatomy visualization system that allows students to garner a deeper, comprehensive understanding of the human body and medical tools to prepare them for careers in the medical field.
Richard Tomko, superintendent of Belleville Public Schools in Belleville, N.J., has expanded academic programs while restoring trust in the school system.
Sam Mallon/Education Week