Barbara Beatty

After teaching pre-kindergarten in the Boston Public Schools and directing a college laboratory preschool, I became interested in why the United States does not provide universal preschool education. As a historian, I have focussed on the relationship of developmental psychology, education reform, and "disadvantaged" children. I'm especially interested in how advocacy about how young children should be taught grew from and resulted in cultural and curricular divides, the topic of my forthcoming 2027 book from The University of Chicago Press, Preschool Wars: The Long American Debate on Reading versus Play. I worry that the intensity of opposing arguments may have overshadowed providing high quality preschool education for all children, a goal from which our society as a whole would benefit.