Book review of David L. Kirp, The Sandbox Investment: The Preschool Movement and Kids-First Politics. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2007. $26.95 hardcover

Midgley, James

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The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare Volume 36 Issue 1 March Article 19 2009 Review of The Sandbox Investment: The Preschool Movement and Kids-First Politics. David L. Kirp. Reviewed by James Midgley. James Midgley University of California, Berkeley Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/jssw  Part of the Social Work Commons Recommended Citation Midgley, James (2009) "Review of The Sandbox Investment: The Preschool Movement and Kids-First Politics. David L. Kirp. Reviewed by James Midgley.," The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare: Vol. 36 : Iss. 1 , Article 19. Available at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/jssw/vol36/iss1/19 This Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the Social Work at ScholarWorks at WMU. For more information, please contact maira.bundza@wmich.edu. 200 Journal of Sociology & Social WelfareFour additional studies incorporate data from Mexico tocompare populations and examine the impacts of U.S. immi-gration policy on migration. Robert Fairlie and ChristopherWoodruff use the 2000 PUMS and 2000 Mexico Censusto examine differences in self-employment rates betweenMexicans and Mexican immigrants in the U.S. by industrialsector and gender. Pablo Ibarraran and Darren Lubotsky usesimilar data in Chapter 5 to compare the educational attain-ment of Mexican migrants to that of non-migrants, the latterof whom they find to be more educated. In Chapter 8, SusanRichter, J. Edward Taylor, and Antonio Yunez-Naude use the2003 National Mexico Rural Household Survey to test theeffects of the the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act, theNorth American Free Trade Agreement, and increased borderenforcement on the flow of migrant labor from rural Mexico tothe United States. They find that while policies and macroeco-nomic effects significantly influence migration, these effectsare small when compared to the effects of migration networks.Gordon Hanson's examination of how Mexican emigration hasaffected regional labor supply and regional earnings in Mexicoalso highlights the salience of the strength of migration net-works for the economic outlook of certain Mexican states.In a political climate strong on opinion about Mexican im-migration but weak on viable policy solutions, this data drivencollection is one that should be of interest to academic audienc-es, policymakers, and students of immigration generally. Animportant limitation of many of the studies is the undercountfor undocumented Mexican immigrants in analyses based onU.S. Census data. Though undocumented individuals partici-pate in the Census, undercount estimates have ranged from 6to 40 percent depending on the year. Despite this caveat, thepapers enhance knowledge of the economic consequences ofimmigration for both Mexico and the U.S. and point to impor-tant directions for future research.Michelle Johnson, University of California, Los AngelesDavid L. Kirp, The Sandbox Investment: The Preschool MovementBook Reviewsand Kids-First Politics. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UniversityPress, 2007. $26.95 hardcover.The disproportionate number of children living in con-ditions of poverty is a major topic in social policy today. Toaddress the problem, social policy scholars have proposed thata number of anti-poverty interventions ranging from univer-sal family allowances to subsidized child savings accounts beintroduced. However, they have paid relatively little attentionto the role of early childhood intervention programs such aschild care and preschool in poverty alleviation. Although longregarded as the proper concern of educationalists and devel-opmental psychologists, scholars in social welfare and socialpolicy will benefit from knowing more about the field.David Kirp's lively new book should certainly spark in-terest in the topic. Although not focused specifically on childpoverty, his broad ranging overview of the preschool move-ment in the United States has implications for poverty reduc-tion. He provides an engaging history of the emergence of pre-school education in the late 19th century and its expansion innumerous experiments including the Perry preschool porgramin Ypsilanti, Michigan, the Chicago Child-Parent Centers,Headstart and the Abecedarian project in Chapel Hill, NorthCarolina. He also discusses the emergence of child care provi-sion with the Kaiser Child Service Centers during World WarII and the expansion in child care as a result of welfare reformover the last decade. An interesting comparative chapterreviews Britain's Sure Start program and the efforts of thecurrent Labour government to abolish child policy.Kirp is emphatic that long-term outcome research into theimpact of a high-quality preschool experience demonstratesthat these programs are very successful. The effects of theseinterventions, he contends, last well into middle age. Thosewho participate in these programs acquire higher educationalcredentials and are more successful in their subsequent careersthan those who do not participate. However, he recognizesthat much of this research has methodological problems, andhe does not shirk from airing the strong opinions of thosewho oppose public investments in preschool education. Theyinclude traditionalists on the political right who believe that202 Journal of Sociology & Social Welfarechildren should be raised at home by their mothers as well asmarket liberals who criticize government spending on socialprograms and particularly programs such as Head Start which,they claim, do not achieve their goals.Despite opposition from traditionalists and market lib-erals, the author reveals the growing bipartisan politicalsupport for public preschool and child care provision. This islargely because of a substantial body of cost-benefit researchthat demonstrates the investment effect of these programs.Hard-nosed economists including Nobel Prize winners haveshown that the rates of return to preschool education are con-siderable. However, Kirp repeatedly points out that the posi-tive outcomes of preschool and child care are dependent onquality. Large classrooms with poorly trained teachers havefew positive effects and indeed, as one study revealed, mayeven promote antisocial behavior.Although Kirp writes for a popular readership, he providesa wealth of carefully documented statistical and other researchinformation and examines the issues with care and thought-fulness. It is an extremely readable book which will hopefullycapture the attention of the social policy community. It willalso be of major interest to social workers who are on the front-line of the provision of services to poor families and children.Hopefully they will have a better understanding of the role ofpreschool education and day care in addressing the pervasiveand apparently contractible problem of child poverty today.James Midgley, University of California, BerkeleyKaryn R. Lacy, Blue-Chip Black: Race, Class, and Status in the NewBlack Middle Class. Berkeley, CA: University of CaliforniaPress, 2007. $60 hardcover, $22.95 papercover.To understand social identities in black communities, schol-ars have conducted ethnographic studies regarding the blackmiddle-class community using single site designs. However,the communities they have studied are not uniformly middle-class but often include members of the black working-classand in some instances, the black poor. By not differentiatingthe classes from each other within these communities, they

Review of \u3cem\u3eThe Sandbox Investment: The Preschool Movement and Kids-First Politics.\u3c/em\u3e David L. Kirp. Reviewed by James Midgley.

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Review of \u3cem\u3eThe Sandbox Investment: The Preschool Movement and Kids-First Politics.\u3c/em\u3e David L. Kirp. Reviewed by James Midgley.

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