McCoy likes the idea of lots more choice for families because there is no one right way to nurture and educate kids. Unfortunately, choice does not come naturally to U.S. public schools. Here they say give everyone the same thing. McCoy thinks we have to provide child care and early childhood education in a more seamless way. We're the only country that has one group that educates but does not care for them and another group that cares for them but does not educate.
School is public, child care is private.
McCoy sees an uneasy future for early childhood education in the United States. We are really going to struggle with preschool issues. He observes parents racing against each other to get their kids ahead. In other countries it's more a sense of community, where everybody wins, he says. In this country, it's every family for itself.