The current discussion about public school reminded me of an episode
of the Planet Money podcast from a few months ago:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2011/06/13/137109349/the-friday-podcast-the-case-for-preschool
TL;DR: preschool helps teach them critical social skills, the lack of
which can't be fully compensated for later in life.
Anyway, it's well worth a listen. For those of you with room in your
life for another podcast, I've found this one surprisingly engaging --
never would've thought I'd enjoy hearing about economics, but almost
every episode covers an interesting story, often from a slightly
unusual perspective. Great fun.
-Sam