With growing numbers of mothers in the work force, industrialized societies are turning increasingly to preschools to educate, nurture, and socialize young children. This book presents a unique comparison of Japanese, Chinese, and American preschools and discusses how these schools both reflect and affect philosophies of child-rearing and early-childhood education and larger social patterns and beliefs in each society.

“This book should be required reading for professionals in early education and makes thought-provoking reading for anyone aware of his or her own cultural blinkers.”—Penelope Leach, New York Times Book Review

“As in the best ethnographic research—and surely this qualifies for that accolade—the study raises a number of hypotheses about the impact of educational experiences on children… This is a rich book, filled with data, insights, and speculation. The authors are careful to buttress their speculations with extensive references to the scholarly work of others as well as to their own. This reviewer was impressed by their success at bringing this scholarship to bear on their own findings and by their ability to clarify the interplay of culture and schooling in so interesting a fashion.”—Nicholas Anastasiow, Educational Researcher

“[An] important study. …Tobin et al have some strong and thought-provoking evidence that demonstrates that preschools may be at the front line of conserving social structures and values… A must read for those who take social issues seriously.”—Carole C. Kemmerer, Los Angeles Times

A 55-minute companion videotape is also available that shows a typical day in a preschool in each country and presents evaluations by Japanese, Chinese, and American teachers of their own and each other’s schools.

Joseph J. Tobin is on the faculties of the College of Education and the Center for Youth Research of the University of Hawaii. David Y.H. Wu is a research associate at the East-West Center in Honolulu. Dana H. Davidson is an associate professor of Family Resources at the University of Hawaii.