Miseducatn: Prschl Risk

Elkind, author of The Hurried Child, is a child-study specialist (at Tufts University) of eminent common sense who is critical of fads and whom parents would do well to heed, especially those intent on pre-educating their preschoolers to prepare them for formal study with the same frenzy with which they groom themselves for career success. Development in toddlers, he cautions, can be seriously damaged by parents' well-meaning rush to give them a head-start on education or in sports. Preschoolers ought to be encouraged in their spontaneous learning rather than given formal instruction that teaches them ""the wrong things at the wrong time,'' he stresses, citing several popular baby institutes of learning to emphasize his criticism. Elkind quotes experts such as Jean Piaget and Erik Erikson, reviews child-development studies and the controversy surrounding preschool educationand firmly advises parents not to miseducate their children, but allow them, even precocious ones, to excel at their own speed. (October 15)