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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
The Legalization of Preschool Education in China Under the Experience of American Rule of Law
YANG Jinhao, ZHANG Meihui, JI Hui
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DOI:10.17265/2161-623X/2026.05.010
Lvliang University, Lyuliang, China
Preschool education law is the key institutional arrangement to ensure the healthy development of preschool education. The construction of the rule of law in preschool education in the United States has undergone a century of evolution and formed a relatively complete legal system. It reflects the paradigm shift from “welfare relief” to “compensation for the weak” to “inclusive quality”, and presents the underlying logic from guaranteeing the right to survival to pursuing educational equity and then to achieving inclusive quality. This paper uses historical analysis and comparative research methods to systematically sort out the three stages of American preschool education legislation in the past century, extract the three core experiences of fair-oriented resource allocation, legalized government responsibility, and sustained economic investment. Under the background of the implementation of the “Preschool Education Law of the People’s Republic of China” in June 2025, this paper summarizes the legislative process and core essence of the United States, and provides reference for the localization practice of the rule of law in preschool education in China.
United States, pre-school education legislation, institutional change, education equity, paradigm shift, China mirror
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