Three commenters gave thumbs' down to the proposal to eventually provide most Iowa 4 year olds with free, voluntary pre-kindergarten. One wrote: "How about those who HAVE kids, PAY FOR THEM!!!!!!!!! Yes, and let's just disband society because all of us can survive completely on our own, looking out only for our own personal, narrow, economic interests.

Another commenter said she'd spent a lot of time with her young child and didn't send him to preschool. And he turned out OK. Sure, if the 70% of women who are now working just quit to stay at home, most kids would probably do OK. But not necessarily. Depends on the parents.

A third commenter said: "This is daycare shrouded in educational lingo."

Point is there's a lot more opposition to public pre-k than journalists might assume.