Safe to say I have no opinion I take seriously, for the reasons you mention. It's interesting as all get out, though. Thanks for the links.
That is, noncognitive skills developed very early (age 0-4) are a huge factor in educational outcome and early childhood intervention is pretty close to agreed upon to be a necessary thing to improve the outcomes of children who grow up in a poor environment.
James Heckman's work on the topic might be worth reading.