The frenzy over getting children into elite New York preschools is well documented. Parents sweat, barter and bribe to get their 4-year-olds into prestigious early education programs. Toddlers take achievement tests and participate in observed playgroups to prove their potential.

Yes, these private schools offer remarkable resources. Their student-teacher ratios are excellent. Faculty members in many cases have advanced academic degrees. Most important, many of the early education programs are a direct pipeline into equally reputable elementary, middle and high schools.

Other things contribute to the prekindergarten mania. There are the less easily quantifiable social advantages: Hosting play dates for the children of the city’s most rich and powerful can provide access to the rarefied air breathed by New York’s elite.

Mostly, there’s the implicit belief that a premier prekindergarten program guarantees an early leg up in a nearly 14-year battle to gain admission to the country’s most competitive colleges.