http://education.guardian.co.uk/policy/story/0,,2225967,00.htmlI don't know what happens in England these days but in Wales children may start school at the age of 3 but "formal learning" does not start until they are 7. The intervening 4 years are spent in "Directed play with learning outcomes" whatever that may be. Then at the age of 7 the formal bit starts and teachers express surprise if your child cannot read and write ~ that, apparently, is the fault of the parents for failing to teach them at home. Parents are offered instruction sessions to show them how to do this.
Dunno 'bout you lot but to me it looks like a scheme to force
all parents out to work and let the state raise the children ~ bit like they tried in Communist China under Mao.
I am not saying that parents should be paid to stay at home but I am saying that, where there are two parents, the tax system should allow one to stay at home until the child is ten and that could be achieved by allowing the transfer of tax allowances between couples. At present I do not/cannot go out to work and am classified as a disabled pensioner ~ my wife can and does work. She gets the normal tax free personal allowance and so do I but we cannot offset my underused allowance to increase hers thus we actually lose out.
