Why do Nigerians like to abuse their kids by introducing them early to formal education? I saw a thread on the front page of a man complaining about how his 4 years old son doesn't respond properly at school. I was surprised and disturbed when he said that his teacher in school perceive the kid may repeat because has nothing to show he has learnt and also that a 4 year old kid has a private teacher! The most troubling part is that, most people on the thread do not find any of these disturbing. Only God knows what this kid is going through, there are thousands of kids out there suffering the same fate. Why deprive a 4 year old kid his childhood by expecting him to deliver?

Research has shown that there is no correlation between a child's early start of formal education and their academic achievement. However, early starters are more likely to have less attitude towards learning and are also likely to develop mental heath problem. http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/discussion/school-starting-age-the-evidence. In most developed countries, the average age they expose their kids to formal education is between the ages of 6-7 years.

Let not all turn our kids to robots or machines but it is important to allow our children develop their mental capacity and improve their creativity which they achieve by playing and learning without needless pressure.

As early as possble..