Some people believe that children should be allowed to stay at home and play until they are six or seven years old. Others believe that it is important for young children to go to school as soon as possible. What do you think are the advantages of attending school from a young age?

In many places today, children start primary school at around the age of six or seven. However, because it is more likely now that both parents work, there is little opportunity for children to stay in their own home up to that age. Instead, they will probably go to a nursery¹ school when they are much younger.

While some people think this may be damaging to a child’s development, or to a child’s relationship with his or her parents, in fact there are many advantages to having school experience at a young age.

Firstly², a child will learn to interact³ with a lot of different people and some children learn to communicate very early because of this. They are generally more confident and independent than children who stay at home with their parents and who are not used to strangers or new situations. Such children find their first day at school at the age of six very frightening and this may have a negative effect on how they learn.

Another advantage of going to school at an early age is that children develop faster socially. They make friends and learn how to get on with other children of a similar age. This is often not possible at home because they are the only child, or because their brothers or sisters are older or younger.

So overall⁴, I believe that, attending school from a young age is good for most children. They still spend plenty of time at home with their parents, so they can benefit⁵ from both environments.