I know there are differences because there are other factors in school systems that are different, but a comparison of schoolchildren who start formal teaching at the age of five with those who start at seven shows the latter have caught up by the age of nine and, what's more, are doing much better by the age of 16.
So I would posit that too formal an approach to teaching before the age of six does not produce benefits, and what's more, of course, it loses the opportunity for other things. What is the brain naturally doing during that period? It's learning about self, about others, about altruistic collaboration. In fact, I would say it's learning about the kinds of things our society in the last 30 years has become most deficient in.
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