A few days ago, I stumbled upon a BBC News article that piqued my interest. According to a new review of primary education in England, it was recommended that children should not start formal learning until they are six. Instead, children should continue the play-based learning typically featured in pre-K for another year. Dame Gillian Pugh, who co-authored the review stated that four and five-year-olds tended to be at a stage where they were just “tuning in” to learning and that they could be “turned off” if they were made to follow too formal a curriculum, too early on. That’s also the message found in Boys Adrift by Leonard Sax, a family physician and psychologist. Continue reading →