Just when “progressives” in the Idaho Legislature are pushing for earlier public education, a new British study shows that starting children too early in school can damage their future school success.

It seems that in Great Britain, the trend has been to push younger and younger children into public education in order to maximize government dollars sent to the schools. In fact, 80% of British children are in formal education before they turn five years old.

However, experts assert that these children are not being allowed to “grow up”. No wonder a UNICEF study showed British children the “unhappiest in the West“.

The study, conducted by the highly respected National Foundation for Educational Research, determined that sending children to school too early can “increase anxiety and have a negative impact on children’s self-esteem and motivation to learn”.

An additional study involving 1400 children in Glasgow, Scotland, found that the harm caused to boys who began school as early as 4 1/2 years of age was still measurable when they reached secondary school.

Apparently most other European countries don’t start compulsory public education until age six, and then only in a relaxed, unstructured form.

But here in Idaho we have the obligatory “experts” telling legislative committees that earlier public education will solve a myriad of problems, from assisting underprivileged pre-schoolers to boosting high school graduate college attendance. (They didn’t mention that it would also boost membership in the Idaho Education Association [read "teachers' union"] and increase the already massive public school bureaucracy.)

Fortunately those old-fashioned, outdated, superannuated, backwards legislators in the House who think mothers and home should play a big role in early childhood education won out. HCR 18 went down on a 43-27 vote Monday.

However, on Tuesday, after lengthy debate, the Senate passed SB 1079, which would allow school districts to offer non-mandatory preschool programs as long as no state funds were used.  Hopefully the House Education Committee, where the bill will land next, has more wisdom than their corresponding Senate committee.