In some countries it is thought advisable that children begin formal education at four years old, while in others they do not have to start school until they are seven or eight.How far do you agree with either of these views?

Nowadays, different countries have different attitudes about the age when children should start going to school. Some suggest that the age should be four years, others – seven or eight years.

As a matter of fact, in my country children begin going to school at six to eight years old. Anyway, there are few ways of thinking about that – some say that children have to grow up to an elder age so that their brains would be fully developed to receive, understand and store the information. That is why here in Lithuania parents usually let their children to school at the age of seven. Others think that it is best for children to begin their formal education at an earlier age because the brain needs to be stimulated and exercised repeatedly to develop the best characteristics and abilities.

A fact is that the disagreement about the right age causes some students problems. For example, if an European student seeks to improve his knowledge in his desirable subject at a university in the United Kingdom he has to be over eighteen while some European students are only seventeen at the time when they start to study at a university.

Personally I have started my formal education at the age of six, and I support the idea that children should begin formal education at an earlier age. However, I believe that parents should consider before letting their children to school at an early age whether it will not cause them problems in their later seeking for education.