There is nothing new in this debate.

I myself did NOT read before I entered school, probably because in our family books were not considered important. However, my younger brother reminded me that I taught him on a daily basis what I had learned in school each day. When *he* started school a year later, he says he tried to conceal his ability because he thought it was embarrassing to be ahead of the other kids.

My daughter is 48 years old. Forty three years ago she entered kindergarten. She was already reading, not because I had directly taught her - but she had been read to so much she asked questions. I didn't know she could read until while on a trip I overheard her in the back seat reading to her cousin. In high school she was salutatorian of her graduating class; she went on to college, got her BA in English, married while in school, has reared three young'uns and is a writer.

That was back in 1943 and 1967, respectively. Did you know they were bewailing the school system and its results in those days? They were.