I just posted the following submission as “Melanie Young, author of Raising Real Men: Surviving, Teaching and Appreciating Boys”

I urge you to reject this bill to make preschool attendance mandatory for beneficiaries. Research does not support the efficacy of institutional preschool attendance for a wide range of children, and particularly boys. Young boys are ill-served by the strictures of a classroom environment in the preschool years. Their development is instead enhanced by a family environment that affords the freedom to be active, explore and experience unstructured play.

Freedom is an increasingly rare commodity in our world. Please do not limit the freedom of families to do what they believe to be best for their children solely because they are struggling financially. Instead, allow those who truly have the best interest of the child at heart – his or her own parents – to make the decision as to where the child should spend his preschool years.

Numerous international declarations and agreements support the right of parents to determine the educational environment of their child, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) Article 26 (3, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights* (1976) Article 10 (1) and 13 (3), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1976) Article 18 (4), the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (2000) Article 14 (3), the European Convention on Human Rights (1952) Protocol 1, Article 2, and even your own law, in the Education Act gives parents the right to make decisions about the child’s education. Please defeat this legislation.

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