At what age could you read/write... and what are your academic/professional qualifications?

[wonderingwondering]

And do you think reading young is generally linked to greater academic/professional achievement overall? Whether that is because of intelligence, nurture, an innate love of or aptitude for reading/learning? Or are the two completely unrelated?

Reading by 5.

BA, postgrad diploma, MSc. Not especially bright tbh.

I could read at 3 1/2 I have a 2:1BA HONS.

Reading and writing before I started school aged 4. When I started school I helped my classmates learn the alphabet

I moved to Zimbabwe ag 5 and wasn't allowed to start school til I was 6. When I turned 6 and startd school they had to put me up a class straight away.

I have lots of good Highers (mostly A some B) but dropped out of Uni.

Loads of unfulfilled potential here

Reading Enid Blyton books alone by 4, ba, msc, phd. Should be starting a job working for unicef in a few months.

I don't think early reading and intelligence are linked per se, but the mother who teaches her 3 year old to read probably has higher academic expectations for her children than the mother who plonks her child in front of the tv for 12 hours a day. I know my parents never thought about me not going to university because it is just what everyone in my family does, of my 20 cousins over the age of 18 I can think of one who hasn't been to university.

I suspect it also has a bit of a pygmalion effect with all the positive reinforcement...

I could read before I started school - so before 5. I remember being encouraged strongly by my dad, who still believes children who can't read before they start school will never learn . I have a first class honours degree from Cambridge in Modern Languages, an MSc with distinction and a professional qualification. DH, who has a similar level of qualifications, couldn't read until he was nearly 7 as he spent a lot of time in hospital.

I don't believe early reading necessarily correlates with greater academic achievement. I think perhaps children who are encouraged to enjoy books may be motivated to learn to read earlier so they can read for themselves, and that these children are maybe also more likely to be growing up in an environment where learning is encouraged and valued. So it may be correlation, rather than causation.

I learnt to read and write at 6 like the majority of children in Italy. I have a degree (first class, in Italy) and a MA (in the UK).

Not sure if reading young is linked to greater academic achievement, otherwise how would people with a different school system do?

Teaching children to read before school is not popular here in Italy, not even among the most academic people. It is frowned upon by teachers too.

I learnt early btw because I have a brother 2 years older. He was learning to read so I had o learn too!

i went to school and learned to read at 6.5 (the norm in continental europe). dh the same. we both have masters degrees from top universities.

with all due respect, i think there's absolutely no link.

people in other countries learn to read very late (or is it that people in the UK learn to read very early?) and still achieve excellent academic qualifications.

"but the mother who teaches her 3 year old to read probably has higher academic expectations for her children than the mother who plonks her child in front of the tv for 12 hours a day" - but there's a whole world in between, and I don't think that not teaching your 3yo to read suggests any less academic ambition for the child - you and I are essentially equally qualified, bella, but have very different early reading histories.

spoke late, read late (around 6-7 IIRC), was hopeless at maths and anything involving spatial awareness, degree from Oxford

snap, Franca!

so, i am really curious... are you all teaching your preschoolers to read??? because it has never occurred to me that i should teach dd1 (whos' 3 and a bit). we read book together since she's born and she loves books, but that's it really- she can recognise writing though, and often asks me "what does it say?" on a sign.

It depends what you mean by a preschooler. Mine were attending primary school full days at just over 3 years, and when my DD was 4 the teacher asked me when I was going to teach DD to read (as in, she thought it should be immediately). Every child in my DDs class could read by the end of reception. So, how old do you define preschool to be? Mine were not preschool at age 3.

I never pushed reading on mine.. what I did do however was to enjoy books with them.. and still do, and now mine are a little older we sometimes read a book then see the play and then the film.. and actually they love it.
.. but as pre schoolers, they were taken to the theatre, art galleries, concerts, non child resurants, travelled. and played with mud and bugs and sticks and stones.

so I went for the all rounder with an appreciation for things in general apporach.

Despite having 3 older siblings and academic parents (medical doctors and PhD)did NOT learn to read before starting school (6 years and I started school 1 year early).
(and surprise surprise have various postgrad degrees, as do my 3 siblings)

No, I never taught mine and still remember the shock of ds's reception teacher because he couldn't read. I thought that was what school were for?

sorry bad grammar in my last post, it clearly shows the dangers of learning to read "late"

Franca, did the school teach him?

MillyR, how could your dc be in primary school at 3???? i don't get it.

BCNS- what a full life, i feel exhausted just reading your account

[masseuse tries to remember what she did with the dds today and can't remember a single thing]

it had never ever occurred to me to teach my kids to read. like Franca, i assume that's what schools are for! oh dear, another shock coming my way...

State primary school where we live covers nursery, infant and junior. DS was 3 in June and started school in September. He went full days and stayed in the same mixed nursery/reception class for 2 years. He wore uniform, went to assembly, had lunch with the rest of the school etc. But all they really did in nursery and reception classroom was play. There was hardly any 'work'.

Our LEA is Calderdale, West Yorkshire.

I am told that I learned to read and write normally at school and had no interest beforehand. Have bags of qualifications now (am a solicitor). Don't imagine there is any correlation between reading young and success in later life. One of the brightest chaps I know (maths prof) didn't read until he was 8...

Milly, we moved back to Italy last year, so ds was very slowly learning to read. But I wasn't worried as, having grown up on the continent with a different school system, I quite expect that lots of 4/5 yrs old aren't ready to learn to read. Ds is now 6.5 and has almost finished the first yr at primary school in Italy and can now read and write with no problems (and can now read in English too)

Oh should preview my posts... . We moved back to Italy when ds had only just started yr one, after only 6 months in reception.

Years ago there was a piece of research that showed no correlation between academic ability at 5 and ability at 10. Now the Government seems to be pushing this value added idea, so that a child who has a level 3 at 7 should have a level 5 at 11 and so on through to GCSE results, and anything other than this is down to the school.

It seem a very odd and deterministic way of viewing children. I think children slow down and speed up in academic progress at different points. The whole idea that being more able or G&T at 5 will carry on forever must surely lead to a lot of stressed children.