Pre-school education apparently makes children more successful in later life:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/4516446.stm

Apparently 'success' is doing well in school tests and earning more money when you are an adult. I wonder why these definitions were chosen? There are happiness scales that could have been used (e.g. the Depression-Happiness Scale [McGreal & Joseph, 1993]) - I would personally see success as being more related to happiness than income. Or how often a person brightens another's day. Or what they contribute to society, other than tax.

Income is relevent to happiness mostly at the lower end of the income scale, where you are struggling to meet basic needs. Once those are met, is there any correlation between happiness and income? Statistically, in developed countries, happiness has not risen despite unprecedented increases in income. In the US, those in the top quarter of income are happier than those in the bottom quarter, but neither group was any more happy in 1998 than they were in 1974, despite their now-higher income.

It seems that the richest citizens of any country will be happier than the poorest, but that the actual income is irrelevent. It's where you are in comparison to others that counts - and what you have become used to.

I think there is also expectation at work here too. It seems like more and more nowadays, children are being told that it is having 'stuff' that counts. In fact, I'm far happier now than I was when we had lots more money. I actively resist getting new things, because it is such a waste to throw old things out - and originally I only thought of that from a financial point of view, but now it is far more about the huge wastage that happens as a result of the way our society works.

Then there's the things we lose while we are busy collecting our 'stuff'. Too busy on computers to be in touch with the seasons. Too busy in front of the telly to splash in the rain. Using a dishwasher instead of washing up watching the birds.

But then, the research was done by the Institute of Fiscal Studies, so their definition of success is pretty much a given, I suppose.

On TV there was a lot of discussion about what this meant for parents. I didn't get that at all - why would this information make any difference to a parent's decision to send their child to pre-school? Ben goes to 'playschool' because he likes it. If he didn't, he wouldn't.