THE world is going mad. I’m shaking my head as I read of the government’s intention to impose new education standards which will require seven-year-olds to understand the meaning of the word “adverb”.

From May, kids will be expected to read at 90 words a minute, subtract two-digit numbers in their heads and be subjected to harder spelling tests in their Key Stage One assessments.

Teachers have warned that the new tests are too difficult and could damage children’s confidence. But the powers don’t seem to be listening to the grassroots workers.

Has anyone told Education Minister Nicky Morgan that most adults don’t know the meaning of the word adverb. So what hope is there for little nippers?

Here’s a definition, stick with me please. “An adverb is a word or phrase that modifies the meaning of an adjective, verb, or other adverb, expressing manner, place, time, or degree (e.g. gently, here, now, very).”

And seven-year-olds are expected to grasp that concept. Of course, there will be some little geniuses who get it straight away, but there will be an anxious majority who don’t and that’s when education stops nurturing and starts hindering.

What’s even more unjust is that children in other European countries – Holland, Sweden and Finland to name but a few – don’t start school until they’re seven. England, along with Cyprus, Malta, Scotland and Wales, are in the minority in sending our kids into education at five. Although, in reality, most enter primary school before they reach compulsory school age.

One would think our kids should fare better educationally than their European counterparts in the long run, but there doesn’t seem to be any evidence to back that up. In fact, one theory is that early starts were introduced here in 1870 to “reduce the malign influence of Victorian feckless parents”.

So it was about child protection rather than learning.

It was also an attempt to appease employers who were worried that starting any later would remove their supply of juvenile workers.

I feel sorry for kids today if they’re having to worry about adverbs and reading at 90 words a minute.

If I was a teacher today, I’d be giving my pupils this example of an adverb – “the people who run our country are VERY silly.”