"Without the €800 she contributes to the family income of €2,400 every month, the Maiers could not run the two cars they depend on in the countryside"<p>Let me guess - they need two cars so that they both can get to work?<p>Later in the article a couple who hired a nanny is mentioned. I guess it all boils down to maths skills in the end...<p>I suspect much more often than "female liberation" it is sheer economic necessity if both parents go to work.<p>Still, I can not bear the thought of all day school. Possibly it would be different from "normal" school (more socialising with peers?), but still. Besides, wouldn't it be cheaper to just get decent game consoles for the kids?<p>I also resent that as a reaction to the literacy study, all they could think of was to make school longer. Seems likely to me that longer school would only make kids more stupid in the end (when does the brain have time to grow??). Being at school tends to be mind numbing, not mind enhancing.