Tonight's Horizon shows how, if a mother does badly in bringing up her child in the first five years of his life, then that child has almost no chance of success at school.
Child psychologists can now measure the new-born baby's capacity for solving complex problems - and find that the infant's motivation is the sheer joy of solving them. But if this potential is not developed the damage is irreversible.
Through two-way mirrors they can study the reactions of toddlers in 'strange situation rooms' to investigate how a child's confidence and curiosity depend on the mothering it has had. They are asking 'How should a parent react to a baby's crying?' 'How should a mother talk to a child?' and even 'What is a good mother?'
The answers that they are now finding have major implications for education. Forty per cent of our children fail at school. This film shows what we can do about it if we have the will.