Although good visual capacity is essential for children's learning, we have limited understanding of the various visual functions among school starters. In order to extend this knowledge, a small-scale study was undertaken involving 24 preschool children age 5-6 years who completed a test battery originally designed for visual impairment specialists to measure visual acuity for distance and close work, and for visual attention and reaction capacity in the field of vision. The results revealed that school starters have a less mature visual acuity at a close reading distance than at a far distance. In this group, there were significant gender differences in visual acuity and reaction time in the visual field. This article discusses whether the level of visual development and gender differences may influence how pupils react, behave and learn in school, and questions whether this insight ought to have an impact on our expectations with regard to children's school performance. In the context of pressures to begin formal teaching of literacy and numeracy earlier in some countries, the question of visual readiness becomes critical. The question should also make educators alert to the dangers of expecting all children to succeed in learning to read at the same early age, and of labelling those who do not succeed in making an early start as intellectually deficient.