Should children learn poetry

[muddy]

Yes IMO they should .
Little children are like sponges they soak up things and a beautiful poem will be remembered all of their lives.
Who among us does not know the Owl and the Pussy cat went to sea ,or Twinkle Twinkle Little Star ?
It helps in their literacy their language and their appreciation of the spoken word .
You can bet your bottom dollar that private schools give small children poetry .

Older children too can benefit from poetry .
Feelings....
How do I love thee ? By Elizabeth Barratt  Browning
Or the immortal war poets
Rupert Brooke 's Home thoughts from Abroad
These are our history our Britishness

Yes boring progressive teachers think they are bad for children .

[muddy]

And a old poem for today

The Stranger within my gate,
  He may be true or kind,
 But he does not talk my talk—
  I cannot feel his mind.
 I see the face and the eyes and the mouth,
  But not the soul behind.
The men of my own stock
  They may do ill or well,
 But they tell the lies I am wonted to,
  They are used to the lies I tell.
 And we do not need interpreters
  When we go to buy and sell.
The Stranger within my gates,
  He may be evil or good,
 But I cannot tell what powers control—
  What reasons sway his mood;
 Nor when the Gods of his far-off land
  Shall repossess his blood.
The men of my own stock,
  Bitter bad they may be,
 But, at least, they hear the things I hear,
  And see the things I see;
 And whatever I think of them and their likes
  They think of the likes of me.
This was my father's belief
  And this is also mine:
 Let the corn be all one sheaf—
  And the grapes be all one vine,
 Ere our children's teeth are set on edge
  By bitter bread and wine.

Rudyard Kipling

Or maybe not .....