Reply to Oldest kids in class do better, even through college

Forum Index » Schools and Education General Discussion

Reply to "Oldest kids in class do better, even through college - NPR"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Very interesting!  New Yorker ran a piece on this a few years ago with the exact opposite conclusion.

[quote]Youngest Kid, Smartest Kid?

These skills translate to a mindset that is crucial to lifelong achievement. In a way, the choice between redshirting and not is the choice between providing your child with a maturity boost or a challenge. While there is certainly an absolute benefit to being bigger and stronger, learning to deal with and overcome obstacles also has a long-lasting effect. It’s a quality the psychologist Angela Duckworth calls “grit,” and Carol Dweck dubs the “incremental mindset”: the knowledge that perseverance, dedication, and motivation can help you where an absolute advantage may not immediately come to the rescue. If you’ve always been praised as the best and brightest, chances are that that self-perception will eventually backfire; if you’ve had to earn your distinctions, they’re more likely to last.[/quote]

https://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/youngest-kid-smartest-kid

[/quote]

People always link to that article in these discussions, but there  has been so much other research for and against redshirting since it came out that I think it's a little irrelevant at this point. And about the whole grit thing... as people of younger children in the grade will tell you, just because you were the oldest doesn't necessarily mean you are the best or won't have to try hard in various aspects of school and life in general. Older children will likely be more mature and possibly less stressed about tasks like lining up, behavior systems, or transitions, but they won't be the best at everything because no one is. Most likely they will have opportunities to develop grit. And also, they will likely feel competent as opposed to inferior, as they ar tackles g academic tasks at a more developmentally appropriate time, which also has lasting effect through school.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics