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posted by CoolHand on Monday September 11 2017, @09:08PM   Printer-friendly
from the we-finally-have-an-excuse dept.

Submitted via IRC for Bytram

It's been known for years that the oldest children in class perform better in school than their youngest classmates. But according to a new study co-authored by University of Toronto Scarborough economist Elizabeth Dhuey, that gap can persist, with older children more likely to attend post-secondary school and graduate from an elite university.

"Older children, in this case those born in early September, do better in elementary school than their younger peers," says Dhuey, whose past research has explored this phenomenon.

"What we found in this study is that gap persists throughout their school careers, so they end up being more likely to attend a post-secondary school and graduate from an elite university."

The study, by Dhuey, an associate professor of economics, and a team of three economists from U.S.-based universities, was published by the National Bureau of Economic Research. It followed differences between Florida children born just before and after the Sept. 1 cut-off date to start kindergarten. (In Ontario, the cut-off date to start kindergarten is Jan. 1.)

precocious kids need not apply

Source: https://phys.org/news/2017-09-oldest-kids-class-university.html

Reference: Elizabeth Dhuey et al. School Starting Age and Cognitive Development, (2017). DOI: 10.3386/w23660[PDF]


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 11 2017, @10:11PM (4 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 11 2017, @10:11PM (#566435)

    So what if you delay school another year (and get more time to learn on your own before being "plugged in"), would you be even smarter?

  • (Score: 2) by aclarke on Tuesday September 12 2017, @12:54AM (1 child)

    by aclarke (2049) on Tuesday September 12 2017, @12:54AM (#566490) Homepage

    Interesting question. It's one we grappled with a bit here in Ontario. My kids are both born very early in the year (yay them), but a family member's child was born right at the end of December. I suggested they just hold him back a year, but got a look of confusion in return from the parents they're the sorts who are going to follow authority. The schools here very much discourage that sort of thing. That being said, another friend did just that. His son was born in December and he pushed the issue and he's now in the grade behind where the Board of Education wanted to place him.

    My first thought on reading this article was confusion about a University of Toronto professor saying students born in September will do better as they're older. I guess that's an American thing, as pointed out at the end of TFS. In Ontario, land of U of T, the cutoff is December 31 / January 1.

    • (Score: 2) by kazzie on Tuesday September 12 2017, @07:43AM

      by kazzie (5309) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday September 12 2017, @07:43AM (#566594)

      September is the cut-off in the UK, as well.

  • (Score: 2) by TheRaven on Tuesday September 12 2017, @07:28AM (1 child)

    by TheRaven (270) on Tuesday September 12 2017, @07:28AM (#566583) Journal
    Alternatively: People are learning before they go to school. The ones that arrive with a 10-month head start over others don't lose it. I'd be interested to see how this advantage correlates with socioeconomic index, because I'd imagine that richer parents spend more time with their children doing things that give them an advantage when they start school. I was one of the youngest in my class, but I started to read when I was 3 and do basic arithmetic (add, subtract, multiply, and divide) by the time I was 5. A lot of children at the school where my mother taught in a poorer area started school aged 5 expecting to start learning these things then.
    --
    sudo mod me up
    • (Score: 2, Informative) by shrewdsheep on Tuesday September 12 2017, @10:49AM

      by shrewdsheep (5215) on Tuesday September 12 2017, @10:49AM (#566670)

      Hm,... might this be post-hoc theorizing? My first reaction was to challenge the study. This question pops up from time to time and IIRC the long-term effect has been debunked in the past. TLDR, so I cannot judge the quality of the study, but to follow children to adulthood is extremely challenging and the data is subject to all of confounding, selection bias, and measurement error, implying that unless properly taken into account, study results could but reflect those phenomena.