異類:不一樣的成功啟示錄 第18期:年齡對(duì)孩子的影響

It's hard for a five-year-old to keep up with a child born many months earlier.

理由是，對(duì)一個(gè)5歲的孩子來說，他很難和比他早幾個(gè)月出生的孩子相處。

But most parents, one suspects, think that whatever disadvantage a younger child faces in kindergarten eventually goes away.

但是大部分兒童家長(zhǎng)想當(dāng)然地以為，不管自己年齡偏小的孩子起初處于怎樣不利的地位，這種劣勢(shì)最終都會(huì)在幼兒園被改變過來，

But it doesn't. It's just like hockey.

但這僅是一廂情愿。這將又是一個(gè)曲棍球怪圈。

The small initial advantage of the child born in the early part of the year

一個(gè)學(xué)年中早期出生的兒童比晚期出生兒童的這點(diǎn)優(yōu)勢(shì)，

has over the child over born at the end of the year persists.

始終都會(huì)存在。

It locks children into patterns of achievement and underachievement,

從這時(shí)始, 這些孩子就被貼上了杰出者、非杰出者，

encouragement and discouragement,

他們或得到鼓勵(lì)或受到冷遇，

that stretch on for years and years.

這種不同的待遇將長(zhǎng)時(shí)間存在。

Recently, two economists, Kelly Bedard and Elizabeth Dhuey,

最近，兩位經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家——凱利·貝達(dá)德和伊麗莎白·杜伊

decided to look at the relationship between scores on what' called TIMSS

曾對(duì)參與TIMSS的青少年的出生月份和其測(cè)試成績(jī)的相關(guān)性進(jìn)行了分析。

the math and science tests given every four years to children around the world

國(guó)際數(shù)學(xué)和科學(xué)評(píng)測(cè)趨勢(shì)的簡(jiǎn)稱，每四年對(duì)全國(guó)青少年進(jìn)行一次數(shù)學(xué)和科學(xué)能力的測(cè)試

They found that among fourth graders,

她們發(fā)現(xiàn)，在四年級(jí)的學(xué)生中，

the oldest children scored somewhere between four and twelve percentile points better than the youngest children.

同一年齡出生最早的孩子比出生最晚的孩子，成績(jī)高出4到12分。

That, as Dhuey explains, is a "huge effect."

杜伊認(rèn)為這種差別“影響深遠(yuǎn)”。

It means that if you take two intellectually equivalent fourth graders

這意味著，兩個(gè)智商相等的，

with birthdays at opposite ends of the cutoff date,

但是出生日期不同的四年級(jí)小孩，

the older student could score in the eightieth percentile,

如果出生較早的小孩能夠獲得80分的測(cè)試成績(jī)，

while the younger one could score in the sixty-eighth percentile.

那么比他出生晚的小孩測(cè)試的成績(jī)就可能只是68分。

That's a difference between qualifying for a gifted program and not.

這種成績(jī)上的差距決定了誰能夠羸得掊受更好教育的資格，誰將被淘汰。

"It's just like sports," Dhuey said.

“這就好像是體育運(yùn)動(dòng)”杜伊說，

"We do ability grouping early on in childhood,

“我們?cè)诤苄〉臅r(shí)候就依據(jù)個(gè)人能力被劃分了類別，

we have advanced reading groups and advanced math groups.

例如誰擁有閱讀的天賦，誰擁有數(shù)學(xué)特長(zhǎng)。

So, early on, if we look at young kids in kindergarten and first grade,

所以，在一個(gè)人很小的時(shí)候，當(dāng)他在幼兒園和一年級(jí)的老師觀察他的能力時(shí)，

the teachers are confusing maturity with ability.

他的老師常常會(huì)被其年齡優(yōu)勢(shì)蒙蔽。

And they put the older kids in the advanced stream, where they learn better skills;

教師們常常會(huì)把年齡較大的學(xué)生劃到優(yōu)等生里面，這些優(yōu)等生能學(xué)到更多知識(shí);

and the next year, because they are in the higher groups, they do even better;

第二年，優(yōu)等生的地位保證了他們的成績(jī)更為優(yōu)秀，

and the next year, the same thing happens, and they do even better again.

再過一年，同樣的優(yōu)勢(shì)可能保證他們進(jìn)入拔尖學(xué)生的行列。

The only country we don't see this going on is in Denmark.

在我們考察的國(guó)家中，唯有丹麥沒有這類現(xiàn)象。

They have a national policy where they have no ability grouping until the age of ten."

他們的政策規(guī)定，不能對(duì)10歲之前的孩子進(jìn)行優(yōu)等生或者普通生的劃分。

In other words, Denmark waits to make selection decisions

換言之，丹麥的教育體制，

until maturity differences by age have evened out.

必須在消除掉孩子的年齡差別之后，才進(jìn)行選拔。

Dhuey and Bedard subsequently did the same analysis,

隨后，杜伊和貝達(dá)德又進(jìn)行了統(tǒng)計(jì)分析，

only this time looking at college.

這一次的對(duì)象是針對(duì)大學(xué)生。

What do they find?

她們的發(fā)現(xiàn)如何?

At four-year colleges in the United States,

在美國(guó)四年制的大學(xué)中，

the highest stream of postsecondary education,

這里擁有美國(guó)最好的高等教育，

students belongs to the relatively youngest group in their class

每個(gè)年級(jí)同一年齡但出生相對(duì)較晚的學(xué)生人數(shù)，

are underrepresented by about 11.6 percent.

所占的比例不到11.6%。