The Kindergarten Debate

     When children are put into school late, they begin a long journey through school on a path that leads them to only good things. Like Gladwell, I agree with the theory of "accumulative advantage" which is the phenomenon where basically "the rich get richer and the poor get poorer". When children are put into school late, they are older, and more mature, even if by only a small margin. These kids learn the same material as the younger kids, but pick it up faster because their bodies and brains are more developed. For example, my brother was born August 27th, 1997. With this birth date, my parents had two decisions, they could send him to Kindergarten early with the anticipated Class of 2015, or they could keep him home a year and send him with the Class of 2016. They eventually decided to hold him back, mainly because they wanted him to be the oldest in his grade rather than the youngest. They felt he would have a better experience at school if he matured earlier than the others, rather than later. In my opinion, my parents made an excellent decision. Ever since my brother hit the first grade, he has been in the Gifted and Talented classes, extracurricular activities, and he has usually achieved higher grades than his peers. Also, he matured faster than his peers, and has made all of the sports teams he has wanted to, because he is generally taller than the other boys in his grade. 
      This just backs up Gladwell's theory and concept of "accumulative advantage". Just like in Outliers, the Canadian hockey players excelled because they were older, and taller than the other kids. I feel my brother has had the same advantage because not only is he taller than the rest of his peers, he hit his growth spurt before everyone else. This helped him because he is an aspiring soccer goalie. The moment he 'shot up', he started getting put in the older groups in his goalie clinics because the trainers believed he was older. This only made him a better keeper because he continued to work with the older keepers and older shooters, who had a much more skilled shot than the younger shooters. Eventually when he made it into high school, the coaches didn't even believe he was a freshman. He started training with the Varsity Boys Soccer team right off the bat, and is known to be one of the best goalies in our area. 
     "This advantage fades by the end of elementary school, though, and disadvantages start to accumulate. In high school, red shirted children are less motivated and perform less well. By adulthood, they are no better off in wages or educational attainment — in fact, their lifetime earnings are reduced by one year" (AAmodt). I disagree with this statement made in the online article Delay Kindergarten at Your Child's Peril. Going by my brother's experience, he has done as well in middle school and his first year of high school as he has done in elementary school. There has been no reported drop off in his academic ability or sports performance. He is noticed to be as motivated as he always is, to get good grades and stay up to par with the highest bar set by his teachers and peers.