On Holding Back and Skipping Up
Jun. 5th, 2007 11:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vollmusI read an article in the New York Times today about age differences in kindergarten and how they affect performance after the fact. At one point, the author quoted Fred Morrison, a developmental psychologist at the University of Michigan, who said:
I fully believe that skipping the fourth grade was one of the best things I ever did, and my only regret about that situation is that I didn't take the opportunity to skip the fifth at the same time. I've never had problems making friends with people who are a year or two older than me; in fact, when I skipped, I already had a solid group of friends in fifth grade and experienced very little social discomfort. The only times in my life when I had problems with making friends all came after switching schools, when it is perfectly normal for children to experience such difficulties. I remained in higher-level courses throughout elementary, middle/junior and high school, and remained in good standing in those courses. My achievements were enough to persuade a private fund to award me $12k/yr to go to school at Willamette University, where I pay a grand total of $3,000 per year for the same education most pay $35,000 per year for.
I really cannot see how being younger than my classmates has had any detrimental effects on me, personally or scholastically. All of my current annoying personality traits (such as being prone to frequent ranting and often delivering cutting remarks, as well as being aggravatingly persistent at times) can be traced back to long before the epic Skipping of the Fourth Grade (the first grade-skipping in Camelot history, zomg!!!!1). One such personality trait, my elitism, was actually tempered by it—the transition from always being the best in the class to just being one of the best was a difficult one, but somehow I made it through. Amazing, I know.
I don't see anything wrong with having some children start kindergarten a year later. This practice can be entirely logical. However, I don't quite understand why the article puts such a negative light on letting younger children move ahead when it can be so beneficial. Before skipping that grade, I never felt normal. I never felt like my friends were as smart as I was, and I was always forced to hold the positions of peace-keeper and advice-giver in my circles of friends. I kept those positions through high school because they became comfortable, but after fourth grade, being closer to my peers academically allowed me to feel better about myself and my place in the world. I was never entirely comfortable with myself before fifth grade, but moving up changed that for me.
The article talks about how we currently revere self-esteem over individual accomplishment, but my choice to skip a grade encompassed both—it was an individual accomplishment that improved my self-esteem, as well as my ability to relate to people around me. I don't understand why people are so against the practice of skipping grades now when my life improved so drastically because of it.
In other news, I am bored out of my mind! I completely re-organized my room today for lack of anything better to do. I even started searching the internet for the best test prep guides out there for the LSAT, which I won't be taking for another two years. I'm planning on starting War and Peace tomorrow so I already know what's going on when I take a course on it in the fall. I'm dying, slowly but surely.
I need a job.
Well!You couldn’t find a kid who skips a grade these days. We used to revere individual accomplishment. Now we revere self-esteem, and the reverence has snowballed in unconscious ways — into parents always wanting their children to feel good, wanting everything to be pleasant.
I fully believe that skipping the fourth grade was one of the best things I ever did, and my only regret about that situation is that I didn't take the opportunity to skip the fifth at the same time. I've never had problems making friends with people who are a year or two older than me; in fact, when I skipped, I already had a solid group of friends in fifth grade and experienced very little social discomfort. The only times in my life when I had problems with making friends all came after switching schools, when it is perfectly normal for children to experience such difficulties. I remained in higher-level courses throughout elementary, middle/junior and high school, and remained in good standing in those courses. My achievements were enough to persuade a private fund to award me $12k/yr to go to school at Willamette University, where I pay a grand total of $3,000 per year for the same education most pay $35,000 per year for.
I really cannot see how being younger than my classmates has had any detrimental effects on me, personally or scholastically. All of my current annoying personality traits (such as being prone to frequent ranting and often delivering cutting remarks, as well as being aggravatingly persistent at times) can be traced back to long before the epic Skipping of the Fourth Grade (the first grade-skipping in Camelot history, zomg!!!!1). One such personality trait, my elitism, was actually tempered by it—the transition from always being the best in the class to just being one of the best was a difficult one, but somehow I made it through. Amazing, I know.
I don't see anything wrong with having some children start kindergarten a year later. This practice can be entirely logical. However, I don't quite understand why the article puts such a negative light on letting younger children move ahead when it can be so beneficial. Before skipping that grade, I never felt normal. I never felt like my friends were as smart as I was, and I was always forced to hold the positions of peace-keeper and advice-giver in my circles of friends. I kept those positions through high school because they became comfortable, but after fourth grade, being closer to my peers academically allowed me to feel better about myself and my place in the world. I was never entirely comfortable with myself before fifth grade, but moving up changed that for me.
The article talks about how we currently revere self-esteem over individual accomplishment, but my choice to skip a grade encompassed both—it was an individual accomplishment that improved my self-esteem, as well as my ability to relate to people around me. I don't understand why people are so against the practice of skipping grades now when my life improved so drastically because of it.
In other news, I am bored out of my mind! I completely re-organized my room today for lack of anything better to do. I even started searching the internet for the best test prep guides out there for the LSAT, which I won't be taking for another two years. I'm planning on starting War and Peace tomorrow so I already know what's going on when I take a course on it in the fall. I'm dying, slowly but surely.
I need a job.
