Malcolm Gladwell Outliers

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Parents should always do what is best for their children, but many parents make a crucial mistake. In Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers: The Story of Success, he discusses the idea of the perfect birthday, which is next to the cut of date for starting kindergarten. He also asks the question, ‘How are birthdays and redshirting related to success?’ Redshirting is the act of holding a child back from kindergarten to have an ‘advantage’ over his or her classmates. They are said to have an advantage because they have an extra year to mature and develop. Redshirting should not be allowed in the American education system because it is not necessary for academics. Redshirting should not be allowed because it gives a child an unfair advantage. Two economists, Kelly Bedard and Elizabeth Dhay, looked at the relationship between scores on the TIMSS and found that “If you take two intellectual equivalent 4th graders with birthdays at opposite ends of the cutoff date, the older student could score in the 80th percentile while the younger student could score in the …show more content…
If two students are intellectually equivalent, they should receive the same scores. Academics should not be a twisted game; it should be a fair and accurate environment for children. Princeton neuroscientist Sam Wang found that “parents want to provide the best environment for their children, but delaying school is rarely the right approach. The first 6 years of life is a time of tremendous growth and change in the developing brain” (Wang and Aamodt). Since the first 6 years are some of the most important years for the brain, kids should be in school learning information and lessons. Learning is social and if a child is parked in front of a TV, they will not learn a lot. It might even cause more problems down the road. Redshirting gives an unfair advantage in the scoring system and is not the right approach for