Im reading Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell ..interesting thingy i came across --- children born after the first day of school are less likely to succeed academically. WHY? if you are born after september, you are younger/less mature than the people who are in your grade.
For example: if children start first grade at 5, but your friend turned 5 in february and u turn 5 in october..that means if both of you start 1st grade together... your friend is 8 months more mature than you are. Therefore, some material may be easier for your older friend to understand, but more difficult for you because you are still young. This disadvantage makes it seem as if your older friend is smart, when in fact he/she is just older. You feel a little dumb because you cannot get it while your friend gets praised and recommended for gifted programs !!! Gifted programs = better education = more likely to get better grades/SAT scores = better colleges = better degree/education = better job !! all because HE/SHE WAS BORN BEFORE SEPTEMBER. this is also known as the "ACCUMULATIVE ADVANTAGE"/ "MATTHEW EFFECT" ...... smh @ the school system !!! ...
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I think you got the Matthew Effect slightly confused. The Matthew effect is the Rich get richer and the Poor get poorer. As for Education Children form wealthier families tend to perform better than children who aren't.
ReplyDeleteThen there is also another Matthew Effect which studies a students's reading capabilities. Idea that a older student would be less motivated to read because they are older than their peers. However, you must remember that Kindergarten technically isn't a grade. In fact middle aged people today never went to kindergarten they just started school when they was 6 years old. So the Matthew Effect doesn't actually exist.