Chapters 6 & 7

Before reading these chapters, I was unaware that getting an early start is a “dead-end myth.” As with many of the other findings reported in this book, this came as a sort of surprise since I feel as though we are always trained to believe that those who get a head start in their schooling are the children who will have better educational performance. I am currently taking a Clinical Neuroscience class as well, where we recently learned about the case of Greg Smith — a boy who went to college at the young age of 10. However, he was not a genius because his parents enrolled him in pre-k when he was 2, so I understand where the researchers are coming from.

It was interesting to read that the Terman children who had divorced parents were more likely to get divorced as well. I personally think this varies depending on who we are talking about as I think it is more of a result of how the child is raised and who they end up marrying, of course. I also found it interesting that, for boys, positive family feelings were harmful and that these boys actually ended up living shorter lives. Again, I think this varies case-by-case, but I do not really understand how this positive support could result in a negative outcome. I think it is always important to observe the differences that exist between genders when we are considering factors, such as family influence.