This chapter was interesting, since I didn’t consider the starting age of school to be relevant until after I read the chapter. I realize that it is difficult to measure long-term benefits of baby-care strategies, especially when there are so many books related to how to take care of a baby a certain way. This makes me wonder if any of the findings from the books have any substantial evidence. I thought it was interesting that they measured breastfeeding as a factor and found no significant findings. People usually push for the “natural way” of feeding a baby, but the Terman study found no significant findings.
The book also mentioned that in terms of longevity, it doesn’t matter if the child skips grades ahead of school in the later years, but as long as they start school the in the same age group. I thought that was an interesting detail, especially since having a steady social foundation plays a significant role in healthy development. I personally had a childhood friend who started in the first grade with me, then skipped every odd numbered grade. We maintained our childhood friendship until beginning of high school (when he graduated), and I saw that he had a solid steady family structure and friend group (which I was a part of). I often wondered how he managed in classrooms where he is obviously the smallest and youngest in the class, but he managed to be fairly popular amongst the students. He later went on and graduated from UCLA in 3 years and is currently pursuing his PHD. Adding to the finding from the Terman study, perhaps starting in the same classroom as his age group for a year set him up for success in the future.
Also, I was pleasantly shocked and fascinated that the person who found Cronbach’s alpha was a part of the Terman study. Who knew?
I thought it was very interesting that you shared your story about your friend who went to UCLA. I also had a friend who went to UCLA! He was the same grade as me as well.
I think that that is excellent for your friend that he was able to still stay socially intact with his fellow age group peers while also branching out to meet other new college students. It makes me realize that though this phenomenon of Terman participants is common, it is not necessarily true for all cases.
It makes me wonder what was different for him versus the other participants in the Terman group.