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It's hard for a five-year-old to keep up with a child born many months earlier.
理由是，對一個5歲的孩子來說，他很難和比他早幾個月出生的孩子相處。
But most parents, one suspects, think that whatever disadvantage a younger child faces in kindergarten eventually goes away.
但是大部分兒童家長想當然地以為，不管自己年齡偏小的孩子起初處于怎樣不利的地位，這種劣勢最終都會在幼兒園被改變過來，
But it doesn't. It's just like hockey.
但這僅是一廂情愿。這將又是一個曲棍球怪圈。
The small initial advantage of the child born in the early part of the year
一個學年中早期出生的兒童比晚期出生兒童的這點優勢，
has over the child over born at the end of the year persists.
始終都會存在。
It locks children into patterns of achievement and underachievement,
從這時始, 這些孩子就被貼上了杰出者、非杰出者，
encouragement and discouragement,
他們或得到鼓勵或受到冷遇，
that stretch on for years and years.
這種不同的待遇將長時間存在。
Recently, two economists, Kelly Bedard and Elizabeth Dhuey,
最近，兩位經濟學家——凱利·貝達德和伊麗莎白·杜伊
decided to look at the relationship between scores on what' called TIMSS
曾對參與TIMSS的青少年的出生月份和其測試成績的相關性進行了分析。
the math and science tests given every four years to children around the world
國際數學和科學評測趨勢的簡稱，每四年對全國青少年進行一次數學和科學能力的測試
They found that among fourth graders,
她們發現，在四年級的學生中，
the oldest children scored somewhere between four and twelve percentile points better than the youngest children.
同一年齡出生最早的孩子比出生最晚的孩子，成績高出4到12分。
That, as Dhuey explains, is a "huge effect."
杜伊認為這種差別“影響深遠”。
It means that if you take two intellectually equivalent fourth graders
這意味著，兩個智商相等的，
with birthdays at opposite ends of the cutoff date,
但是出生日期不同的四年級小孩，
the older student could score in the eightieth percentile,
如果出生較早的小孩能夠獲得80分的測試成績，
while the younger one could score in the sixty-eighth percentile.
那么比他出生晚的小孩測試的成績就可能只是68分。
That's a difference between qualifying for a gifted program and not.
這種成績上的差距決定了誰能夠羸得掊受更好教育的資格，誰將被淘汰。
"It's just like sports," Dhuey said.
“這就好像是體育運動”杜伊說，
"We do ability grouping early on in childhood,
“我們在很小的時候就依據個人能力被劃分了類別，
we have advanced reading groups and advanced math groups.
例如誰擁有閱讀的天賦，誰擁有數學特長。
So, early on, if we look at young kids in kindergarten and first grade,
所以，在一個人很小的時候，當他在幼兒園和一年級的老師觀察他的能力時，
the teachers are confusing maturity with ability.
他的老師常常會被其年齡優勢蒙蔽。
And they put the older kids in the advanced stream, where they learn better skills;
教師們常常會把年齡較大的學生劃到優等生里面，這些優等生能學到更多知識；
and the next year, because they are in the higher groups, they do even better;
第二年，優等生的地位保證了他們的成績更為優秀，
and the next year, the same thing happens, and they do even better again.
再過一年，同樣的優勢可能保證他們進入拔尖學生的行列。
The only country we don't see this going on is in Denmark.
在我們考察的國家中，唯有丹麥沒有這類現象。
They have a national policy where they have no ability grouping until the age of ten."
他們的政策規定，不能對10歲之前的孩子進行優等生或者普通生的劃分。
In other words, Denmark waits to make selection decisions
換言之，丹麥的教育體制，
until maturity differences by age have evened out.
必須在消除掉孩子的年齡差別之后，才進行選拔。
Dhuey and Bedard subsequently did the same analysis,
隨后，杜伊和貝達德又進行了統計分析，
only this time looking at college.
這一次的對象是針對大學生。
What do they find?
她們的發現如何？
At four-year colleges in the United States,
在美國四年制的大學中，
the highest stream of postsecondary education,
這里擁有美國最好的高等教育，
students belongs to the relatively youngest group in their class
每個年級同一年齡但出生相對較晚的學生人數，
are underrepresented by about 11.6 percent.
所占的比例不到11.6%。
