Some corrections and remarks based on input from comments: 1. If you were born in the later months of the year that does NOT mean you can't be as successful as people born in the earlier months. It means that the relative age disadvantage you've had to face during your childhood might have made it harder to succeed in sports and school. There are plenty of elite athletes born in December (e.g Kylian Mbappé) and that didn't stop them. 2. A lot of comments are mentioning the book Outliers by Malcolm and asking why it was not mentioned in the video. Even though the Relative Age Effect was popularized by the book, the RAE has been studied since the 1960s. Most of the research for this video was based on scientific literature. 3. 03:24 - The label should spell '27% less', not '28% less'. 4. 04:55 - Contrary to what I mentioned, the school age cut-off in Portugal is actually September 16 (and not December 31) for most schools/students. In my school, it was Dec 31 for most students though. 5. 06:37 - "In Sports, children should be selected based on skill, not on size or strength". This was poorly phrased and not exactly true because: A) older kids are (on average) more skilled; B) body size matters in many sports. The message I tried to explain is that coaches should take into account that December children are 11 months behind January kids in growth. When they select an older child over a younger one, they should try to make sure the advantage is not only due to the age difference.
In Portugal, the official cut-off date in public schools is September 15th. Those students born until December 31st of the same year may be accepted if the school still has places available
@@SladkaPritomnost Not only is life expectancy not correlated to this, but the oldest persons in all age groups at school are those born in October, November and December, not in January as this video tells us. In fact, no country I know of has a school year beginning in January.
@@PG-3462 I would like to introduce you to Brazil, home to over 200 million people, and a country in which the school year tends to begin around February - March. As the video points out, cut off for age here is usually March 1st, March 31st or something around that, making march and april kids the oldest.
The underdog hypothesis is also true. When young football players are scouted from poorer countries, I remember seeing stats that the youngest siblings and kids were usually indexed higher in ability/promise. From a lifetime of having to play against older kids and develop faster
I'm not an athlete, but when I played amateur soccer tournaments in Brazil, the coach always put me in the older categories, I loved the challenge and felt awesome playing against bigger and stronger opponents, that definitely motivated me (born in august and younger sibling, always played with/against my big bro)
It can also be that younger siblings and kids are likely to have more support from older siblings and kids in the form of learned experience or more stability in life so they end up performing better.
In Korea, if you were born on December 31 at 11:59:59, you were one year old when born. A second later, you turned two years old even though you have only been breathing for total of two seconds. When you get to school, you will be a fraction of the size of the other kids and ruthlessly bullied. Korea has the weirdest age counting system in the world. The honorifics are based on the number of years you have been alive. I hear they have changed it since I was a kid.
I was born in december but I started school one year late so I have always been one of the oldest people in class, and I can absolutely see the difference between the performance of the younger vs the older kids in class, even though we're only a few months apart
While the idea might be true, the information used is false. The oldest persons in all age groups are always those born in October, November and December, as school year begins in September and in most countries, a child must reach 4 or 5 before the end of September, thus making people born in September the youngest. I don't think there's any country where the school year begins in January. Then, in sports, it generally works by age groups. Thus, no matter when you're born, you will always end up playing with children older than you at the beginning, and the younger than you in the next years. The full effect of this is thus most likely negligible, and the first figure showing more athletes born in January is thus either cherrypicked data or related to another topic (because if you recall, the oldest child are those born in October, November and December)
One thing perhaps quite unscientific I've noticed that this video never mentioned is that the festive seasons are between Sep-Jan and those typically lead to more unplanned parenthood. Instinct tells me not only January babies have more mentally developed brains than those in the same academic year group, they are more likely conceived in the more boring months of the year, which implies they are more likely the results of planned parenthood. Parents who plan their families are more likely to have better time management and budgetting skills, which is why they can most definitely afford children in the first place. Those skills and intelligence are passed onto their children through home education, observation and genetics, so they are more likely to be successful. Referring back to the bar chart at the beginning, those conceived during festive seasons do seem to have the lowest success. This is probably unscientific because I'm not a social scientist, but does anyone else share the same thought?
No, your critique does make sense. This is a topic with several distinctly important layers on top of each other, it is probably impossible to isolate just one variable
I live in the US and I was born in August. Our cutoff for grade levels is September 1 and so I was almost always the youngest in my classes. I was usually smaller than the rest of them and felt less developed mentally too. The only way I managed to keep up was by being better academically and trying harder to be better in the activities I did. Even now that I’ve graduated college and have a job, I still feel the impacts of being the youngest of my work groups
I'm still in school but I was born sept. second (we moved across the us, and the cutoff dates were different), and am the youngest in my grade, though I have a friend who is born sept. first too.) When we moved, the school actually tested me to check if I should redo preschool, but instead I went on to kindergarten. I think it's probably best to be somewhere in the middle of the age group. (I'm top of the class at math and good at reading, which is likely why I wasn't made to repeat preschool, although my parents still fought hard to make sure I was allowed to move up) overall the age gap doesn't mean that much in my opinion, because I know a kid 8 days younger than me in the grade below, and a kid born sept. 11 in my grade that is 11 months older than me.
I really think at that point it’s more psychological than anything else. I skipped a grade, and while it was definitely very noticeable up until about 6th grade, I’ve never felt particularly inferior or less developed than them (besides social intelligence, which you learn with age). That is to say, I kept up pretty well and still do, being in college.
This problem can be easily minimized by separating the class by semester instead of year, so the difference between students would be a maximum of 6 months instead of almost 12, in fact we could divide most periods better if we divided them into periods with less months. , but 6 months is something easier to do and doesn't add much cost, and sports and university selections can be done more or less every 6 months too, this would improve mental, physical and financial health, reduce bullying, increase companionship in general population.
i’m one of the youngest kids in my class, born just two weeks before the cut-off date. something i’ve always noticed is that a high portion of the people in advanced classes are those who are older. (10-11 months older than me). Many of my classmates could get drivers licenses, work, and vote before me, which impacted our social statuses differently. but if you are younger in your grade like me, don’t despair! we have lots of life to live. i am taking a gap year before college and will enter college at a similar age that my classmates are entering now🤷♀️ which is also a privilege in my opinion
@@tessynn2906 I’ll be done at 17 when finishing high school. December 2nd. Still smarter than a majority of the people in my grade and I don’t even try lmao. In highschool that is I think of myself as being dumb as sh** before hitting highschool. Senior year now and I’ve begun to realize how much dumber people that are older than me are.
I think there is a lot to this. I was born in September, and all through school was always just about the youngest in my grade. Even in middle and high school, one year can make a difference in your physical development. This doesn't matter just for sports--guys are bigger and stronger, girls are more physically developed, which makes you more attractive to others as friends and as a romantic interest. I'm from the US and getting your driver's license a year earlier makes a difference in your independence and social life. My school years weren't bad, but now that I'm aware of this I do wonder how they'd have been different if I'd been born one month later (and therefore been one grade later in school).
Does america do school ages based on January first? I'm from England and we do it where people born it September are the oldest ( the same time our school years start)
@@queenbean7071 Weird, I'm in the U.S and September people are also the oldest because we start school in late August (I am a September person and I'm one of the oldest in my grade)
In america its when the school years starts is what grade you are in if you’re march (up to august) then you’re say 1st grade(random year), but if your born after the next school year starts (september usually) then you would be in kindergarten
I have always noticed the subtle advantages I have from being born in January. Getting your driver’s license early is nice. Just maturing a bit earlier also changes your success in school. I think it would be wise to attempt to have your kid born within the first three months.
It's the opposite in my state since the cut off is September 1. I was born in October and yeah, I got my permit first. My license. I was able to get a parking spot in my junior year since I was gonna turn 17 and had a car and a license... I also got to sign myself out early in my senior year because I was 18 within two months of school, but I HATED being older than everyone in elementary and middle school because I grew up as the eldest in my family (had an older sister, she didn't live with me) and I was also bullied for developing early before all the other girls because I was 10 and most of them were still 9. Comes in handy in high school tho!
I'm born in December, my friends calls me the most mature in the group. I've gotten number 1 in class twice in a row when I was in high school and elementary. And I'm also the first to get a driver's licence in my friend group. What is this sorcery 😂 It turns out every people is different after all
im from Spain, and being born after summer actually has a social effect too, for example all of my friends were clubbing in the summer after senior year but I wasn't still 18 so I had to wait till my birthday in halloween, not only that, I was 17 when I began college. However being younger made me more competitive and I mature before normal. It's crazy how almost all of my friends are born in October-november like me, because my January friends that are my age are actually almost 1 year older than me. And that difference must be even more crazy for the people born in December.
it's true. My friend born in December lives one year ahead of me just because he is one month older. While I was still in the high school he was already full time employed and when we entered the college together it was very easy to him to find summer jobs in great companies, because he already had experience.
I found this interesting tidbit in the Discussion section of the dutch research paper: "Third, in the subgroup of adolescents who had repeated a grade (16.9%), inverse relative-age effects were observed; the relatively young were thinner (weight and BMI), had higher school marks, and reported less depressive symptoms than their relatively older peers." This implies that older students get unhappy when repeating a grade, possibly because the now too large age gaps makes them fit in less well despite being older (purely hypothetically). Regarding the fact that younger students score relatively worse than the older group: it would be interesting to see research about what happens to school results specifically when everyone starts a year older. The gap later in life would probably become much smaller because of the "Matthew" effect, although it would still be there. Btw it would be nice if you put the sources in the description as well. It's nice (and required imnsho) that they're there in the video, but makes it hard to find a specific one after having finished the vid.
Interesting findings. The list of sources is too big to fit in the description, that's why I put them on a separate website. It's the first link in the description, but you can also find it here: memeabledata.simple.ink/how-your-birth-month-impacts-your-success-feb6ad71635a45329fb0d7b03eaaf795
I have no idea what it's like in the US but here it's optional if parents let their child start school at 5, 6 or 7 and sometimes they might even be 8yo. There are tests and children get a recommendation depending on their language skills. My birthday is in May and I started school when I just had turned 6 yo but others were already 7 yo and 8 yo but they weren't necessarily "better". Furthermore repeating a class is nothing negative and no sign of being a bad student. Some repeat a class for health reasons or because of bullying and some want to improve their grades and therefore they might choose to repeat a year. Repeating a year doesn't happen if you are a bad student. It's a request you can make. I repeated 10th grade and I went to the school branch for the better students. I did this in order to catch up better in the school that will prepare you for university. So there's that.
Were these changes recorded/noticed after the repetition of the grade? I can also see that a higher BMI as a result of a poor diet can affect cognitive abilities aswel as symptoms of depression can affect cognitive abilities. Can it not be that the grade repetition is a result of these factors rather than the causation of them? Correct me if I am wrong, it is just a thought I had.
I love being a December kid. It’s nice knowing that despite your comparative disadvantage, you still managed to succeed and exceed your peers. Really helps solidify the fact that you really are better than them. Edit: the academic year where I’m from starts jan 1. So the later in the year that you’re born in, the larger your “disadvantage”. Not that it really mattered tbh…..
As someone born in February (which is the second best month according to this data) I couldn't possibly say I have a lot or any of the attributes listed in this video. I know pretty successful people born late into the year and they seem to be doing just fine. The truth is to focus on bettering yourself. Don't worry the "data." It's true, not everything that happens in your life can be controlled by you... but what you can control is how you react to those circumstances, that's the test of character. Don't let some video demoralize you because you happen to be born in the fall of '04 or something
You are blind to what you have. You may not be that succesful despite being born in february, but that doesn't change the fact that you would have been less succesful if you were born in December. I of course agree with bettering oneself through your actions but my point still stands.
@@sontapaa11jokulainen94I kinda agree. We can't pretend that it doesn't have an impact. I was born in November 26th. I had better marks generally but i was always the shortest one. And when someone asked the youngest i always raised my hand because people born in December are more likely to wait another year before starting to school.
Well, I want to share my experience. I was born on November and went to school on age 5, where standart school age is 6. I was younger one on my class. Due to this, I was younger on my university too and eventually the place where I was worked. I got my first job as category assitant when I was 21 years old, where younger one besides me is 24 years old. At first, I was unhappy about it, but then after time passed and I got promoted I feel different. I'm currently 28 years old and work as Advisor to CEO. The young one on top position whefe older ones are under my position. Morale of history, success is not on the age, but in yourself. Little edit: I also got to work as outsource business consultant to other company and MBA teacher at university.
I had similar life story. Went to school at 5, finished uni early and became a Director at a top-tier consulting firm at the age of 26. Im proud of my success but I feel Im burning out more and more. My skills are great but my emotional maturity is just not there and Im constantly scared of people in the position of power because I am just afraid of older people. Oh yeah, and I was bullied as a kid. So its a mixed bag.
As someone born in December, I actually used to think that age might be a factor in why my peers were academically far better than me (even though I used to become 2nd in the class ranking). But also I believe it gave me more experience as I can observe patterns. So I was able to detect the mistakes of the people who were roughly older than me throughout the years which was beneficial for me in the long run. Anyways, thank you for supporting this narrative with studies, this is actually the 1st video I watched on your channel and I subbed because of it :)
thats great to hear! im born on december too and i enrolled for school fairly younger than other students, i became aware of this from the middle school, but i take it as an advantage as we can actually work more and get success at a younger age than they do!
Sir could you please elaborate on this "I was able to detect the mistakes of the people who were roughly older than me throughout the years" thank you.
It’s also your social life that plays a role. If you grew up having social anxiety and problems socialising where everyone around you will be judgemental af will affect your confidence too.
In Canada the school year begins in September, so the oldest children in any grade are those born in the autumn and the youngest are those born in the summer. I was one of those summer kids and was always one of the smaller boys in my class. My best friend was a year younger than me, or so I thought because he was a grade below me, until I realized he was only 5 months younger than me.
Also in canada, i am an october kid, but since because of some shenanigans (something something immigration) i am the youngest in the year. I talk to people that only are older than me, but i used to know people who were older than me and a grade below
I'm pretty sure the cutoff range is still jan. At least where I am. I was born dec 30th and started school when I was 3. I didnt know how to talk yet lol. By the time i was gr 1 i couldnt read yet either
In many US states, the education age year spans from September to August with an adjustment overlap between July to October to help combat this effect. Meaning kids born September 2023 to August 2024 will be in the same class, but some kids born from July to October being a grade below depending on their learning level.
As a December kid, it was beneficial for me, to compete with slightly olders. Sure, dealing with high levels of frustration is difficult at 6. But I had the chance to learn how to deal with failure way longer than my average classmates.
I was born in December and one of the oldest, my parents told me I was definitely ready for kindergarten but was born “late and was held back 🤦🏽♂️. I definitely would’ve done better If I was one of the youngest but oh well .
Lets say you wer not younger, you wer the oldest one in the class but you had a mental disability. Actually you life would be way worse as it is right now and you would never be the youngest one. Why do people believe youtubers just from what they say, do you know this guy is just a random stranger walking in ur street? Why don't you believe the random stranger that says you won 10.000 dollar you only have to give him your bank information?
This video does carry some truth. For most of my life I was always the youngest kid in my grade. I always felt behind, less mature, smaller and shorter. I went off to college and stayed an extra year because I changed majors. For the first time I was older than 99% my classmates (albeit a year difference). I had more success making friends, dating got easier, I felt like I was on par or ahead when compared to my peers. It ended up being my most successful and enjoyable year of schooling I ever had. It was clear that there was an advantage being on the older end of the same age group, by just being a few months older than my peers.
As a December born, I also changed majors and I was like the youngest in my first major. But I am older than most of them now and things just don’t work well here. I can’t get friends or a date.
True I was 16 when I graduated highschool, for my entire schoolhood I thought I was smaller, shorter and less intelligent, took a year's break before college, turned into 2, and now am 18.5 when I'm starting college, I am significantly good looking than others, since I'm now taller, I feel like an average of the class, and now I feel mature and smart aswell
Being born on December 15th has shaped my entire life. From the class that i've been asigned to in school, the handball team that i've been asigned to, the courses i enrolled in, everything was done with the older guys. It was sometimes a good thing, but often times a bad thing, forcing me to fit in with people that were not from my very own generation, as i felt it back then.
I was born in August, but went school one year earlier than others. So I was always the youngest boy in my class. Yes I did struggle with both sport and education. Nevertheless, I managed to outmatch almost all of them by the time. Being the youngest among your peers also means you can develop better than them.
How has that worked out for you after school? What job do you have now, how is life overall? I'm in the position of deciding this for the next generation.
@@jwonz2054 I can confirm his opinion. I'm end of november child and was put into school when i was 5 years old. With age 13 I outclassed basically everybody in the classroom by producing 11/13 marks being an A. Was very proud of myself and some teachers kept my down by literally saying: "You will never make it." They said it in college too and later in University. But underdog Milan age 34 is now Multimillionaire. (Finance, Investing). If you want your children to perform in something well later on, you need either to teach them on your own very early on or pay proper teachers to teach them. I'm coming from rather poor household. Nothing inherited. And if I say poor, then I mean it. Nobody in my family was middleclass. (mother = cleaner, father not there, but profession was low level farmer), so single-mother household!
I think one factor that might play into this is that since people born at the end of the year are generally used to be the youngest ones in their friend groups/classes they tend to be more childish since usually their older peers take on the more mature/responsible roles. If they then always stay in a similar position these roles become traits which stay over a long period of time if they aren’t changed. I say this from experience. I was born in January 2005 but at school I was in the 2004 year group so I was always used to be the youngest one or one of the youngest, always relying on my older classmates. Outside of school it was usually the same and even now I often find myself being the youngest one in social settings. And while I may be more mature than some people born in my year I’m still less mature or less responsible than people born in early 2005 as opposed to later in the year. Idk if it makes sense but in my head it does lol so yeah that’s what I’ve noticed for a long time now
I've had the opposite experience,I was born in 2004 and the majority of my classmates were born in 2003, I always tried to be as mature as everyone else even though I was only a few days older than the cutoff date.
For me it was actually the opposite. I was born in September 2004 but because my parents got to choose in which year I should enter elementary, I ended up entering school one year 'later' making me one of the oldest in my grade. Especially later on, I always noticed that my friend group in school always kind of relied on me or came to ask me for help whenever they had problems with something and I never really did the same, I mostly tried to figure stuff out on my own. I just thought it was because of my personality and because I just didn't like asking people for help and my friends simply werent like me in the regard, so your perspective is actually really interesting.
Strikers that were almost "missed stars", Lionel Messi (b. June 24) and David Beckham (b. May 2nd) both have mentioned their physical discrepancies, namely height compared to same age players when they were little, and not getting picked to play as often. Of course at some point hard work and talent took over and these 2 players skipped out on being "missed stars" and became world famous professional players, but the Relative Age Effect bias is prominent in sports.
I actually thought this would be just as much of a dominant effect. I jumped a grade early (in addition to being one of the youngest in my own year) and I feel like having a more demanding surrounding helped me, not socially but academically. I'm not surprised that some of the all time greats constantly had to play against taller and better players and became unbeatable because of it.
In places like Argentina a kid born July 1st 2004 would go to the same classroom as a kid born June 30th 2005, so the same study would show the inverse results.
I was born in late September and was always 1-grade ahead, which made my peers almost always 2 years older than me. Surprisingly, I was always among the smartest kids, not only academically but also in extra-curricular activities. The disadvantage was that I often got left out of fun activities because everyone saw me as their little sister and a kid compared to them, and it didn't help that I was small-framed.
For some reason,, september kids are just different that they’re so good at certain something. I knew someone,, i’m like 3 years older than him,, despite his short height, he’s always top 1 in sports,, septembers just excell at something when they invest their time in a certain hobby they want to do.
Its all relative. The school district I grew up in did not start classes until September 1st at the earliest which was used to determine cutoffs for grades. I was born in early september so I actually was usually the oldest in my class by a number of months with the exception of some kids in August or July whose parents decided to put them in our grade.
@@qeaqk11 There's a very real impact of being the oldest or youngest in a peer group. The trade offs appear to be short-term easy vs long-term skill set increases. All effects at level of ~0.2 std dev max.
I stumbled across your channel a couple months ago. Myself working in Data Science, i can acknowledge that your analytical and visual representation of data is incredible. There is no doubt in my mind that your channel will grow to be highly successful. Keep making incredible videos!
I was born in September in a country where the cutoff is September, but it played against me somewhat - I was sent to school a year earlier because I was just a few days “over the line” which meant that I was always 1-2 years younger than all my classmates. And although i actually ended up being one of the best students in class it came at a cost of getting completely burnt out by the end of it. I was also quite good at sports overall but worse off physically (never been naturally extremely strong or big, just average), so had to try harder, which of course mostly didn’t lead to much success when compared to my peers who had 1-2 years of advantage over me. This stuff really affects you when you’re a kid, so I would agree that there is definitely a big probability this could skew your chances at success later in life.
My birth month impacted my life more than most. When I was in preschool, there was a law/rule that kids had to be 6 years old to go into kindergarten, and the cutoff date was September 1st, so I, being born on September 19th was prohibited from going into kindergarten and had 3 years of preschool instead of 2. it also meant that among my peers I was the oldest, but only because I was held back a year, and it's me back in so many ways. because of that rule, I'll graduate high school a year later and enter the workforce a year later, and I wonder just how much that has hurt my future prospects, but now that I've learned this, maybe by making me among the oldest, it helped me.
Interesting video! In my experience, younger kids who born in winter (our cutoff date is December) have a relatively higher academic performance, but lower in physical activities. I guess the relative age effect could really make a impact on your life!
I noticed male athletes and male children are the primary example here, so I'm curious: how could this apply to female children? Mostly curious for my own reasons, I was born in February, but I still ended up being short af & dropping out of sports lol. Women in my family are often tall, but born in the later months, so it seems I got the opposite hand dealt. Would love to hear about studies on this subject that center around both sexes or just women.
The study mentioned at 2:50 includes both sexes and one of their conclusions is that the relative age effect is also present in female sports. But indeed, many of the sports studies I found were focused on male athletes
@@memeabledata Thanks for your reply! I didn't expect one, let alone such a quick one haha. Great video btw. I hadn't noticed that one focused on both before, my bad lol. I suppose with the topic it's not too surprising studies tend to lean one way, hopefully we get more studies addressing both in the future.
The more important things are self confidence amd hard work. If you even question yourself, there is a possible failure there. Just be yourself, do the best you can, try harder every time and everything else will come just fine.
I was born on March but started school at the age of 6 ( when everyone was 7 or 8), for my case I was very active kid and I wanted to go to school as soon as possible, and I would say that I was at the top of the class besides being the youngest, the only thing that affected me is the teachers that were trying to put me down because I was way younger than my classmates, actually people always will judge you if you are different so good for them, keep in mind that if they were happy they wouldn't want to spend a time by making you feel "wrong" , btw I don't know why I suddenly started to share this, just the think that some people put them down for curtain things make me sad, love yourself
I think it is based on many other factors such as personality and family etc. I was born in Dec and I skipped kindergarten to start primary school with my peers. Initially, it was tough to catch up but 2 years later I became 1st in the class and continue to do well and received scholarship for my high school. My peers tend to turn to me for advice although I was kinda youngest. Ppl said ive "old soul"... i think my personality and being the youngest siblings in my family helps a lot. I get to observe what others had to go through and improve from their experince.
We started at five for kindergarten, but there was no kindergarten for my brother who was 2.5 years older than me, they went straight into 1st grade at age six. I was always among the oldest in my class but it helped me very little, I was always small for my age till I was about 21. On the other hand I could read well before I was 5 and by the time I was in first grade was reading at a 9th grade level. Not with 100% comprehension, but higher than most kids in 9th grade and I was also able to find out what I did not understand. Then again I also have memories from before my first birthday.
The main way to fix this would probably be to cut each school “year” into 4-5 month semesters (like college). I have no idea if that’s a good idea overall, but it would address the age gap issue. Then each child in each grade would be within six months in age of everyone else. This would have a major effect on how we view age as we’d begin emphasizing those six month (half year) differences.
@@The_oli4 wouldn't, you can maintain the same teacher kids ratio, only places it could actually impact is very rural areas with few children/teachers and or non-ideal propotions of teachers/kids.
@@The_oli4 double the teachers and number of classes of one school (but not the number of teachers in general) and it wouldn't affect the size of the classes, since the schools would just increase the number of students allowed to subscribe.
This is the first time I’d heard of the Matthew Effect being applied to lifelong patterns of career achievement outside competitive sports. Excellent work, and so important!
A critical point was missed in the video. I was born in Russia on December 27, 2004, and started school when I was seven years old on September 1st. Due to my family's frequent moves, I attended five different schools and in each one, I was always the oldest student in the class, my classmates were all born in '05 and were much younger than me. And let me tell you, being surrounded by classmates who are younger and less intellectually developed can have a lasting impact on cognitive development and I believe that the potential for my intellectual development was limited because of it. It's not just about sports or grades - it's about the opportunities for growth that are lost when you're constantly ahead of the curve.
This is merely anecdotal, the Matthew effect and Pareto distribution are real, you just didn't take advantage of your position due to your frequent moving. Honor students usually get favored more by the teachers; they get to represent the school in competitions, they're encouraged to participate in extracurricular activities, they're given leadership positions, and so on. You probably didn't have enough time to build this kind of relationship with your school and teachers.
My son was born 1st Jan 2016 with mild autism, I can see the effect when he starts school earlier than his peers to join the 2015 cohort. He simply cannot measure up to the intellectual capabilities of his peers during the first year of school. However, due to the insane amount of time we the parents spend helping him play catch up during the first year, his second year now is considered normal and his results registered better than average. 😅
I always wondered about this as well! In my head I always thought that a baby born in Jan 1 would literally be almost a year compared to some who’s born in December it’s like a 11 month baby compared to a literal newborn the difference is even physical
I'm American, born in August, and have been homeschooled all my life. My parents decided that since mine and my siblings' birthdays are so close to the cutoff date (mine's a few weeks before), that they would put us in the grade below us. Since I was 11 when they decided that, they let me choose if I would do it or not and I chose to. Looking back, I'm in 11th grade now and it's one of the best decisions I've ever made. Most of my friends are in my grade or below, with a few being a few grades above me, and I get an extra year to work on high school stuff before college and make a hopefully smarter path in life.
I think it depends on the school system too. I was born in December but I was "older" than most of the kids, because I was born in the middle of the school year I had to wait, but then it made me older than the other kids by a few months. Like senior year I was the one of the first ones to turn 18, while kids born in the fall were barely turning 17 and then kids born in spring were turning 18. I turned 18 in the winter (among a few other winter born kids)
I am a December born but I started school way early,around the age of 2 and I also started playing the sports taekwondo when I was 7. I had both academic achievements and achievements in sports,not to mention how I used to be at the top of my class and in taekwondo could beat players taller than me. In the end I would like to say,your month of birth doesn't matter much,your genes,your hard work and your will to achieve something does.
Finally some common sense. Lol. Home environment, ( material stability ) parents' values, school system and all that you mentioned too matter way more than a birth month could possible ever. Its effects are simply nonexistent in the longrun, miniscule at best.
I was born in December,but for me personally I've never really had this problem. To be fair the other kids were more athletic then me,but once I started playing hockey I started gaining on them and now there's a relatively small difference. Because I personally believe that age doesn't matter in most situations, you just have to have the right mentality,analyze your situation and fix it. And getting people who are extremely competitive too,like my friend plays for the state team. And everyday I train with him. I know that if I'm able to start playing like him by practicing and learning and perfecting my technique...I'll be one of the best on the field. And academically, I'm a B+ to an A student. I'm just naturally gifted I guess,and have the advantage of having older siblings too
You are an (B to) A student and you don't believe that age matters despite being shown a lot of data that it does, because you have a simple anecdotal counterexample? Something like this is never meant to be true for every single person, it is about a general trend you can see when looking at the population overall.
@@Gabriel64468 I was just sharing my personal experience. And I wasn't disagreeing with the facts this video provides,because I know that age does play a role. I was just stating that if you actually work hard and dedicate yourself to actually improving in whatever it is your doing(for example sports). Then you can actually catch up to the guys older then you and perform at a similar level. Your also disregarding the fact that I mentioned training with people in high leagues and how I learned from them and can keep up with their performance. And mentioning how if people where to try and associate with people like that(with a high ranking or better performers then them). Then they can also learn something and improve.
I was born in November and Started kindergarten when I was 4 lol. I was pretty athletic and smart but I hated homework but I still got good test scores. My 4 brothers and 1 sister all started school a year later or got held back(one didnt graduate). They arent as tall or athletic as me. But one thing is, I was more quiet and shy and they were all more outgoing and had more friends. We all have about the same amount of success but I would say they were able to achieve it in a more extroverted way. Idk that could have a little to do with it too but yea everyone is different.
Good thoughts, but to be honest, separating based on ability, rather than age, can be even worse. I moved to the UK when I was 11 and in the beginning, my insufficient English disabled me from achieving top performance, except in math. In the UK, in secondary school, children are separated based on grade performance, in "sets" (yes, not total separation off performance, since it is only for a year group, but what I am about to say, I am sure will happen otherwise too), in the beginning, I used to be in the lower science and English sets. Most kids there either don't care at all, or are just really not good for whatever reason. In accordance with the "learning at own pace", the content taught by the teachers is also not simply easier, but directly behind the content of the higher sets (and when I say behind, I have heard that children aged 14 in the bottom sets, can learn the same things as children aged 12 in the top sets, can you can see how this effect would ripple through), this would not only keep you dumber, but the fact that you are with such peers, would also have a bad effect. Towards my last years, I managed to push for Bs/low As and get into the last places of the top sets. Being in the top sets, where all the kids are motivated and care about learning and the top content is taught, allowed me to start getting As left and right, without doing much, the whole environment just sets you up for success, just how before it would set you up for failure. Though I did manage to push through the sets, I do remember that when I was in the lower ones, everything seemed harder and more complex, since we were just taught less and you unconsciously engage less, since you are with others who don't care, no matter who you are, you end up at least partially indoctrinated into stupidity, it is what will happen if you are forced to spend 5 hours a day every day with people who don't care or are just naturally not as good.
Not to mention lower sets usually have people that just creates nuclear reactors then blow them up (metaphorically just making a mess) in the classroom then the teacher spends half the lesson sorting it out
I don’t think they don’t care, they’re taught that they’re no good so why bother. Teachers for lower sets are nearly always worse too lol Sets should be banned.
Personally sleaking, as someone who born in December, it has to do with competent mentality in order to be successful no matter in which month you born.
I was born just right before my school districts cutoff line, which means I was a baby compared to my peers in the same grade. I always noticed the effects as while my classmates had birthdays months before mine and had their birthdays before me that I was still a year younger than them which made me ineligible for the opportunities offered to us because I didn't meet the age of majority until after the school year starts which would make the opportunities invalid for me as I did not meet the age requirement so I was not able to do the same things as them. Even now, as a teen who is about to apply to college in the following months, I will not turn a adult until deep into my college term and will be consider a minor for official reports. My birthday is on 10/23 and the cutoff line is in the beginning of december, you can guess how that would affect kids born after the summer months as we did not turn 18 before than so we could not do the same internships, jobs, etc as the rest of our peers born in the early months and out affect us for the majority of our youths.
@@Entrejai not like that but in securing internships the years before college apps cause most you have to be 16 and my birthday falls after the internships
My school system has the option of purposely holding your kid back a grade so they start later, so we have quite a few people in my grade born in early 2004 and the youngest in my grade was born in late October 2005. So this age gap issue is worse in my school system. One of the people who was born in 2004 and is almost a full year older than me said she was ready to go to college since Sophomore year because High School was no longer a challenge for her. Actually, I stand corrected, the youngest in my grade was born in December 2005, but he skipped a grade.
When is the school year beginning in your country? In most countries in the Northern hemisphere, school years begin in September. Thus, the oldest children are those born in October, November and December.
@@PG-3462 In SEA at least where i’m from we used to go Jan(oldest)-Dec(Youngest) but like i’m sure this doesn’t apply to all schools, some schools do Sept(oldest)-Aug(youngest)
Something that I can resonate with in this video is the Underdog effect. I’m born on the later half of the year, July, and while I have the tendency to overthink things, I’ve (mostly) done well in class grade-wise. I can’t say I did the greatest the prior year due to my awful procrastination habits causing me to burn out at the end of the year, but I can definitely owe my personal success to my parents’ willingness to help me during my childhood (practicing 1-10 multiplication after dinner has been a lifesaver) and just being a curious person in general. I feel called out to high hell with one of my main hobbies being video games, but at least I got into sports at the start of high school.
I was born in December and started school a year early, making me the youngest student in every class. Despite this, I was always at the top of my classes until I finished high school. Instead of blaming my birth month, I am feeling excluded.
I personally got denied from going back to school because i was born 7 days before the cutoff date, that led to me missing out on regular education entirely and leaving me without a single official diploma
i am a January kid, and ive been always the youngest in my classes (i live in eastern europe) but i already could read and write when i went to first grade. i always thought this was an advantage, because i already had my bachelors degree at 21, also you can learn more usually surrounded with older people so i soaked up all the knowladge lol. my dad was also older and i learned a lot from him, wrote my first html code at 12, and now i have an awesome carrier in IT. so younger folks who are born later in the year according to this video dont worry, you can also benefit from it! :3
I was born in January. But one thing I've noticed that in India the new generation hit puberty faster than those who were born earlier. In my class, most of my classmates were younger than me but they were physically stronger compared to me, they are tall and masculine, I was a little skinny, but somehow their capacity to catching up any point or understanding the topics that were taught in school was a little lesser than me, not every single one of them but most were slow and one of my friend was a year younger than me but I also had a friend that was a year older than me in that same class.😶
I was born in September and I have definitely experienced during my school years and I can see the results of it now. In my school years I was never the best at sports and I play(ed) a lot of video games too. The underdog effect is equally as visible for me not in sports and physical activity, but in my professional and educational life. At this point in my life I'm in my early 20s and I'm often viewed as older as a result of the effort I put into getting smarter and more mature to fit in
I have a few problems with the month distribuition 1 - Like you mentioned, it is true to the northern hemisphere, though not applicable to the southern hemisphere due to the start of the school calendar year being at the beginning of the year and not around august. I was born in Feb 1997 and met plenty of other students in my classroom that were born late in 1996, thus being too young to join the prior class, meaning they actually got month of advantage compared to the majority of other students in the class. 2 - (Mostly related to the physical side) This does not account for differences such as some kids entering puberty at a slightly younger age than others nor their hormone levels, and of course genetics (height for example) 3 - (Mostly related to the intelectual development) There are findings showing a mild correlation between IQ and how long a kid was breastfed. The recomendation is for babies to be exclusively breastfed up until they're 6 months old. The study found out that kids who stopped being breastfed earlier than 3 months old had on average lower results on IQ tests. Even if IQ doesn't fully translate into intelectual development and academic performance, it shows that even things that might seem unrelated can have impacts on many aspects of life. Sure, one of the most important things to promote growth, both in physical and mental capabilities is stimuli, so the notion that a kid that would display a predisposition for a certain sport earlier would get the coach's attention and therefore develop more is correct. But basically what I'm saying is that the month distribution among athletes is merely observational. You can not deny the numbers, but unless you try to find correlations with other aspects that determine a success on that field, it feels like an incomplete, somewhat "empty" stat
He did address that, though. That the issue was not when you were born exactly, but when the cut-off date was for when you were considered to belong in one year or the other. So it's about your age relative to the cut off date, not simply relative to, say, New Years Eve.
I've also seen a lot of the kids that went on to college athletics were the kids that hit puberty at younger ages than most of the other kids. Then later on, many of the kids that were smaller and weaker end up being bigger and stronger in their 20s, but they had to move on from sports, so it's too late by then
5:00 Age cutoff in Brazil is June 30 th for school and december 31st for sports. Born in September, I was always one of the oldest in class and one of the youngest in the Volleyball/Handball teams. I was always one of the best in class, but not really good at sports and, although I was always a big kid for my age, the older kids seemed more mature and had better coordination. It's only a case, but it seems to fit this explanation
I was born at the end of December, and compared to my classmates born earlier, I always showed a high learning ability. As a result of some circumstances, I was able to learn the alphabet in 2 months, while others had done it in 8 months. I scored higher grades in class. I was only a little short in height in comparison to my peers, but that was all. So don't be discouraged that you were born later. You are just younger than them!!!!!
Where I live (America), the cutoff date for school is somewhere in the summer (I want to say early July). I never participated in sports, but I noticed the RAE in academics in my grade school group. Some of us were "discovered" in kindergarten and placed in an accelerated academic program starting in 1st grade. I noticed that the vast majority of kids in that group were born in the fall. In other words, they were the oldest kids from their grade, meaning they had an age/developmental advantage over the other kids in the same grade.
I was born in June and one of the youngest in my grade. Was in all the accelerated programs they offered and went on to graduate college the earliest at age 20 and was taller than my peers regardless of age. Genetics play a bigger factor.
@@projectdrawnup7625 I'm pretty sure that this video used some cherrypicked data, because no country I know of has a school year beginning in January. And in fact, when it's summer in the Northern hemisphere, it's winter in the Southern hemisphere. Thus, the actual date athletes are born shouldn't even have a correlation with the month of birth...
I've always been the youngest in the grade, and this is definitely true at the start of school. I was always the smallest and regularly on the bench for team sports, so i took up kickboxing (now do Muay Thai) I've had more success in individual sports and activities than group ones. Also an interesting thing to note.
What if lets say ur in 8th grade and ur born in 2008 and then the other people are born at 2009 but the start of the year wouldnt you technically be older then then when born late
@@thesquad827 yeah but sports don't work like that, in sports it doesn't matter what grade you're in, all that matters is what age you are and being younger it had it's drawbacks
Damn, this explains so much. The cut off was always 31st Sept for sports, I snuck in on the 25th. Being 13 and vsing people 14/15/16 years old was a huge problem for me. For starters I couldn't relate to them but I was also out-matched in terms of physical height and strength. When playing more casual stuff with people my own age, I absolutely decimated but when I hit the club / state leagues, I got rinsed. Perhaps I wasn't as good as I thought but I still had a huge age disadvantage.
As someone who was born in the end of the year, I’m a competitive swimmer and the people who are born earlier have an advantage because instead of competing with the age you are at the time, you compete with the age you are by the end of the year. So if you were born on December 30th and are 17 you get one day of competing at the age you actually are and on jan first you compete with 18 year olds while 17
I was held back a year in preschool and then later skipped a grade. I was way ahead of my peers in my younger years and I skipped a grade and became one of the youngest in my year instead of older. I absolutely struggled skipping the grade, but that mindset from being ahead continued and I just worked harder to catch up and pull ahead a bit even though I was younger. I wonder how I would have turned out had I not been held back!
Very well made video and I'm so glad i know this now. For a few months ive been theorising this myself, and I've been trying to explain my theory to my friends more recently, but now I know that it actually makes sense and is an actual phenomenon rather than just another dumb theory I came up with. Anyway, great video, and explained really clearly. Keep it up 👍
This is a good point. When I was in school (in the U.S.) my school’s cutoff was in December. I was born in November, and when I was in primary school, I was a bit behind a lot of my classmates and according to my teachers it was due to my “younger” age and therefore I was little behind in development. They told my parents not to worry about it because it was normal.
5:51 this study is dubious..surely january students skipping a grade doesn't mean they're smarter...they're just literally older. The study just measures age instead of academic performance, then correlates age with age
When I was a kid, my family moved from the west coast to the east coast, where the cutoff date for entering school was different, and I became one of the oldest kids in my class from there on out. My best friend in my grade was 13 months younger. I was insecure about it sometimes. But now I look back and feel grateful for the “extra” time I had to mature and live and home. Not to mention that I got a scholarship to Yale that will last until I’m almost 24!! Being “older” was a blessing in disguise. 🌸
I was born in July 2003 but all my classmates were born in 2002 because I went to school earlier. Still, my performance was assessed based on my skills and I’m grateful to my teachers that they did it to me
I was born in November, and you could clearly see the height gap. Those born in the first months of the year would grow, and then I would catch them in height some time later. This didn't affect me tho, since I was since a certain point always amongst the tallest. Concerning the cognitive gap, yeah, that's absolutely true. When I started school I wasn't even 3 years old (school starts in September), and honestly, I have been always a slow starter just to being amongst the best eventually, so when school started I barely talked (I don't remember it, my mother told me it), but after a few weeks I would not stop talking just because I simply learnt from the other kids who already talked. Same for writing and other skills, I always had the sensation that I was more foolish or clueless that many of my classmates, yet I would eventually show that I was actually pretty good at many things. Tbh, I think this only can be applied to the first years of growth and education, although there's no doubt that those born earlier might have a better confidence etc that can make them perform better for having those good memories and livings of themselves since school.
I don't think age affects cognitive ability. There are some babies that walk at 7-9 months and other babies that walk at 12-16 months. Babies that learn how to go to the potty at 18 months and there are kids aged 4 and 5 that still wear diapers. It affects physical development for sure but not cognitive. In my experience, the dumbest kids were those born in the early months but that is anecdotal evidence.
I feel like being born later in the year could also be an advantage though as well because you have adapted to playing against older kids so at the senior level you will be better off as you’ve already adapted to playing against bigger bodies.
Have you read the book "Outliers"? It was published in 2009 and presents a theory on success which suggests that external factors play a significant role in determining success, contrary to popular belief. The book contains many success stories and provides insights into the reasons behind them. It is a recommended read for anyone interested in understanding the complexities of success. Additionally, I would like to compliment your excellent animation and video content which helps to simplify and bring these theories to life.
really incredible information you put together with this video. few videos can impact change, but this might be one that pushes this conversation in years to come. I personally believe in Montessori Schooling with intergrade classes. It gives students the ability to be mentees first and mentors next. To normalize sharing information and normalize learning from peers. Mine had 1-3 4-5 and 6-8 classes. Really amazing system it is.
I was born in June my Brother is 18months older born in Jan. From my personal perspective as a 32 year old, there is a gap I cannot close. I am a video editor and fiction writer. I consistently use my brother as a "Bar" for my content, 75% of the time just having a lookover can improve my project. I consider us both of same IQ, intelligence, and creativity. His extra 18months is a growing advantage. It is interesting to put this in perspective in the context of this video. Great work!
In our country, the age cutoff is during December 31. I was born in November. Sports was never my league. BUT, The Underdog Effect played its role nicely, and I was the topper of my class throughout school life.
honestly looking at this data then looking not only at my life but my friends lives as well as when my parents were born it actually pieces the success of my family over all pretty clearly. it also explains why school early on was more difficult for me always felt like I was behind everyone.
Being born later in the year might have made school harder for you whatever the case was it's important to put all your disadvantages behind you and work on achieving your goals.
@Cesium oh I'm by no means lazy because of it, career wise I am leaps and bounds past just about any one I knew in high-school despite having issues early on plus life stuff. The only thing between you and success is your self if you live in the west.
As someone born on January 3rd, I'v always felt like this was a significant advantage in school compared to students born later in the year. Then again, I also have some friends who ended up graduating too and at the end of their school journey, they kind of had "an extra year" compared to me :D
I can tell you, being born in December, I must really be amazing since I still managed to outperform everyone else in my class from primary to high school. And very humble at that. Edit: I'm Portuguese too. You don't have a Portuguese accent in English... Honestly, you have a very Dutch/Flemish accent. It's tripping me.
5:43 AND I USE THE DUTCH AGE RAGULATION BUT SOMEHOW I AM THE FASTEST KID IN MY GRADE IF YOU WERE BORN IN JULY IN MY CASE OR LATER MONTHS ITS NOT TIME TO GIVE UP YOUU YES YYYOUUUU CAN DO THIIS! AND I SKIPPED A GRADE IN MATH SOOO DONT GIVE UP
Well, genetics play even bigger part. Some people enter and exit puberty much earlier than others and that affects it even more. If you have a younger siblings it's more likely to enter puberty earlier than them, because of the needs of taking more responsibility, which forces you to adapt and subconsciously triggers you to do so. It's the same as why people who are shorter/average height but are surrounded by taller people in their life and friend circle often have tall kids. (And I'm totally not saying that just because I'm 5'11 and all my friends are 6'4 - 6'7)
Most of my classmates are 1 year older than me. But I tend to still do well in school. As long as one works hard, I believe that small disadvantages like this will be left redundant.
well said, I'm november. This video encouraged me. It encouraged me to work twice as hard as them. To learn to work hard, to learn to sweat more, to learn to suffer more. And to learn to be better by hard work. I think being younger in your class or job is better. I hate that I am not the youngest in my class. I wish I was december 31st.
I wonder how this phenomenon translates to music. Based on the same cutoff (Dec 31), musicians born later in the year- but starting in the same school year as others- would hypothetically have more time to ingrain music and/or instrumental skills into their brain relative to their age. Since younger brains have an easier time learning new concepts, this would also give the edge to late-year students. I notice a similar effect in my local youth orchestra. I started playing my instrument in 6th grade and I am in the eternal 2nd chair while my peers in the 1st and principal chairs started in 5th-4th grade. And the 3rd chair player started in the second semester of their 6th grade year. I should probably look up some studies on this when I have time.
I played sunday league football as a kid and adolescent and this effect was quite noticeable because not only was I born in november but I played together with people being born a whole calendar year earlier in January making me practically 2 years younger. I was so much slower before puberty but I was lucky I had almost no competition in my position as a right back (only one guy born similarly late who was even slower lol). After puberty hit first at around 12 I at least became a lot faster but still had to compensate for my height.
I was born in September so I barely just made the cutoff for school. This resulted in me always being the youngest and smallest kid throughout school since I would always just turn the age that I should've already been. For example, in freshman year of highschool while everyone was already 14 turning 15, I was 13 turning 14 at the very beginning of when school started.
Age difference can mostly make an impact only in sports. In education, it could make a difference maybe until the 6th or 7thgrade and after that most children's mental growth and academic skills grow at the same rate.
i was born in December 29. i started school at the age of 5. well eventually i was outperforming nearly anyone. im not showing off. i never struggled to keep up with anyone. maybe thats why i am lazy guy now but i should say the only thing that i complained about is strength. at that age i wasnt rlly thinking about working out but now i am. so i think it all goes to 2 factors. Genetics and Hard Work as usual.
I've thought about this a lot. I was born in november and it's crazy to think some of my classmates were almost a year older than me :D I've personally never faced too many issues though, I was quite determined as a kid, but this makes me wonder if the age system should be changed in schools.
For my schools the cutoff is the oldest kids in September and youngest are in August. So I find that November kids are older than most. Maybe it's different for you?
I'd like to see further explanation on children who skip grades as they seem like a glaring outlier to this tidy model. There was a couple kids in our school who was born in summer months and skipped a grade, making them at least 2-3 years younger than the rest of us. Now in the adult world they are much farther ahead than others the same age as them.
(Sort of) grade skipper here. I couldn't help but think along similar lines while watching this. It's always been my view that children admit to school with wildly varying levels of development. I was born in November but consistently was a few years ahead in core academic subjects at school. This to me dwarfed any effect of the age diffference. I feel like the video is a bit too simple; assuming everyone develops at similar rates and that school is the only thing affecting their learning. In reality it's so noisy it would be hard to pin down the exact reasons, and the theory in video seems like a guess at best.
I was born in October and I live in the UK. If I was born 49 days earlier I would have finished school by now. Anyone born on or after September 1 2007 has to stay behind for an extra even if they're more mentally mature than those born in August.
Some corrections and remarks based on input from comments:
1. If you were born in the later months of the year that does NOT mean you can't be as successful as people born in the earlier months. It means that the relative age disadvantage you've had to face during your childhood might have made it harder to succeed in sports and school. There are plenty of elite athletes born in December (e.g Kylian Mbappé) and that didn't stop them.
2. A lot of comments are mentioning the book Outliers by Malcolm and asking why it was not mentioned in the video. Even though the Relative Age Effect was popularized by the book, the RAE has been studied since the 1960s. Most of the research for this video was based on scientific literature.
3. 03:24 - The label should spell '27% less', not '28% less'.
4. 04:55 - Contrary to what I mentioned, the school age cut-off in Portugal is actually September 16 (and not December 31) for most schools/students. In my school, it was Dec 31 for most students though.
5. 06:37 - "In Sports, children should be selected based on skill, not on size or strength". This was poorly phrased and not exactly true because: A) older kids are (on average) more skilled; B) body size matters in many sports. The message I tried to explain is that coaches should take into account that December children are 11 months behind January kids in growth. When they select an older child over a younger one, they should try to make sure the advantage is not only due to the age difference.
From my personnal experience in Portugal, there are still a lot of schools that still have 31st dec has the age-cutoff
Just subscribed.
I think you should support the data with numerous personalities which were born on both December and January!
In Portugal, the official cut-off date in public schools is September 15th. Those students born until December 31st of the same year may be accepted if the school still has places available
@@PauloSilva_pfs Thanks, I updated my comment! Silly mistake
Now I can blame all my personal failures on this. Thank you!
lol
People born later in year live longer, peaking in autumn (in Northern hemisphere).
@@SladkaPritomnost Life Expectancy isn't correlated to your Birth Month
@@SladkaPritomnost Not only is life expectancy not correlated to this, but the oldest persons in all age groups at school are those born in October, November and December, not in January as this video tells us. In fact, no country I know of has a school year beginning in January.
@@PG-3462 I would like to introduce you to Brazil, home to over 200 million people, and a country in which the school year tends to begin around February - March. As the video points out, cut off for age here is usually March 1st, March 31st or something around that, making march and april kids the oldest.
Don't know how to feel about being born in December now.
Same man
Gotta work harder than the January babies.
same
November here 😭
Same, on december 31 at that
The underdog hypothesis is also true. When young football players are scouted from poorer countries, I remember seeing stats that the youngest siblings and kids were usually indexed higher in ability/promise. From a lifetime of having to play against older kids and develop faster
I'm not an athlete, but when I played amateur soccer tournaments in Brazil, the coach always put me in the older categories, I loved the challenge and felt awesome playing against bigger and stronger opponents, that definitely motivated me (born in august and younger sibling, always played with/against my big bro)
It can also be that younger siblings and kids are likely to have more support from older siblings and kids in the form of learned experience or more stability in life so they end up performing better.
Lies again? Few Good Men UEFA SW
You see, as a younger sibling born in September both situations apply to me, I am a walking paradox 😎
In Korea, if you were born on December 31 at 11:59:59, you were one year old when born.
A second later, you turned two years old even though you have only been breathing for total of two seconds.
When you get to school, you will be a fraction of the size of the other kids and ruthlessly bullied.
Korea has the weirdest age counting system in the world.
The honorifics are based on the number of years you have been alive.
I hear they have changed it since I was a kid.
I was born in december but I started school one year late so I have always been one of the oldest people in class, and I can absolutely see the difference between the performance of the younger vs the older kids in class, even though we're only a few months apart
Same here and with my sibling too
same and i failed kindergarden bcs my parents just wanted to hold me back
I was born in July but started school a year early making me younger then everyone but often more than 12 months. Kinda goofy
While the idea might be true, the information used is false. The oldest persons in all age groups are always those born in October, November and December, as school year begins in September and in most countries, a child must reach 4 or 5 before the end of September, thus making people born in September the youngest.
I don't think there's any country where the school year begins in January.
Then, in sports, it generally works by age groups. Thus, no matter when you're born, you will always end up playing with children older than you at the beginning, and the younger than you in the next years.
The full effect of this is thus most likely negligible, and the first figure showing more athletes born in January is thus either cherrypicked data or related to another topic (because if you recall, the oldest child are those born in October, November and December)
it's the opposite for me, I'm the youngest in the class(but one of the smartest)
One thing perhaps quite unscientific I've noticed that this video never mentioned is that the festive seasons are between Sep-Jan and those typically lead to more unplanned parenthood. Instinct tells me not only January babies have more mentally developed brains than those in the same academic year group, they are more likely conceived in the more boring months of the year, which implies they are more likely the results of planned parenthood. Parents who plan their families are more likely to have better time management and budgetting skills, which is why they can most definitely afford children in the first place. Those skills and intelligence are passed onto their children through home education, observation and genetics, so they are more likely to be successful. Referring back to the bar chart at the beginning, those conceived during festive seasons do seem to have the lowest success. This is probably unscientific because I'm not a social scientist, but does anyone else share the same thought?
No, your critique does make sense. This is a topic with several distinctly important layers on top of each other, it is probably impossible to isolate just one variable
This is a great point. Those of us born in September were conceived in the weeks before Christmas. Lots of holiday cheer in the air.
Interesting speculation.
You’re fuckinf SPOT on man
Indeed I was born in December but I was college captain of my football team this whole video is just his assumptions it can be wrong or right
I live in the US and I was born in August. Our cutoff for grade levels is September 1 and so I was almost always the youngest in my classes. I was usually smaller than the rest of them and felt less developed mentally too. The only way I managed to keep up was by being better academically and trying harder to be better in the activities I did. Even now that I’ve graduated college and have a job, I still feel the impacts of being the youngest of my work groups
Same dude
I'm still in school but I was born sept. second (we moved across the us, and the cutoff dates were different), and am the youngest in my grade, though I have a friend who is born sept. first too.) When we moved, the school actually tested me to check if I should redo preschool, but instead I went on to kindergarten. I think it's probably best to be somewhere in the middle of the age group. (I'm top of the class at math and good at reading, which is likely why I wasn't made to repeat preschool, although my parents still fought hard to make sure I was allowed to move up) overall the age gap doesn't mean that much in my opinion, because I know a kid 8 days younger than me in the grade below, and a kid born sept. 11 in my grade that is 11 months older than me.
I really think at that point it’s more psychological than anything else. I skipped a grade, and while it was definitely very noticeable up until about 6th grade, I’ve never felt particularly inferior or less developed than them (besides social intelligence, which you learn with age). That is to say, I kept up pretty well and still do, being in college.
I thought i was alone. Im also an august kid and was bullied aswell.
I was born in august and went through the same thing
This problem can be easily minimized by separating the class by semester instead of year, so the difference between students would be a maximum of 6 months instead of almost 12, in fact we could divide most periods better if we divided them into periods with less months. , but 6 months is something easier to do and doesn't add much cost, and sports and university selections can be done more or less every 6 months too, this would improve mental, physical and financial health, reduce bullying, increase companionship in general population.
Not proud to be born in dec 12
@@drewkastelajara3812 i was born on dec 12 as well :)
Sounds smart. I understand most of that actually.
Nah, that's messed up! Plus creates more difference in their psyches
Birth rate increase, lack of school build, lack of money into education purposes,...etc bouta ruin this idea
i’m one of the youngest kids in my class, born just two weeks before the cut-off date. something i’ve always noticed is that a high portion of the people in advanced classes are those who are older. (10-11 months older than me). Many of my classmates could get drivers licenses, work, and vote before me, which impacted our social statuses differently.
but if you are younger in your grade like me, don’t despair! we have lots of life to live. i am taking a gap year before college and will enter college at a similar age that my classmates are entering now🤷♀️ which is also a privilege in my opinion
I did the same. Took 2 years actually since I was done with high school at 16.
@@tessynn2906 I’ll be done at 17 when finishing high school. December 2nd. Still smarter than a majority of the people in my grade and I don’t even try lmao. In highschool that is I think of myself as being dumb as sh** before hitting highschool. Senior year now and I’ve begun to realize how much dumber people that are older than me are.
I was graduate high school when I was 17 too and go straight to university.
Same I will graduate hs at 17. And then take a gap year and then go to college or university. ( December 18 born here. + youngest in the class)
@@BesttLuck Good luck! It's true; some people get dumb in high school because it can be hard lol
I think there is a lot to this. I was born in September, and all through school was always just about the youngest in my grade. Even in middle and high school, one year can make a difference in your physical development. This doesn't matter just for sports--guys are bigger and stronger, girls are more physically developed, which makes you more attractive to others as friends and as a romantic interest. I'm from the US and getting your driver's license a year earlier makes a difference in your independence and social life. My school years weren't bad, but now that I'm aware of this I do wonder how they'd have been different if I'd been born one month later (and therefore been one grade later in school).
Does america do school ages based on January first?
I'm from England and we do it where people born it September are the oldest ( the same time our school years start)
@@queenbean7071 january first in canada too. september as oldest is a wild concept and i didn't get it till i read your comment.
@@queenbean7071 Weird, I'm in the U.S and September people are also the oldest because we start school in late August (I am a September person and I'm one of the oldest in my grade)
In the UK our school year goes from Sept to Aug (oldest to youngest)
In america its when the school years starts is what grade you are in if you’re march (up to august) then you’re say 1st grade(random year), but if your born after the next school year starts (september usually) then you would be in kindergarten
"Life is fair"
Also life :
Who told you "life is fair"????
@@techwithlinh dhar mann said it was fair
@@XSillyGooberX "So you see... We're not just telling stories, we're ending lives."
No one says life is fair😂
life is sucks
I have always noticed the subtle advantages I have from being born in January. Getting your driver’s license early is nice. Just maturing a bit earlier also changes your success in school. I think it would be wise to attempt to have your kid born within the first three months.
True it has a lot of advantage
It's the opposite in my state since the cut off is September 1. I was born in October and yeah, I got my permit first. My license. I was able to get a parking spot in my junior year since I was gonna turn 17 and had a car and a license... I also got to sign myself out early in my senior year because I was 18 within two months of school, but I HATED being older than everyone in elementary and middle school because I grew up as the eldest in my family (had an older sister, she didn't live with me) and I was also bullied for developing early before all the other girls because I was 10 and most of them were still 9. Comes in handy in high school tho!
@@G0dspeed101society is... when you get bullied for things you're not in control of
I'm born in December, my friends calls me the most mature in the group. I've gotten number 1 in class twice in a row when I was in high school and elementary. And I'm also the first to get a driver's licence in my friend group. What is this sorcery 😂 It turns out every people is different after all
@@sbdreamey your grammar is crap, so I doubt that.
im from Spain, and being born after summer actually has a social effect too, for example all of my friends were clubbing in the summer after senior year but I wasn't still 18 so I had to wait till my birthday in halloween, not only that, I was 17 when I began college. However being younger made me more competitive and I mature before normal. It's crazy how almost all of my friends are born in October-november like me, because my January friends that are my age are actually almost 1 year older than me. And that difference must be even more crazy for the people born in December.
When’s your birthday? Mine is october 31!
Now how does that really affect you?
Means he cant chill with his friends lol?
@@Entrejai how doesn't it? Lmao
it's true. My friend born in December lives one year ahead of me just because he is one month older. While I was still in the high school he was already full time employed and when we entered the college together it was very easy to him to find summer jobs in great companies, because he already had experience.
I found this interesting tidbit in the Discussion section of the dutch research paper: "Third, in the subgroup of adolescents who had repeated a grade (16.9%), inverse relative-age effects were observed; the relatively young were thinner (weight and BMI), had higher school marks, and reported less depressive symptoms than their relatively older peers."
This implies that older students get unhappy when repeating a grade, possibly because the now too large age gaps makes them fit in less well despite being older (purely hypothetically).
Regarding the fact that younger students score relatively worse than the older group: it would be interesting to see research about what happens to school results specifically when everyone starts a year older. The gap later in life would probably become much smaller because of the "Matthew" effect, although it would still be there.
Btw it would be nice if you put the sources in the description as well. It's nice (and required imnsho) that they're there in the video, but makes it hard to find a specific one after having finished the vid.
Interesting findings.
The list of sources is too big to fit in the description, that's why I put them on a separate website. It's the first link in the description, but you can also find it here: memeabledata.simple.ink/how-your-birth-month-impacts-your-success-feb6ad71635a45329fb0d7b03eaaf795
I have no idea what it's like in the US but here it's optional if parents let their child start school at 5, 6 or 7 and sometimes they might even be 8yo. There are tests and children get a recommendation depending on their language skills. My birthday is in May and I started school when I just had turned 6 yo but others were already 7 yo and 8 yo but they weren't necessarily "better". Furthermore repeating a class is nothing negative and no sign of being a bad student. Some repeat a class for health reasons or because of bullying and some want to improve their grades and therefore they might choose to repeat a year. Repeating a year doesn't happen if you are a bad student. It's a request you can make. I repeated 10th grade and I went to the school branch for the better students. I did this in order to catch up better in the school that will prepare you for university. So there's that.
You are talking about repeating a grade. There will be psychological effects which are incomparable to just being born early in your school year.
Were these changes recorded/noticed after the repetition of the grade? I can also see that a higher BMI as a result of a poor diet can affect cognitive abilities aswel as symptoms of depression can affect cognitive abilities. Can it not be that the grade repetition is a result of these factors rather than the causation of them?
Correct me if I am wrong, it is just a thought I had.
this video is the stupidest theory@@memeabledata
Don't let this get to your head, Bill Gates was born on October 28.
U can't be more right these research are just garbage and limiter of your potential
Stan Lee was born in December 28th
@@MasterProgrammer423 the goat
Rasputin was born on 21 January.
Ishowspeed was born on 21 January.
I was born on 21 January.
@@EliasHaile-hi7exAnd anybody who disagrees is an opp 😤
I love being a December kid.
It’s nice knowing that despite your comparative disadvantage, you still managed to succeed and exceed your peers.
Really helps solidify the fact that you really are better than them.
Edit: the academic year where I’m from starts jan 1. So the later in the year that you’re born in, the larger your “disadvantage”. Not that it really mattered tbh…..
I second this (12/12😎)
We have more drive
Long live the Decembies
@@emmanuelesrael6480 we must take over the world and overthrow every government
we are just built different
As someone born in February (which is the second best month according to this data) I couldn't possibly say I have a lot or any of the attributes listed in this video. I know pretty successful people born late into the year and they seem to be doing just fine.
The truth is to focus on bettering yourself. Don't worry the "data." It's true, not everything that happens in your life can be controlled by you... but what you can control is how you react to those circumstances, that's the test of character.
Don't let some video demoralize you because you happen to be born in the fall of '04 or something
You are blind to what you have. You may not be that succesful despite being born in february, but that doesn't change the fact that you would have been less succesful if you were born in December. I of course agree with bettering oneself through your actions but my point still stands.
@@sontapaa11jokulainen94I kinda agree. We can't pretend that it doesn't have an impact. I was born in November 26th. I had better marks generally but i was always the shortest one. And when someone asked the youngest i always raised my hand because people born in December are more likely to wait another year before starting to school.
Yeah
Incredible video
Amazing indeed, checked it out after your post. Subscribed immediately. Groeten
Gurl- anyways
Does everyone Dutch person know how to make this soulless art style?
@@ClassyMonkey1212 This guy here is from Portugal
@@ClassyMonkey1212 Touche
Well, I want to share my experience. I was born on November and went to school on age 5, where standart school age is 6. I was younger one on my class. Due to this, I was younger on my university too and eventually the place where I was worked. I got my first job as category assitant when I was 21 years old, where younger one besides me is 24 years old. At first, I was unhappy about it, but then after time passed and I got promoted I feel different. I'm currently 28 years old and work as Advisor to CEO. The young one on top position whefe older ones are under my position. Morale of history, success is not on the age, but in yourself.
Little edit: I also got to work as outsource business consultant to other company and MBA teacher at university.
We share alot of common things
I had similar life story. Went to school at 5, finished uni early and became a Director at a top-tier consulting firm at the age of 26. Im proud of my success but I feel Im burning out more and more. My skills are great but my emotional maturity is just not there and Im constantly scared of people in the position of power because I am just afraid of older people. Oh yeah, and I was bullied as a kid. So its a mixed bag.
Based November Chad guy
At 28, you advise the CEO? How old is the CEO? 32?!😅
@@beetlebg3759 thank you, but being chad is not linked to your birth month, but your ideals.
As someone born in December, I actually used to think that age might be a factor in why my peers were academically far better than me (even though I used to become 2nd in the class ranking). But also I believe it gave me more experience as I can observe patterns. So I was able to detect the mistakes of the people who were roughly older than me throughout the years which was beneficial for me in the long run.
Anyways, thank you for supporting this narrative with studies, this is actually the 1st video I watched on your channel and I subbed because of it :)
thats great to hear! im born on december too and i enrolled for school fairly younger than other students, i became aware of this from the middle school, but i take it as an advantage as we can actually work more and get success at a younger age than they do!
Hii, I am in 10th Class(Country: India) and I am also younger in my class... Should I worry or not! And can you please tel me solutions 🥺🙏
But cutoff is September? December-borns are some of the oldest. August are the youngest
Sir could you please elaborate on this "I was able to detect the mistakes of the people who were roughly older than me throughout the years" thank you.
@@w1z4rd9 this means he could see his older friends doing mistakes... And then he didn't repeated their mistakes at that age...
It’s also your social life that plays a role. If you grew up having social anxiety and problems socialising where everyone around you will be judgemental af will affect your confidence too.
As someone who was born later in the year and has the issues you describe, I can attest to this.
In Canada the school year begins in September, so the oldest children in any grade are those born in the autumn and the youngest are those born in the summer. I was one of those summer kids and was always one of the smaller boys in my class. My best friend was a year younger than me, or so I thought because he was a grade below me, until I realized he was only 5 months younger than me.
Also in canada, i am an october kid, but since because of some shenanigans (something something immigration) i am the youngest in the year. I talk to people that only are older than me, but i used to know people who were older than me and a grade below
Same in the UK. Maybe that's something shared in the commonwealth? I'm not sure
I'm pretty sure the cutoff range is still jan. At least where I am. I was born dec 30th and started school when I was 3. I didnt know how to talk yet lol. By the time i was gr 1 i couldnt read yet either
Like this in the UK too, I was born December 30th so I’ve always been one of the oldest or the first to get my birthday cause we start in September
@Shanel laugha in 13th September
Had a friend born on the 10th and for those 3 days I called him every synonym for old person I could think of
In many US states, the education age year spans from September to August with an adjustment overlap between July to October to help combat this effect. Meaning kids born September 2023 to August 2024 will be in the same class, but some kids born from July to October being a grade below depending on their learning level.
may you elaborate? the gap is still one year
@@FalbaulturThe gap is still one year, but it's not the December people with disadvantages, but the August people.
As a December kid, it was beneficial for me, to compete with slightly olders. Sure, dealing with high levels of frustration is difficult at 6. But I had the chance to learn how to deal with failure way longer than my average classmates.
Aren't December kids old? For my schools the oldest are born in September and youngest are in August. So December is somewhat old.
@@NotGord I learned from the comments, that it differs from country to country. In the country I went to school, December kids were the youngest.
I had the same issue, but I was august, the cut off for Uk, and it was hard at four when school started.
I was born in December and one of the oldest, my parents told me I was definitely ready for kindergarten but was born “late and was held back 🤦🏽♂️. I definitely would’ve done better If I was one of the youngest but oh well .
Lets say you wer not younger, you wer the oldest one in the class but you had a mental disability.
Actually you life would be way worse as it is right now and you would never be the youngest one.
Why do people believe youtubers just from what they say, do you know this guy is just a random stranger walking in ur street?
Why don't you believe the random stranger that says you won 10.000 dollar you only have to give him your bank information?
This video does carry some truth. For most of my life I was always the youngest kid in my grade. I always felt behind, less mature, smaller and shorter.
I went off to college and stayed an extra year because I changed majors. For the first time I was older than 99% my classmates (albeit a year difference). I had more success making friends, dating got easier, I felt like I was on par or ahead when compared to my peers. It ended up being my most successful and enjoyable year of schooling I ever had.
It was clear that there was an advantage being on the older end of the same age group, by just being a few months older than my peers.
As a December born, I also changed majors and I was like the youngest in my first major. But I am older than most of them now and things just don’t work well here. I can’t get friends or a date.
True I was 16 when I graduated highschool, for my entire schoolhood I thought I was smaller, shorter and less intelligent, took a year's break before college, turned into 2, and now am 18.5 when I'm starting college, I am significantly good looking than others, since I'm now taller, I feel like an average of the class, and now I feel mature and smart aswell
I am born in july and skipped one year in school. 1.5 years is something you really feel and notice. I relate to everything you said.
The stats are actually insane, I thought that was a thing but not to that extend, really cool video
Being born on December 15th has shaped my entire life. From the class that i've been asigned to in school, the handball team that i've been asigned to, the courses i enrolled in, everything was done with the older guys. It was sometimes a good thing, but often times a bad thing, forcing me to fit in with people that were not from my very own generation, as i felt it back then.
I was born in August, but went school one year earlier than others. So I was always the youngest boy in my class. Yes I did struggle with both sport and education. Nevertheless, I managed to outmatch almost all of them by the time. Being the youngest among your peers also means you can develop better than them.
How has that worked out for you after school? What job do you have now, how is life overall? I'm in the position of deciding this for the next generation.
Same here
@@jwonz2054 I can confirm his opinion. I'm end of november child and was put into school when i was 5 years old. With age 13 I outclassed basically everybody in the classroom by producing 11/13 marks being an A.
Was very proud of myself and some teachers kept my down by literally saying: "You will never make it."
They said it in college too and later in University.
But underdog Milan age 34 is now Multimillionaire. (Finance, Investing).
If you want your children to perform in something well later on, you need either to teach them on your own very early on or pay proper teachers to teach them. I'm coming from rather poor household. Nothing inherited. And if I say poor, then I mean it. Nobody in my family was middleclass. (mother = cleaner, father not there, but profession was low level farmer), so single-mother household!
Same, love to my august babies! Leo gang 🦁 ♌️ Aug 16! 😤💪
August 19 here
Best month in the year 😎💪
I think one factor that might play into this is that since people born at the end of the year are generally used to be the youngest ones in their friend groups/classes they tend to be more childish since usually their older peers take on the more mature/responsible roles. If they then always stay in a similar position these roles become traits which stay over a long period of time if they aren’t changed. I say this from experience. I was born in January 2005 but at school I was in the 2004 year group so I was always used to be the youngest one or one of the youngest, always relying on my older classmates. Outside of school it was usually the same and even now I often find myself being the youngest one in social settings. And while I may be more mature than some people born in my year I’m still less mature or less responsible than people born in early 2005 as opposed to later in the year. Idk if it makes sense but in my head it does lol so yeah that’s what I’ve noticed for a long time now
I've had the opposite experience,I was born in 2004 and the majority of my classmates were born in 2003, I always tried to be as mature as everyone else even though I was only a few days older than the cutoff date.
@@philipplyanguzov9090 I agree, you have to level to the same stage. Id say you even become more mature due to that
@@philipplyanguzov9090wouldn’t that make you younger than most in your grade?
I am indeed more childish and i am from november
For me it was actually the opposite. I was born in September 2004 but because my parents got to choose in which year I should enter elementary, I ended up entering school one year 'later' making me one of the oldest in my grade. Especially later on, I always noticed that my friend group in school always kind of relied on me or came to ask me for help whenever they had problems with something and I never really did the same, I mostly tried to figure stuff out on my own. I just thought it was because of my personality and because I just didn't like asking people for help and my friends simply werent like me in the regard, so your perspective is actually really interesting.
Strikers that were almost "missed stars", Lionel Messi (b. June 24) and David Beckham (b. May 2nd) both have mentioned their physical discrepancies, namely height compared to same age players when they were little, and not getting picked to play as often. Of course at some point hard work and talent took over and these 2 players skipped out on being "missed stars" and became world famous professional players, but the Relative Age Effect bias is prominent in sports.
I was born June 30th and I'm small as Messi
I actually thought this would be just as much of a dominant effect.
I jumped a grade early (in addition to being one of the youngest in my own year) and I feel like having a more demanding surrounding helped me, not socially but academically.
I'm not surprised that some of the all time greats constantly had to play against taller and better players and became unbeatable because of it.
Messi took HGH tho
Modrić (Sep 9th) is also often mentioned to have been thought of as "too small and too week" almost everywhere he played
In places like Argentina a kid born July 1st 2004 would go to the same classroom as a kid born June 30th 2005, so the same study would show the inverse results.
I was born in late September and was always 1-grade ahead, which made my peers almost always 2 years older than me. Surprisingly, I was always among the smartest kids, not only academically but also in extra-curricular activities. The disadvantage was that I often got left out of fun activities because everyone saw me as their little sister and a kid compared to them, and it didn't help that I was small-framed.
For some reason,, september kids are just different that they’re so good at certain something. I knew someone,, i’m like 3 years older than him,, despite his short height, he’s always top 1 in sports,, septembers just excell at something when they invest their time in a certain hobby they want to do.
Do you wish you would have in a later class or would you place yourself in the same situation again?
Its all relative. The school district I grew up in did not start classes until September 1st at the earliest which was used to determine cutoffs for grades. I was born in early september so I actually was usually the oldest in my class by a number of months with the exception of some kids in August or July whose parents decided to put them in our grade.
@@qeaqk11 There's a very real impact of being the oldest or youngest in a peer group. The trade offs appear to be short-term easy vs long-term skill set increases. All effects at level of ~0.2 std dev max.
confusing as I am in UK and if you are born 31st August you are school year below 1 september birthday, so this video doesn't make sense for me
I stumbled across your channel a couple months ago. Myself working in Data Science, i can acknowledge that your analytical and visual representation of data is incredible. There is no doubt in my mind that your channel will grow to be highly successful. Keep making incredible videos!
I was born in September in a country where the cutoff is September, but it played against me somewhat - I was sent to school a year earlier because I was just a few days “over the line” which meant that I was always 1-2 years younger than all my classmates. And although i actually ended up being one of the best students in class it came at a cost of getting completely burnt out by the end of it. I was also quite good at sports overall but worse off physically (never been naturally extremely strong or big, just average), so had to try harder, which of course mostly didn’t lead to much success when compared to my peers who had 1-2 years of advantage over me. This stuff really affects you when you’re a kid, so I would agree that there is definitely a big probability this could skew your chances at success later in life.
your life just decided to be carelessly destroyed from the start.
@@discreetbiscuit237if their “life was destroyed” they wouldn’t be commenting.
My birth month impacted my life more than most. When I was in preschool, there was a law/rule that kids had to be 6 years old to go into kindergarten, and the cutoff date was September 1st, so I, being born on September 19th was prohibited from going into kindergarten and had 3 years of preschool instead of 2. it also meant that among my peers I was the oldest, but only because I was held back a year, and it's me back in so many ways. because of that rule, I'll graduate high school a year later and enter the workforce a year later, and I wonder just how much that has hurt my future prospects, but now that I've learned this, maybe by making me among the oldest, it helped me.
What a gem of a channel to find. Keep it up
Interesting video! In my experience, younger kids who born in winter (our cutoff date is December) have a relatively higher academic performance, but lower in physical activities. I guess the relative age effect could really make a impact on your life!
I noticed male athletes and male children are the primary example here, so I'm curious: how could this apply to female children? Mostly curious for my own reasons, I was born in February, but I still ended up being short af & dropping out of sports lol. Women in my family are often tall, but born in the later months, so it seems I got the opposite hand dealt. Would love to hear about studies on this subject that center around both sexes or just women.
The study mentioned at 2:50 includes both sexes and one of their conclusions is that the relative age effect is also present in female sports.
But indeed, many of the sports studies I found were focused on male athletes
@@memeabledata Thanks for your reply! I didn't expect one, let alone such a quick one haha. Great video btw. I hadn't noticed that one focused on both before, my bad lol. I suppose with the topic it's not too surprising studies tend to lean one way, hopefully we get more studies addressing both in the future.
The more important things are self confidence amd hard work. If you even question yourself, there is a possible failure there. Just be yourself, do the best you can, try harder every time and everything else will come just fine.
Women r just busy doing eachother
i just left a comment w my own story being a woman and a year younger than some of my classmates. it’s def noticeable
This study makes sense for sports and physical activities, but not for intelligence and intelectual work.
I was born on March but started school at the age of 6 ( when everyone was 7 or 8), for my case I was very active kid and I wanted to go to school as soon as possible, and I would say that I was at the top of the class besides being the youngest, the only thing that affected me is the teachers that were trying to put me down because I was way younger than my classmates, actually people always will judge you if you are different so good for them, keep in mind that if they were happy they wouldn't want to spend a time by making you feel "wrong" , btw I don't know why I suddenly started to share this, just the think that some people put them down for curtain things make me sad, love yourself
Yeah thats true i started school at 5 and was way smarter than my classmates
I think it is based on many other factors such as personality and family etc. I was born in Dec and I skipped kindergarten to start primary school with my peers. Initially, it was tough to catch up but 2 years later I became 1st in the class and continue to do well and received scholarship for my high school. My peers tend to turn to me for advice although I was kinda youngest. Ppl said ive "old soul"... i think my personality and being the youngest siblings in my family helps a lot. I get to observe what others had to go through and improve from their experince.
We started at five for kindergarten, but there was no kindergarten for my brother who was 2.5 years older than me, they went straight into 1st grade at age six.
I was always among the oldest in my class but it helped me very little, I was always small for my age till I was about 21. On the other hand I could read well before I was 5 and by the time I was in first grade was reading at a 9th grade level. Not with 100% comprehension, but higher than most kids in 9th grade and I was also able to find out what I did not understand. Then again I also have memories from before my first birthday.
similar story for me
You're a statistical outlier, doesn't prove anything.
The main way to fix this would probably be to cut each school “year” into 4-5 month semesters (like college). I have no idea if that’s a good idea overall, but it would address the age gap issue. Then each child in each grade would be within six months in age of everyone else. This would have a major effect on how we view age as we’d begin emphasizing those six month (half year) differences.
Wouldn't this basically mean double the teachers and half the class sizes tho?
@@The_oli4 wouldn't, you can maintain the same teacher kids ratio, only places it could actually impact is very rural areas with few children/teachers and or non-ideal propotions of teachers/kids.
@@The_oli4 double the teachers and number of classes of one school (but not the number of teachers in general) and it wouldn't affect the size of the classes, since the schools would just increase the number of students allowed to subscribe.
How much kid is to much kid
When I was in 10 th standard there where 60 students 😅
The fact that the two most rapid-growing ppl in the maternal side of my family are me (4/2/2014) and my little cousin (5/3/2020) is crazy
This is the first time I’d heard of the Matthew Effect being applied to lifelong patterns of career achievement outside competitive sports. Excellent work, and so important!
A critical point was missed in the video. I was born in Russia on December 27, 2004, and started school when I was seven years old on September 1st. Due to my family's frequent moves, I attended five different schools and in each one, I was always the oldest student in the class, my classmates were all born in '05 and were much younger than me. And let me tell you, being surrounded by classmates who are younger and less intellectually developed can have a lasting impact on cognitive development and I believe that the potential for my intellectual development was limited because of it. It's not just about sports or grades - it's about the opportunities for growth that are lost when you're constantly ahead of the curve.
This is merely anecdotal, the Matthew effect and Pareto distribution are real, you just didn't take advantage of your position due to your frequent moving. Honor students usually get favored more by the teachers; they get to represent the school in competitions, they're encouraged to participate in extracurricular activities, they're given leadership positions, and so on. You probably didn't have enough time to build this kind of relationship with your school and teachers.
Я заметил это у нас очень популярно, поздних детей отдают в школу в 7 а не в 6. Меня тоже в свое время отдали в 7 лет в первый класс.
@@ElzariusUnity
Так ведь наоборот, всех отдают в 7 лет, а в 6 идут лишь единицы? Может это со временем поменялось что-то
My son was born 1st Jan 2016 with mild autism, I can see the effect when he starts school earlier than his peers to join the 2015 cohort. He simply cannot measure up to the intellectual capabilities of his peers during the first year of school. However, due to the insane amount of time we the parents spend helping him play catch up during the first year, his second year now is considered normal and his results registered better than average. 😅
Asian parent: YoUrE a FaiLuRe
Child: No, you just birthed me in December
I always wondered about this as well! In my head I always thought that a baby born in Jan 1 would literally be almost a year compared to some who’s born in December it’s like a 11 month baby compared to a literal newborn the difference is even physical
I'm American, born in August, and have been homeschooled all my life. My parents decided that since mine and my siblings' birthdays are so close to the cutoff date (mine's a few weeks before), that they would put us in the grade below us. Since I was 11 when they decided that, they let me choose if I would do it or not and I chose to. Looking back, I'm in 11th grade now and it's one of the best decisions I've ever made. Most of my friends are in my grade or below, with a few being a few grades above me, and I get an extra year to work on high school stuff before college and make a hopefully smarter path in life.
Sounds like birthday racism 💀
I think it depends on the school system too. I was born in December but I was "older" than most of the kids, because I was born in the middle of the school year I had to wait, but then it made me older than the other kids by a few months. Like senior year I was the one of the first ones to turn 18, while kids born in the fall were barely turning 17 and then kids born in spring were turning 18. I turned 18 in the winter (among a few other winter born kids)
Same.
This explains so much about my school life. I feel like i finally found a puzzle piece i’ve been missing my entire life.
I am a December born but I started school way early,around the age of 2 and I also started playing the sports taekwondo when I was 7. I had both academic achievements and achievements in sports,not to mention how I used to be at the top of my class and in taekwondo could beat players taller than me. In the end I would like to say,your month of birth doesn't matter much,your genes,your hard work and your will to achieve something does.
Finally some common sense. Lol. Home environment, ( material stability ) parents' values, school system and all that you mentioned too matter way more than a birth month could possible ever. Its effects are simply nonexistent in the longrun, miniscule at best.
exactly
@@january1012 true
💯💯💯
Same with me, i started at 2 nd half year old
I was born in December,but for me personally I've never really had this problem. To be fair the other kids were more athletic then me,but once I started playing hockey I started gaining on them and now there's a relatively small difference. Because I personally believe that age doesn't matter in most situations, you just have to have the right mentality,analyze your situation and fix it. And getting people who are extremely competitive too,like my friend plays for the state team. And everyday I train with him. I know that if I'm able to start playing like him by practicing and learning and perfecting my technique...I'll be one of the best on the field. And academically, I'm a B+ to an A student. I'm just naturally gifted I guess,and have the advantage of having older siblings too
You are an (B to) A student and you don't believe that age matters despite being shown a lot of data that it does, because you have a simple anecdotal counterexample?
Something like this is never meant to be true for every single person, it is about a general trend you can see when looking at the population overall.
@@Gabriel64468 I was just sharing my personal experience. And I wasn't disagreeing with the facts this video provides,because I know that age does play a role. I was just stating that if you actually work hard and dedicate yourself to actually improving in whatever it is your doing(for example sports). Then you can actually catch up to the guys older then you and perform at a similar level.
Your also disregarding the fact that I mentioned training with people in high leagues and how I learned from them and can keep up with their performance. And mentioning how if people where to try and associate with people like that(with a high ranking or better performers then them). Then they can also learn something and improve.
@@Gabriel64468 also thank you for correcting me there (B+ to A)
I was born in November and Started kindergarten when I was 4 lol. I was pretty athletic and smart but I hated homework but I still got good test scores. My 4 brothers and 1 sister all started school a year later or got held back(one didnt graduate). They arent as tall or athletic as me. But one thing is, I was more quiet and shy and they were all more outgoing and had more friends. We all have about the same amount of success but I would say they were able to achieve it in a more extroverted way. Idk that could have a little to do with it too but yea everyone is different.
Good thoughts, but to be honest, separating based on ability, rather than age, can be even worse. I moved to the UK when I was 11 and in the beginning, my insufficient English disabled me from achieving top performance, except in math.
In the UK, in secondary school, children are separated based on grade performance, in "sets" (yes, not total separation off performance, since it is only for a year group, but what I am about to say, I am sure will happen otherwise too), in the beginning, I used to be in the lower science and English sets. Most kids there either don't care at all, or are just really not good for whatever reason. In accordance with the "learning at own pace", the content taught by the teachers is also not simply easier, but directly behind the content of the higher sets (and when I say behind, I have heard that children aged 14 in the bottom sets, can learn the same things as children aged 12 in the top sets, can you can see how this effect would ripple through), this would not only keep you dumber, but the fact that you are with such peers, would also have a bad effect.
Towards my last years, I managed to push for Bs/low As and get into the last places of the top sets. Being in the top sets, where all the kids are motivated and care about learning and the top content is taught, allowed me to start getting As left and right, without doing much, the whole environment just sets you up for success, just how before it would set you up for failure.
Though I did manage to push through the sets, I do remember that when I was in the lower ones, everything seemed harder and more complex, since we were just taught less and you unconsciously engage less, since you are with others who don't care, no matter who you are, you end up at least partially indoctrinated into stupidity, it is what will happen if you are forced to spend 5 hours a day every day with people who don't care or are just naturally not as good.
Not to mention lower sets usually have people that just creates nuclear reactors then blow them up (metaphorically just making a mess) in the classroom then the teacher spends half the lesson sorting it out
I don’t think they don’t care, they’re taught that they’re no good so why bother. Teachers for lower sets are nearly always worse too lol Sets should be banned.
Personally sleaking, as someone who born in December, it has to do with competent mentality in order to be successful no matter in which month you born.
I was born just right before my school districts cutoff line, which means I was a baby compared to my peers in the same grade. I always noticed the effects as while my classmates had birthdays months before mine and had their birthdays before me that I was still a year younger than them which made me ineligible for the opportunities offered to us because I didn't meet the age of majority until after the school year starts which would make the opportunities invalid for me as I did not meet the age requirement so I was not able to do the same things as them. Even now, as a teen who is about to apply to college in the following months, I will not turn a adult until deep into my college term and will be consider a minor for official reports.
My birthday is on 10/23 and the cutoff line is in the beginning of december, you can guess how that would affect kids born after the summer months as we did not turn 18 before than so we could not do the same internships, jobs, etc as the rest of our peers born in the early months and out affect us for the majority of our youths.
That doesn't mean that it affects you, you saying it like when you 13 and can't get a driving license because of your month.
No way man my birthday is on October 23rd too! :D
Though I never necessarily felt behind my peers because of that.
kind of same, my birthday is on 10/24
@@Entrejai not like that but in securing internships the years before college apps cause most you have to be 16 and my birthday falls after the internships
My school system has the option of purposely holding your kid back a grade so they start later, so we have quite a few people in my grade born in early 2004 and the youngest in my grade was born in late October 2005. So this age gap issue is worse in my school system. One of the people who was born in 2004 and is almost a full year older than me said she was ready to go to college since Sophomore year because High School was no longer a challenge for her.
Actually, I stand corrected, the youngest in my grade was born in December 2005, but he skipped a grade.
When is the school year beginning in your country? In most countries in the Northern hemisphere, school years begin in September. Thus, the oldest children are those born in October, November and December.
@@PG-3462 In SEA at least where i’m from we used to go Jan(oldest)-Dec(Youngest) but like i’m sure this doesn’t apply to all schools, some schools do Sept(oldest)-Aug(youngest)
@@TheRealJulianJJ What is SEA? You know, such abbreviations are not universal 😂
@@PG-3462Southeast Asia, quick Google search
Something that I can resonate with in this video is the Underdog effect. I’m born on the later half of the year, July, and while I have the tendency to overthink things, I’ve (mostly) done well in class grade-wise. I can’t say I did the greatest the prior year due to my awful procrastination habits causing me to burn out at the end of the year, but I can definitely owe my personal success to my parents’ willingness to help me during my childhood (practicing 1-10 multiplication after dinner has been a lifesaver) and just being a curious person in general. I feel called out to high hell with one of my main hobbies being video games, but at least I got into sports at the start of high school.
Living parallel lives you and I…
I was born in December and started school a year early, making me the youngest student in every class. Despite this, I was always at the top of my classes until I finished high school. Instead of blaming my birth month, I am feeling excluded.
I personally got denied from going back to school because i was born 7 days before the cutoff date, that led to me missing out on regular education entirely and leaving me without a single official diploma
i am a January kid, and ive been always the youngest in my classes (i live in eastern europe) but i already could read and write when i went to first grade. i always thought this was an advantage, because i already had my bachelors degree at 21, also you can learn more usually surrounded with older people so i soaked up all the knowladge lol. my dad was also older and i learned a lot from him, wrote my first html code at 12, and now i have an awesome carrier in IT. so younger folks who are born later in the year according to this video dont worry, you can also benefit from it! :3
I was born in January. But one thing I've noticed that in India the new generation hit puberty faster than those who were born earlier. In my class, most of my classmates were younger than me but they were physically stronger compared to me, they are tall and masculine, I was a little skinny, but somehow their capacity to catching up any point or understanding the topics that were taught in school was a little lesser than me, not every single one of them but most were slow and one of my friend was a year younger than me but I also had a friend that was a year older than me in that same class.😶
I was born in September and I have definitely experienced during my school years and I can see the results of it now. In my school years I was never the best at sports and I play(ed) a lot of video games too. The underdog effect is equally as visible for me not in sports and physical activity, but in my professional and educational life. At this point in my life I'm in my early 20s and I'm often viewed as older as a result of the effort I put into getting smarter and more mature to fit in
I have a few problems with the month distribuition
1 - Like you mentioned, it is true to the northern hemisphere, though not applicable to the southern hemisphere due to the start of the school calendar year being at the beginning of the year and not around august. I was born in Feb 1997 and met plenty of other students in my classroom that were born late in 1996, thus being too young to join the prior class, meaning they actually got month of advantage compared to the majority of other students in the class.
2 - (Mostly related to the physical side) This does not account for differences such as some kids entering puberty at a slightly younger age than others nor their hormone levels, and of course genetics (height for example)
3 - (Mostly related to the intelectual development) There are findings showing a mild correlation between IQ and how long a kid was breastfed. The recomendation is for babies to be exclusively breastfed up until they're 6 months old. The study found out that kids who stopped being breastfed earlier than 3 months old had on average lower results on IQ tests. Even if IQ doesn't fully translate into intelectual development and academic performance, it shows that even things that might seem unrelated can have impacts on many aspects of life.
Sure, one of the most important things to promote growth, both in physical and mental capabilities is stimuli, so the notion that a kid that would display a predisposition for a certain sport earlier would get the coach's attention and therefore develop more is correct.
But basically what I'm saying is that the month distribution among athletes is merely observational. You can not deny the numbers, but unless you try to find correlations with other aspects that determine a success on that field, it feels like an incomplete, somewhat "empty" stat
He did address that, though. That the issue was not when you were born exactly, but when the cut-off date was for when you were considered to belong in one year or the other. So it's about your age relative to the cut off date, not simply relative to, say, New Years Eve.
Awww, you're lucky. :(
I've also seen a lot of the kids that went on to college athletics were the kids that hit puberty at younger ages than most of the other kids. Then later on, many of the kids that were smaller and weaker end up being bigger and stronger in their 20s, but they had to move on from sports, so it's too late by then
5:00 Age cutoff in Brazil is June 30 th for school and december 31st for sports. Born in September, I was always one of the oldest in class and one of the youngest in the Volleyball/Handball teams.
I was always one of the best in class, but not really good at sports and, although I was always a big kid for my age, the older kids seemed more mature and had better coordination. It's only a case, but it seems to fit this explanation
I was born at the end of December, and compared to my classmates born earlier, I always showed a high learning ability. As a result of some circumstances, I was able to learn the alphabet in 2 months, while others had done it in 8 months. I scored higher grades in class. I was only a little short in height in comparison to my peers, but that was all. So don't be discouraged that you were born later. You are just younger than them!!!!!
Where I live (America), the cutoff date for school is somewhere in the summer (I want to say early July).
I never participated in sports, but I noticed the RAE in academics in my grade school group. Some of us were "discovered" in kindergarten and placed in an accelerated academic program starting in 1st grade. I noticed that the vast majority of kids in that group were born in the fall. In other words, they were the oldest kids from their grade, meaning they had an age/developmental advantage over the other kids in the same grade.
this is what I was looking for, I wonder if the data shifts in the US due the different grade cut offs
I was born in June and one of the youngest in my grade. Was in all the accelerated programs they offered and went on to graduate college the earliest at age 20 and was taller than my peers regardless of age. Genetics play a bigger factor.
Yes it’s July that ties into my comment
@@projectdrawnup7625 I'm pretty sure that this video used some cherrypicked data, because no country I know of has a school year beginning in January.
And in fact, when it's summer in the Northern hemisphere, it's winter in the Southern hemisphere. Thus, the actual date athletes are born shouldn't even have a correlation with the month of birth...
@@PG-3462 if you look at data for the players it's accurate. It's clear there's an insane gap from the beginning of the year to the end.
I've always been the youngest in the grade, and this is definitely true at the start of school. I was always the smallest and regularly on the bench for team sports, so i took up kickboxing (now do Muay Thai) I've had more success in individual sports and activities than group ones. Also an interesting thing to note.
What if lets say ur in 8th grade and ur born in 2008 and then the other people are born at 2009 but the start of the year wouldnt you technically be older then then when born late
@@thesquad827 yeah but sports don't work like that, in sports it doesn't matter what grade you're in, all that matters is what age you are and being younger it had it's drawbacks
same!
Damn, this explains so much. The cut off was always 31st Sept for sports, I snuck in on the 25th. Being 13 and vsing people 14/15/16 years old was a huge problem for me. For starters I couldn't relate to them but I was also out-matched in terms of physical height and strength. When playing more casual stuff with people my own age, I absolutely decimated but when I hit the club / state leagues, I got rinsed. Perhaps I wasn't as good as I thought but I still had a huge age disadvantage.
As someone who was born in the end of the year, I’m a competitive swimmer and the people who are born earlier have an advantage because instead of competing with the age you are at the time, you compete with the age you are by the end of the year. So if you were born on December 30th and are 17 you get one day of competing at the age you actually are and on jan first you compete with 18 year olds while 17
I was held back a year in preschool and then later skipped a grade. I was way ahead of my peers in my younger years and I skipped a grade and became one of the youngest in my year instead of older. I absolutely struggled skipping the grade, but that mindset from being ahead continued and I just worked harder to catch up and pull ahead a bit even though I was younger. I wonder how I would have turned out had I not been held back!
Very well made video and I'm so glad i know this now. For a few months ive been theorising this myself, and I've been trying to explain my theory to my friends more recently, but now I know that it actually makes sense and is an actual phenomenon rather than just another dumb theory I came up with. Anyway, great video, and explained really clearly. Keep it up 👍
This is a good point. When I was in school (in the U.S.) my school’s cutoff was in December. I was born in November, and when I was in primary school, I was a bit behind a lot of my classmates and according to my teachers it was due to my “younger” age and therefore I was little behind in development. They told my parents not to worry about it because it was normal.
5:51 this study is dubious..surely january students skipping a grade doesn't mean they're smarter...they're just literally older. The study just measures age instead of academic performance, then correlates age with age
When I was a kid, my family moved from the west coast to the east coast, where the cutoff date for entering school was different, and I became one of the oldest kids in my class from there on out. My best friend in my grade was 13 months younger. I was insecure about it sometimes. But now I look back and feel grateful for the “extra” time I had to mature and live and home. Not to mention that I got a scholarship to Yale that will last until I’m almost 24!! Being “older” was a blessing in disguise. 🌸
I was born in July 2003 but all my classmates were born in 2002 because I went to school earlier. Still, my performance was assessed based on my skills and I’m grateful to my teachers that they did it to me
Same! When's your birthday?
I was born in November, and you could clearly see the height gap. Those born in the first months of the year would grow, and then I would catch them in height some time later. This didn't affect me tho, since I was since a certain point always amongst the tallest.
Concerning the cognitive gap, yeah, that's absolutely true. When I started school I wasn't even 3 years old (school starts in September), and honestly, I have been always a slow starter just to being amongst the best eventually, so when school started I barely talked (I don't remember it, my mother told me it), but after a few weeks I would not stop talking just because I simply learnt from the other kids who already talked.
Same for writing and other skills, I always had the sensation that I was more foolish or clueless that many of my classmates, yet I would eventually show that I was actually pretty good at many things.
Tbh, I think this only can be applied to the first years of growth and education, although there's no doubt that those born earlier might have a better confidence etc that can make them perform better for having those good memories and livings of themselves since school.
I don't think age affects cognitive ability. There are some babies that walk at 7-9 months and other babies that walk at 12-16 months. Babies that learn how to go to the potty at 18 months and there are kids aged 4 and 5 that still wear diapers. It affects physical development for sure but not cognitive. In my experience, the dumbest kids were those born in the early months but that is anecdotal evidence.
I feel like being born later in the year could also be an advantage though as well because you have adapted to playing against older kids so at the senior level you will be better off as you’ve already adapted to playing against bigger bodies.
Have you read the book "Outliers"? It was published in 2009 and presents a theory on success which suggests that external factors play a significant role in determining success, contrary to popular belief. The book contains many success stories and provides insights into the reasons behind them. It is a recommended read for anyone interested in understanding the complexities of success. Additionally, I would like to compliment your excellent animation and video content which helps to simplify and bring these theories to life.
really incredible information you put together with this video. few videos can impact change, but this might be one that pushes this conversation in years to come. I personally believe in Montessori Schooling with intergrade classes. It gives students the ability to be mentees first and mentors next. To normalize sharing information and normalize learning from peers. Mine had 1-3 4-5 and 6-8 classes. Really amazing system it is.
I was born in June my Brother is 18months older born in Jan. From my personal perspective as a 32 year old, there is a gap I cannot close. I am a video editor and fiction writer. I consistently use my brother as a "Bar" for my content, 75% of the time just having a lookover can improve my project. I consider us both of same IQ, intelligence, and creativity. His extra 18months is a growing advantage. It is interesting to put this in perspective in the context of this video. Great work!
In our country, the age cutoff is during December 31. I was born in November. Sports was never my league. BUT, The Underdog Effect played its role nicely, and I was the topper of my class throughout school life.
honestly looking at this data then looking not only at my life but my friends lives as well as when my parents were born it actually pieces the success of my family over all pretty clearly.
it also explains why school early on was more difficult for me always felt like I was behind everyone.
Being born later in the year might have made school harder for you whatever the case was it's important to put all your disadvantages behind you and work on achieving your goals.
Humanities worst enemy might as well be excuses
@Cesium oh I'm by no means lazy because of it, career wise I am leaps and bounds past just about any one I knew in high-school despite having issues early on plus life stuff.
The only thing between you and success is your self if you live in the west.
@@DotADBX I was referring to humanity
As someone born on January 3rd, I'v always felt like this was a significant advantage in school compared to students born later in the year. Then again, I also have some friends who ended up graduating too and at the end of their school journey, they kind of had "an extra year" compared to me :D
I can tell you, being born in December, I must really be amazing since I still managed to outperform everyone else in my class from primary to high school.
And very humble at that.
Edit: I'm Portuguese too. You don't have a Portuguese accent in English... Honestly, you have a very Dutch/Flemish accent. It's tripping me.
Idk where your school year cuts off but for me december is near the start so its almost more of an advantage
Yeah you can always beat the odds but it still doesn't beat the logic behind this probability of success based on month of birth in this video
5:43 AND I USE THE DUTCH AGE RAGULATION BUT SOMEHOW I AM THE FASTEST KID IN MY GRADE IF YOU WERE BORN IN JULY IN MY CASE OR LATER MONTHS ITS NOT TIME TO GIVE UP YOUU YES YYYOUUUU CAN DO THIIS! AND I SKIPPED A GRADE IN MATH SOOO DONT GIVE UP
Well, genetics play even bigger part. Some people enter and exit puberty much earlier than others and that affects it even more. If you have a younger siblings it's more likely to enter puberty earlier than them, because of the needs of taking more responsibility, which forces you to adapt and subconsciously triggers you to do so. It's the same as why people who are shorter/average height but are surrounded by taller people in their life and friend circle often have tall kids. (And I'm totally not saying that just because I'm 5'11 and all my friends are 6'4 - 6'7)
In what world is the majority of your friends are that tall?
Most of my classmates are 1 year older than me. But I tend to still do well in school. As long as one works hard, I believe that small disadvantages like this will be left redundant.
well said, I'm november. This video encouraged me. It encouraged me to work twice as hard as them. To learn to work hard, to learn to sweat more, to learn to suffer more. And to learn to be better by hard work. I think being younger in your class or job is better. I hate that I am not the youngest in my class. I wish I was december 31st.
I wonder how this phenomenon translates to music. Based on the same cutoff (Dec 31), musicians born later in the year- but starting in the same school year as others- would hypothetically have more time to ingrain music and/or instrumental skills into their brain relative to their age. Since younger brains have an easier time learning new concepts, this would also give the edge to late-year students.
I notice a similar effect in my local youth orchestra. I started playing my instrument in 6th grade and I am in the eternal 2nd chair while my peers in the 1st and principal chairs started in 5th-4th grade. And the 3rd chair player started in the second semester of their 6th grade year.
I should probably look up some studies on this when I have time.
ok
It doesn’t matter what month you are born in just be who you are and then you will become successful
I played sunday league football as a kid and adolescent and this effect was quite noticeable because not only was I born in november but I played together with people being born a whole calendar year earlier in January making me practically 2 years younger. I was so much slower before puberty but I was lucky I had almost no competition in my position as a right back (only one guy born similarly late who was even slower lol). After puberty hit first at around 12 I at least became a lot faster but still had to compensate for my height.
I was born in September so I barely just made the cutoff for school. This resulted in me always being the youngest and smallest kid throughout school since I would always just turn the age that I should've already been. For example, in freshman year of highschool while everyone was already 14 turning 15, I was 13 turning 14 at the very beginning of when school started.
Age difference can mostly make an impact only in sports. In education, it could make a difference maybe until the 6th or 7thgrade and after that most children's mental growth and academic skills grow at the same rate.
i was born in December 29. i started school at the age of 5. well eventually i was outperforming nearly anyone. im not showing off. i never struggled to keep up with anyone. maybe thats why i am lazy guy now but i should say the only thing that i complained about is strength. at that age i wasnt rlly thinking about working out but now i am. so i think it all goes to 2 factors. Genetics and Hard Work as usual.
I've thought about this a lot. I was born in november and it's crazy to think some of my classmates were almost a year older than me :D I've personally never faced too many issues though, I was quite determined as a kid, but this makes me wonder if the age system should be changed in schools.
For my schools the cutoff is the oldest kids in September and youngest are in August. So I find that November kids are older than most. Maybe it's different for you?
@@NotGord For us the cut off happens in january, so our classes have all the kids born in 1999, then 2000, 2001 etc
I'd like to see further explanation on children who skip grades as they seem like a glaring outlier to this tidy model. There was a couple kids in our school who was born in summer months and skipped a grade, making them at least 2-3 years younger than the rest of us. Now in the adult world they are much farther ahead than others the same age as them.
(Sort of) grade skipper here. I couldn't help but think along similar lines while watching this. It's always been my view that children admit to school with wildly varying levels of development. I was born in November but consistently was a few years ahead in core academic subjects at school. This to me dwarfed any effect of the age diffference. I feel like the video is a bit too simple; assuming everyone develops at similar rates and that school is the only thing affecting their learning. In reality it's so noisy it would be hard to pin down the exact reasons, and the theory in video seems like a guess at best.
The book is called "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell .
It is worth reading.
I was born in October and I live in the UK. If I was born 49 days earlier I would have finished school by now. Anyone born on or after September 1 2007 has to stay behind for an extra even if they're more mentally mature than those born in August.