In youth sports and academia, statistics show a significant "talent bias" towards kids who were born in January. Conversely, those born in the last months of the year tend to have all kinds of issues - they are more prone to social challenges, struggle in sports and are over-represented among those who get diagnosed with ADHD. The sign of either a winner or a loser, but rarely something in between. This is called the Relative Age Effect (RAE), also known as birthdate effect. Because schoolkids are grouped according to their birth year, those who have been born early in the year have a significant edge in both their mental and physical development compared to those born in the last months. And so, among other kids in their class they stand out as faster, stronger and more mature than their classmates, while in reality they are simply older. School is a competitive environment, but the competition isn't fair. While trained (and competent ) teachers are aware of RAE and sho...
Being a full 10 years old felt significant. I was a big boy now and I knew it. No doubt that feeling was further amplified by the fact that I was now a fourth grader, as high as it got in our school. Furthermore, Dad said that I was now old enough to handle a BB gun. I had tried shooting before and enjoyed it quite a bit, so I was thrilled. He bought me the gun and gave me all the instructions on how and how not to use it, and soon I spent most of my time outside practicing with my new weapon. That's not the main thing I remember about that year though. On the 28th of January, the Space Shuttle Challenger took off from Cape Canaveral. Initially, everything seemed to be fine. But after about a minute and a half after liftoff, the vehicle suddenly exploded in a cloud of smoke and debris, killing its crew of seven people. The Challenger explosion remained the main news headline for quite a while, until it again made room for the usual Cold War news and the seemingly eternal conflict ...
As a kid I was of course always thrilled about Christmas and couldn't wait what Santa would bring me. To be fair though, I don't think I ever really thought Santa was anything other than one of our neighbours or relatives in a silly costume. I mean, it was always this same mask which I had already seen being sold in every store. Kids aren't that stupid. Our Christmas Eve followed the same routine each year. In the morning, we drove to the graveyard and lit up some candles there. Getting back home, Mom started preparing food while me and my brothers wandered off to the woods to find a suitable spruce that would serve as our Christmas tree. After it had been cut down, brought in and decorated, it was time to eat. Then all the adults wanted to take a nap. (A goddamn nap. How could they do that to me? There I was, the single person who was awake, anxious to get my hands on my precious presents, just waiting for the rest of the bunch to wake up. It was torture, I tell you.) Afte...
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