Originally Posted by La Texican
No, the lady interviewed clearly said that she held her kids back because "you give your kids every advantage you can". Not that I think holding kids back gives them a long term advantage (a la Gladwell's 10,000 hours).

The advantage is to have them academically compete for valedictorian with people who are younger than they are, assuming that valedictorian = more college $$$.

Scholarships and GPAs are a zero sum game. If I get more, you get less. If I'm higher rank, you are lower rank.

It has little to do with the GT issue or success in a given field, such as Gladwell's 10,000 hours. It only applies to the zero sum game aspect of education.