Originally Posted by Chrys
If I have a point, it might be that people take out of that stuff what they want to think. Most of the people I know who (not on this board) talk about Outliers as if its all about why red shirting your kids is a really good idea. What I got out of Outliers was that our famly's commitment to Suzuki music education was a really good thing for my child because it is hard for her and she is supposed to practice a little every day.

Books like outliers are getting quite a bit of press in our local Suzuki program. I really think that success is variety of factors. I have a kid that has been taking Suzuki piano going on 5 years at this point (starting at age 5 to 10). I know he is working less hard than some other kids at the same level. On the other hand, he is working at this skill every day and his first 6 months of just developing enough small motor skills to play simple pieces was excruciating. After that he FLEW through early repertoire however.

So I think when someone says it takes 10,000 of work or practice to develop a skill I think they're on the right track. But someone's 6000 hours of skill development might be more like some else 12,000 hours. I do think understanding that practice = progress is an important life skill and one that my own kids were definitely not born with. Music lessons have become VERY important to us, even though it is coming easier to them than some. My daughter's been taking violin for 2 years. Just the past 6 months have we had a sort of break through on progress and she's looking more "GT" in the music world. Before that it was mostly about mind games with a 4 and 5 year old. crazy Who claimed she needed to start lessons by the way. I recently had an experience with another parent cornering me and asking why my kid was progressing so fast. We certainly aren't doing anything magical other than practicing 6 days a week for an age appropriate length of time.

The red shirting thought is interesting! I truly don't blame people for making the choice to red shirt. We only have all day kindergarten locally that looks and feels much more like first grade. Not exactly the most friendly environment for an active 5 year old.