I liked some of what Gladwell had to say, but giggled through the acceleration argument. Like so many other things, it's true enough for the middle two thirds of folks, but falls apart at the tails. I think that Gladwell acknowledges that some level of inborn talent must be there, a 'nescessary but not sufficient' ingredient.

I'm sure that once you've read the book you'll figure out how to poke holes in his arguments. For example, he makes the case that Hockey players who are on the best teams get more time on the field, when your daughters are properly placed, then their school time 'counts' towards that 10,000 hours, when they are kept below their 'readiness level' the time they spend in school doesn't get them any closer to competence, and it encourages them to not even bother. For your family, the gradeskips signal to the girls that 'working hard' is more important than 'getting praise for no effort' and that makes them more like 'rice farmers' - the last thing Gladwell would argue for is putting a child into a situation where their efforts are totally unhitched to the feedback they recieve.

If it gets really bad, you'll have to send Gladwell a fan letter and take it up with him!

Smiles,
Grinity

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