入学年龄限制真的造成了“七八月陷阱”吗？--兼评刘德寰、李雪莲《“七八月”的孩子们》

Does the School Cutoff Date Cause Disadvantage for Children Born in July and August?

西方研究发现,出生月在入学年龄截止日期以前的学生在学业表现上不及出生月在截止日期以后的学生,并将这一"截止日期现象"归因于入学年龄差异所产生的影响。刘德寰、李雪莲的研究《"七八月"的孩子们》也试图在中国展示这一现象,本文则对此提出质疑。利用2005年中国1%人口抽样调查和1992年儿童情况抽样调查,本文检验了截止日期现象能否持续到成年期,以及特定出生月份是否存在入学年龄的选择性这两个问题。本文发现,中国孩子对截止日期的遵从度低且存在选择性,出生月份之间的成就差异不能完全由入学年龄来解释,应考虑其他替代性的解释。

Compulsory education usually specifies a cutoff date regulating the timing of entry to elementary school.Existing literature in the United States and Europe has found that children who are born just before the cutoff date are disadvantaged in academic performance and has formalized this phenomenon as the age position effect.A recent study of Liu and Li also reported similar findings for China.Our study,however,challenged Liu and Li's findings by examining the long-term effects of birth months on socioeconomic attainment and the compliance rate regarding the cutoff date.Using 2005 mini-census data and the 1992 Child Condition Survey,we found a significant variation of socioeconomic achievement by birth month in adulthood in ways that differ from those reported by Liu and Li.Further,we found a systematic relationship between birth month and compliance with the cutoff date,as well as the influences of parental characteristics on compliance.We offer parental selection as an alternative explanation for the cutoff date effect.