As kindergartens prepare to send out acceptance letters this week, competitive parents are trying to game the system with so cal

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问题     As kindergartens prepare to send out acceptance letters this week, competitive parents are trying to game the system with so called "redshirting"—delaying their kids start in school so they’ll be more advanced than their classmates.
    Redshirting is a word borrowed from the sports world where athletes sit out a
year or more in order to lengthen their sport career. It’s an apt metaphor (暗喻). Parents want their children to have a head start academically (an extra year of reading can mean better test scores and more self-confidence,at least in the short term) and a stronger build physically.
    Another primary driver of redshirting is the schools themselves. " There has been a supply-and-de-mand problem in New York City independent schools in the last five years," says Lydia Spinelli, director of the Brick Church School, a pre-school in Manhattan. " The older children interview better and are more likely to get the slots. " Adds Glickman:"Private kindergartens are looking for older,more mature students because they are the ones more likely to succeed. "
    For a variety of reasons, it’s the boys who are increasingly being redshirted. Redshirting’s boy-girl divide seems to have a lot to do with social pressure as well as the differing pace at which boys and girls mature. " Boys develop slower in the things schools value," says Spinelli of the Brick Church School. " They are slower to read and to write, and their fine motor skills develop more slowly. " Younger boys are often at a disadvantage when it comes to interviewing to get into a private school or simply when compared to many girls of the same age. "Boys’ handwriting often develops more slowly and they often can’t sit still," notes Glickman. Holding them back gives them an extra year to catch up.
    According to Deming and Dynarski’s study, published in the Journal of Economic Perspectives and titled "The Lengthening of Childhood" ,in the fall of 1968,96 percent of six-year-old students were enrolled in first grade or higher. By 2005 that figure had fallen to 84 percent,even though school attendance rate for those children had remained steady. Two-thirds was because of parents or teachers redshirting kids and those numbers even don’t include private schools,the worst offenders. Does redshirting necessarily benefit the kids? "If everyone holds their kid back a year,then we’re right back where we started and no one has a leg up," says David Deming. It’s like having a race where one of the athletes is doping (服兴奋剂 )—if the others want to compete,they have to follow suit. "It’s a zero-sum game" , says Deming.
According to Deming and Dynarski’s study,by 2005 the percentage of six-year-old students in first grade or higher had______.

选项

答案fallen to 84%

解析 定位句指出,根据达明和戴纳斯基的调研,在1968年秋天,一年级或更高年级里面六岁孩子的比例为96%,到2005年这一比例已经降到了84%。故本题答案为fallen to 84%。
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