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在许多研究过年龄与大学表现之间关系的人中，还没有一个人对这个看似简单的问题给出明确的答案：“成熟的学生比年轻的学生做得更好还是更差？”'
Of the many who have looked at the relationship between age and performance in universities none has as yet produced a definite answer to the apparently simple question ‘Do mature students do better or worse than younger students?’
哈里斯（1940年）在美国发现的证据表明，年轻的学生倾向于获得更好的学位结果。马耳他（1959年）、豪厄尔（1962年）、巴内特和刘易斯（1963年）、麦克拉肯（1969年）和卡普尔（1972年）、弗莱克（1959年）和桑德斯（1961年）、弗利汀（1959年）和斯莫尔（1966年）在英国也有类似的发现。然而，这些研究中的大多数是基于一般年龄在17至21岁之间的学生的样本，采用的相关技术意味着年龄和表现之间的关系实际上只涉及这个狭窄的年龄段。因此，研究结果可能表明，聪明的孩子比那些在获得必要资格的时候被推迟入学的孩子更容易早日接受高等教育。这一观点得到了哈里斯（1940年）的支持，他发现当他控制智力时，年龄和表现之间的关系消失了。其他研究表明，那些获得必要的资格，然后推迟一到两年入学的人比那些直接从学校入学的人更成功（托马斯、毕比和奥拉姆，1939年；德比郡教育委员会，1966年）。
Harris (1940) in the United States found evidence to suggest that younger students tended to obtain better degree results. Similar findings have been made in Britain by Malteson (1959), Howell (1962), Barnett and Lewis (1963), McCracken (1969) and Kapur (1972), in Australia by Flecker (1959) and Sanders (1961), in Canada by Fleeting (1959), and in New Zealand by Small (1966). However, most of these studies were based on samples of students who were generally aged between seventeen and twenty-one and the correlation techniques employed meant that the relationships between age and performance really only concerned this narrow age band. As such, the results probably suggest that bright children admitted early to higher education fare better than those whose entry is delayed while they gain the necessary qualifications. This view is supported by Harris (1940) who discovered that the relationship between age and performance disappeared when he controlled for intelligence. Other studies have shown that those who gain the necessary qualifications and then delay entry for a year or two are more successful than those who enter directly from school (Thomas, Beeby and Oram, 1939; Derbyshire Education Committee, 1966).
如果研究涉及包含大量老年学生的样本，结果表明年龄和表现之间的关系不是线性关系。例如，Philips和Cullen（1955年）发现，24岁及以上的人比18岁和19岁的人做得更好。Sanders（1961）指出，大学的成功率下降到二十一岁，然后从二十二岁开始，成功率又开始上升。这两项研究的问题是，许多年长的学生都是军人。他们通常是“普通”入学者，他们的入学时间因战争而推迟，许多人在军队中接受过科学或数学方面的培训。此外，虽然伊顿（1980年）引用了9项美国研究，证实了退伍军人的学术优势，但英国的证据有些矛盾。Mountford（1957）发现，1947年至1949年进入利物浦大学的退役学生更有可能需要在课程上多花费一年或更长的时间，更有可能无法完成课程。
Where studies have involved samples containing large numbers of older students the results have indicated that the relationship between age and performance is not a linear one. Philips and Cullen (1955), for instance, found that those aged twenty-four and over tended to do better than the eighteen and nineteen-year-old age group. Sanders (1961) showed that the university success rate fell until the age of twenty or twenty-one, then from about twenty-two onwards the success rate began to rise again. The problem with these two studies is that many of the older students were returning servicemen. They were often ‘normal’ entrants whose entry to university had been delayed by war and many had undergone some training in science or mathematics while in the armed forces. Also, while Eaton (1980) cites nine American studies which confirm the academic superiority of veterans, there is some contradictory British evidence. Mountford (1957) found that ex-service students who entered Liverpool University between 1947 and 1949 were more likely to have to spend an extra year or more on their courses and more likely to fail to complete their course.
一些研究表明，成熟的学生比年轻的学生好还是坏取决于所学的科目。Sanders（1963）指出，与年龄和经验增长相关的成熟度似乎是一些艺术和社会科学课程成功的积极预测因素。弗莱克（1959年）、巴内特、霍尔德和刘易斯（1968年）、法金（1971年）和沙龙（1971年）支持了老年学生在艺术和社会科学方面做得更好、在科学和数学方面做得更差的一般性发现。Some studies have shown that whether mature students fare better or worse than younger students depends upon the subject being studied. Sanders (1963) has indicated that the maturity associated with increasing age and experience seems to be a positive predictor of success for some arts and social science courses. The general finding that older students do better in arts and social science and worse in science and maths is supported by Flecker (1959), Barnett, Holder and Lewis (1968), Fagin (1971) and Sharon (1971).
Walker’s (1975) study of mature students at Warwick University represents the best British attempt to unravel the relationship between age and performance. He took 240 mature undergraduates who were admitted to the university between 1965 and 1971 and compared their progress with that of all undergraduates. This gave him a reasonably large sample to work with and the timing meant that the results were not distorted by any ‘returning servicemen factor’. His methodology showed certain other refinements. First, he excluded overseas students. Such students tend to be older than average and also to fare worse academically (Woodley 1979), thus influencing any age/performance relationship. Secondly, he used two measures of performance; the proportion leaving without obtaining a degree and the degree results of those taking final examinations. Finally he weighted the degree class obtained according to its rarity value in each faculty.
The following findings achieved statistical significance:
i. In total, mature students obtained better degrees than non-mature students.
ii. In the arts faculty mature students obtained better degrees than non-mature students.
iii. Mature students who did not satisfy the general entrance requirements obtained better degrees than all other students.
iv. The degree results of mature students aged twenty-six to thirty were better than those of all other mature students.
Several other differences were noted but they did not achieve statistical significance due to the small numbers involved. The mature student sample only contained thirty-three women, twenty-six science students and thirty-seven aged over thirty. The aim of the present study was to extend Walker’s work to all British universities so that these and other relationships could be tested out on a much larger sample of mature students.
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Woodley, A. (1985). Taking account of mature students. In D. Jacques & J. Richardson (Eds.), The future of higher education (pp. 123-178). Guildford: SRHE and NFER-Nelson. (pp. 152-154)
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