While watching the TV Land LITB marathon this past weekend (6/16 & 6/17/01) I noticed something unusual re: the ages of the Mayfield characters...in the episode during which Beaver tries to join the Scouts (like Wally, Eddie et al did), Wally and Eddie give their ages as "12 years old", and claim to be in the 8th grade...when Beaver gets to the front of the line, he says he's "8 and 3/4 years old" (i.e. almost 9) and in 2nd grade...How is it that the other kids are basically 3 years older than Beaver, but are 6 years ahead of him in school? Eight years old is normal for 2nd grade, but by the time you're in 8th grade you should be about 14...what happened here?

I did not see that particular ep this past weekend, but I recall Beaver saying he is "SEVEN and three-quarters." Anyway, I
thought most states were quite standard in that a student starts first grade based on Sept. 1 following his sixth birtday. (Though some exceptions have been allowed, including my sister, who was permitted to start early because her b-day is in early Sept.; also, students who switch from private school with early admission, to public.)

If that is the case, then Beaver being in the second grade at 7 3/4 is correct; but the older boys being in the eighth grade at 12 appears a year early. Were there, perhaps, differing rules about such things, considering the nation's birthrate should have slowed down quite a bit during WW2 (Wally's and Eddie's age indicates they were born in '45, and Ward was supposed to have been in the South Pacific during the war [don't read too much into this : )] ). My dad was also in the S.Pacific, and he was gone from '41 to '45 continuously. The point is, was the minimum age for starting school a year less around '50-'51 to help make room for all the original 'baby boomers' born in '46?

One other point. In season #1, Wally is in grade 8 and Beaver in grade 2. In the final season, #6, Wally is a h.s. senior and Beaver is in grade 8. Wally was not held back 2 grades in school. It seems Wally 'lost' a year and Beaver 'gained' a year. So I really don't see why they had to start the series run with the boys farther apart in age than was necessary-- and true, considering that TD is just 3 years older than JM.

tdr - you made some great points!

Yes, you're right...it was 7 and 3/4 in that episode, not 8 and 3/4...I think I added a year to Beav's age myself, changing him from "almost 8" to "almost 9" in my head...

And, I think you might be right about there being some slight changes in the rules following WWII, and it might have gone on for quite a while. I know my brother (born in Jan 56) was 3 years and 11 months older than me, but was actually 5 years ahead of me in school). So I think there was some funny stuff going on back then.

Great point re: the ages of the boys at the beginning and end of the show, too! Thanks for your comments!


[This message has been edited by TVLanFan (edited 06-20-2001).]

Yeah, this is another question that bothered me too. On the show, Wally starts out being in the 8th grade, and Beaver's in the 2nd grade. Then, in the last season, Beaver is graduating from 8th grade, and Wally is graduating from the 12th grade. So, from a 6-grade difference in season one, how did it go to a 4-grade difference in season six? I guess it was just one of those weird mix-ups that we see in the show.

I've tried to figure that out too. I think that Wally is supposed to be a Junior in both the fourth and fifth seasons. While Beaver goes from being in the sixth grade at the beginning of the fifth season to graduating from the eighth grade in the sixth season.