Maybe they are friends and discussed their thesis topics with each other. I find it unlikely that 4 out of 20 students would come up with sibling related topics independently.
Or maybe they picked them out loud in class, and some of those were deliberate responses to others.
So what happens is: Albert is an oldest child whose younger sister is loud and annoying and gets all the attention. He says “I’m going to write about how being an older sibling is hard”. Beth is a youngest child whose older brothers get all the new clothes and toys and things; she gets their hand-me-downs. She thinks Albert’s got it all wrong and, determined to set the record straight, says “I’m going to write about how being the youngest child is hard.” Charles realises that as a middle child he has all the same problems Albert and Beth do, and misses out on some of their advantages, and says he’s going to write about that. Diana hears all these and thinks, “Well, at least they have siblings to play with and relate to”, and announces her intention to explain how things are bad for only children.
Notice that all these children may be absolutely right in thinking that they have difficulties caused by their sibling situation. They may also all be right in thinking that they would be better off with a different sibling situation. (Perhaps there’s another youngest child in the class who loves it—but you didn’t hear from him.)
Maybe they are friends and discussed their thesis topics with each other. I find it unlikely that 4 out of 20 students would come up with sibling related topics independently.
Or maybe they picked them out loud in class, and some of those were deliberate responses to others.
So what happens is: Albert is an oldest child whose younger sister is loud and annoying and gets all the attention. He says “I’m going to write about how being an older sibling is hard”. Beth is a youngest child whose older brothers get all the new clothes and toys and things; she gets their hand-me-downs. She thinks Albert’s got it all wrong and, determined to set the record straight, says “I’m going to write about how being the youngest child is hard.” Charles realises that as a middle child he has all the same problems Albert and Beth do, and misses out on some of their advantages, and says he’s going to write about that. Diana hears all these and thinks, “Well, at least they have siblings to play with and relate to”, and announces her intention to explain how things are bad for only children.
Notice that all these children may be absolutely right in thinking that they have difficulties caused by their sibling situation. They may also all be right in thinking that they would be better off with a different sibling situation. (Perhaps there’s another youngest child in the class who loves it—but you didn’t hear from him.)
Yeah, that sounds like the most likely possibility actually.