red shirting question
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
|
A question about fairness!
How is it fair for red shirted kids to be in a class with my late June birthday kid? Developmentally they are going to be ahead, do the teachers care or take this into consideration?? It doesn't seem fair. Some can be almost 9 months older. |
Anonymous
| If you have a boy, you should have redshirted. Late June boy will be at a disadvantage for everything all through school. |
Anonymous
| It is about social maturity. The teacher is teaching the same material in class to all the kids, regardless of their age of birthdays. There is no advantage, other than perhaps the ability to focus that sometimes comes with age. But if focus isn’t an issue for your child, then there is no disadvantage to yours. It isn’t like the kid with the first birthday in class magically is learning material two grade levels above just because their birthday is before your child’s. The only way they would be learning more/above grade level is if their parents are supplementing at home But you can do that too if you want. |
Anonymous
|
Yup, I think about this a lot as a parent of a kid with an August birthday who is small for her age, about on track socially but has ADHD which can throw a wrench in things, but somewhat-to-a-lot above grade level academically.
It is what it is. I don't regret our decision to send on time. There are some small unfair things that come up with red shirting (I guess some smaller than others) and we try to view them as opportunities to teach our kid skills for dealing with a lot of the unfairness in life. I think in the long run it will work out fine, and DD is doing well despite being the youngest and the smallest, which can be an uncomfortable position to be in. But yes, there are days when DD comes home crying because of something involving, in particular, this one red shirted girl in her class. And I don't ever say it out loud, but often think "Well *of course* Skylar [not her real name] is better than you at monkey bars or soccer or whatever -- she is a full year and change older than you and at this age that's huge." I don't want my kid repeating this stuff to kids at school so I keep it to myself, but especially when it comes to physical comparisons and athletic competition, I roll my eyes internally at a situation where my kid is a "peer" of children who are actually a grade level older than her but for whatever reason still in her class. |
Anonymous
In a normal grade, kids should span 12 months. That is how school works. |
Anonymous
| My red shirted autistic kid is not ahead of your child in any way. You make the decisions that are best for your child and I'll do the same for mine. |
Anonymous
Do you read to your child? Pay for supplements? Are you MC and above? Does your child have health insurance? Safe housing? Stable access to food? If so, how is it fair for kids in your child’s class who don’t have the above to be in class with your child? Or do you not care about those kids? Grow up. You are so embarrassing and ridiculous. I didn’t redshirt, I just cannot stand DCUMs whiny, narcissistic, and pathetic anti redshirters. |
Anonymous
Teachers don't take time for this. Its up to parents or school counselors to redshirt or put younger kids in one section and older in others, at least for physical activities. As far as academics go, younger one tends to close that gap quickly and it works at their advantage. |
Anonymous
| I get redshirting for kids who are developmentally behind but in most cases, its just parents trying to give them unfair advantage. Same parents falsely claim learning disabilities and get them free tutoring or extra time on tests. |
Anonymous
You are always the most vitriolic person on any red shirting thread. I mean, look at your language in this post, which is 10x more dramatic than anything anyone else has posted. Usually when people object to red shirting, it's the situations in which it's fully discretionary. Like not situations where a child has an identified developmental disadvantage. It's the people who hold back their summer birthdays (usually boys) because they don't want their sons to be on the smaller side in school. There are also people who do it explicitly for advantages in athletics (and in fact that is where the word comes from, as it originally only described "red shirted" college freshman who would be recruited but not played their freshman year in order to give them time to get bigger/stronger/more competitive). There are obviously fairness concerns with discretionary redshirting and they are never going to go away, no matter how angry and vicious you get on DCUM threads on the subject. |
Anonymous
| There was one family in our high school who claimed extra time due to healing after concussion for all of their children in high school. They knew a PT or something. How can all four kids have concussion near AP exams. |
Anonymous
| We gave our kids no unfair advantage and they did fine, knowing they have to work harder, made them hard and smart workers which worked in their favor. Kids whose parents tried such gimmicks, did better in sports but not in academics. |
Anonymous
| One year difference at young age gives a huge advantage, in sports, leadership, social skills and getting on gifted tracks. |
Anonymous
Is it more fair for my child born in mid-September to be in a class with kids 11.5 months older? I'm going to make the decision that's best for my child. |