Since this is anonymous, why did you REALLY redshirt your kid?

[Anonymous]

Her pre-school teachers recommended it, and we figured that it would be beneficial in the long-run. I think a lot of parents make the mistake of thinking that they'd be setting their kid behind if they redshirted, but this is not true. These days, it's quite common for students to finish their high-school-through-college education in 7 years instead of 8. Many high schools offer a path that will allow students to graduate in 3 years instead of 4. But even students who take the full 4 years to graduate high school can take accumulate enough AP credits and concurrent community college credits to have a year of college credit under their belt as soon as they finish high school and start college as a sophomore, putting them on track to graduate college in 3 years. Since older kids do better in school, it follows logically that the older students will have an easier time doing what they need to do in high school to either graduate a year early or graduate on time with a year of college credit.

If a kid with a fall birthday starts on time, they'll start high school at 13 and graduate college at 21. If a kid with a fall birthday starts on time, they'll start high school at 14, but will still probably graduate college at 21, as their age advantage will either allow them to graduate high school a year early or start college as a sophomore.

Also, the better a student does in high school, the more likely they are to be accepted into a university abroad. In the UK, university if automatically 3 years instead of 4, so a student who gets superior grades in high school has a better chance of going to a university that will allow them to finish in 3 years. Since a redshirted student is more likely to get superior grades, this is also another reason why redshirting a student will most likely not set them behind. The bottom line, your kid is probably going to graduate college on time regardless of whether or not your redshirt them.

[Anonymous]

Late to this ballgame but I’ll play. I was the youngest growing up with an October birthday. I hated it. I really think the maturity differences for that one year made a big impact. Academically, I was fine, but socioemotionally, it was Always a game of catch-up.

So I’m now redshirting my son who has an August birthday, but I’m doing it in an unconventional manner. He was in early stages so got an automatic seat in a coveted WOTP prek3 spot then got an automatic seat in an even more desirable Prek4 spot. So we let him start “in the system” but always with the thought that we really wanted to redshirt him. Well, now he is turning 6 and supposed to go into 1. We pulled the trigger and are having him redo K. He was able to keep up academically, though I’d say he was definitely not the furthest ahead in his class. Yet, his maturity level and ability to focus were severely behind his peers. Besides the pure age factor, his ADHD contributed to this latter point. So these are all the considerations that contributed to our decision but they all boil down to the very simply premise that I want my kid at the top of his class and not always playing catching up and towards the bottom of the curve. Redshirting gives him that leg up.

In contrast, I have another child with a June birthday whom I would never even consider “redshirting.”

[Anonymous]

My mom was a second grade teacher for 30 years and stated that the number of parents who wished they would’ve held back was exponentially higher than the parents who held back but wished they would’ve sent on time. Like, only met one or two of the latter in her career. Our kid was born September 17th so it was a no brainer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can I revive this? My child was born two days before the cutoff in DC, which is late so as to scoop up all those at-risk kids (which is great). But he’s a boy and now the pandemic. I think it’s reasonable but I was met with so much resistance and formality from his teacher. I don’t want him to be 16 starting his senior year of high school. Does this make me unreasonable and trying to get him to have a leg up on his peers? His speech therapy is on hold and he’ll miss most of kindergarten. Am I nuts for wanting to hold him back?

You're not nuts as long as you're just putting him in school in learn. As long as you don't have him sign up for any competitions, your decision is fine.

And by the way, it's not like he'd be 16 his entire senior year, just the first few months. There's a BIG difference between starting 12th grade at 16 and turning 17 before the new year, and starting 12th grade at 16 and turning 17 after the new year.

Really? No competitions? Lol. It’s not like PP’s kid will be 19 his senior year. Why is it fair for an October 1 birthday to compete, but not a September 30?

No, he won't turn 19 his senior year, but he'll turn 19 the year he graduates from high school, which really isn't that much different. And to your last question, you have to draw the line somewhere. If the cut-off is October 1st, that means that the class of 2034 is designed for kids born between 1 October 2015 and 30 September 2016. Someone born on 30 September 2015 is not part of that age-range, and therefore should be in the class of 2033, the age-range of which is 1 October 2014 to 30 September 2015, which they obviously are within.

Wait until you hear about how different states have different cutoffs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Late to this ballgame but I’ll play. I was the youngest growing up with an October birthday. I hated it.

Why didn't you take a gap year between high school and college?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My mom was a second grade teacher for 30 years and stated that the number of parents who wished they would’ve held back was exponentially higher than the parents who held back but wished they would’ve sent on time.

Did any of these parents make up it later, such as having their kid take a gap year between high school and college?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can I revive this? My child was born two days before the cutoff in DC, which is late so as to scoop up all those at-risk kids (which is great). But he’s a boy and now the pandemic. I think it’s reasonable but I was met with so much resistance and formality from his teacher. I don’t want him to be 16 starting his senior year of high school. Does this make me unreasonable and trying to get him to have a leg up on his peers? His speech therapy is on hold and he’ll miss most of kindergarten. Am I nuts for wanting to hold him back?

You're not nuts as long as you're just putting him in school in learn. As long as you don't have him sign up for any competitions, your decision is fine.

And by the way, it's not like he'd be 16 his entire senior year, just the first few months. There's a BIG difference between starting 12th grade at 16 and turning 17 before the new year, and starting 12th grade at 16 and turning 17 after the new year.

Really? No competitions? Lol. It’s not like PP’s kid will be 19 his senior year. Why is it fair for an October 1 birthday to compete, but not a September 30?

No, he won't turn 19 his senior year, but he'll turn 19 the year he graduates from high school, which really isn't that much different. And to your last question, you have to draw the line somewhere. If the cut-off is October 1st, that means that the class of 2034 is designed for kids born between 1 October 2015 and 30 September 2016. Someone born on 30 September 2015 is not part of that age-range, and therefore should be in the class of 2033, the age-range of which is 1 October 2014 to 30 September 2015, which they obviously are within.

Wait until you hear about how different states have different cutoffs.

If you like another state's rules better than the rules in your own state, you should move to that state.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So these are all the considerations that contributed to our decision but they all boil down to the very simply premise that I want my kid at the top of his class and not always playing catching up and towards the bottom of the curve. Redshirting gives him that leg up.

Personally, I'd rather my kid do okay playing by the rules than excel by cheating.

[Anonymous]

My kid with a mid September birthday started at a private school with a Sept 1 cut, so she was in the right class. We moved her to a public school with a Sept 30 cutoff for middle school, so she magically appeared to be red-shirted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Her pre-school teachers recommended it, and we figured that it would be beneficial in the long-run. I think a lot of parents make the mistake of thinking that they'd be setting their kid behind if they redshirted, but this is not true. These days, it's quite common for students to finish their high-school-through-college education in 7 years instead of 8. Many high schools offer a path that will allow students to graduate in 3 years instead of 4. But even students who take the full 4 years to graduate high school can take accumulate enough AP credits and concurrent community college credits to have a year of college credit under their belt as soon as they finish high school and start college as a sophomore, putting them on track to graduate college in 3 years. Since older kids do better in school, it follows logically that the older students will have an easier time doing what they need to do in high school to either graduate a year early or graduate on time with a year of college credit.

If a kid with a fall birthday starts on time, they'll start high school at 13 and graduate college at 21. If a kid with a fall birthday starts on time, they'll start high school at 14, but will still probably graduate college at 21, as their age advantage will either allow them to graduate high school a year early or start college as a sophomore.

Also, the better a student does in high school, the more likely they are to be accepted into a university abroad. In the UK, university if automatically 3 years instead of 4, so a student who gets superior grades in high school has a better chance of going to a university that will allow them to finish in 3 years. Since a redshirted student is more likely to get superior grades, this is also another reason why redshirting a student will most likely not set them behind. The bottom line, your kid is probably going to graduate college on time regardless of whether or not your redshirt them.

A preschool teacher doesn't have any level of training nor can predict the future. I don't get why someone is listening to a preschool teacher.

Most kids aren't going to university abroad. My fall kid has excellent grades and is doing well. They will turn 19 the first week of college. Not a big deal.

You aren't giving your kid the edge you think. You cannot make your kid smarter, just older.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So these are all the considerations that contributed to our decision but they all boil down to the very simply premise that I want my kid at the top of his class and not always playing catching up and towards the bottom of the curve. Redshirting gives him that leg up.

Personally, I'd rather my kid do okay playing by the rules than excel by cheating.

+1, people think being older gives them the edge but it doesn't. I would prefer my child work a bit harder and get a stronger work ethic. A smart kid will do well in either grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Late to this ballgame but I’ll play. I was the youngest growing up with an October birthday. I hated it.

Why didn't you take a gap year between high school and college?

I did!! And it totally “fixed” everything. Maybe it was other things in life that coincidentally happened around that time but whatever it was, once I started college after the gap year, I started killing it academically and socially. Graduated with a 4.2, got into a top law school, graduated from that top of my class, got a killer job, and have been extremely successful since.

[Anonymous]

To give them a leg up and delay college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Her pre-school teachers recommended it, and we figured that it would be beneficial in the long-run. I think a lot of parents make the mistake of thinking that they'd be setting their kid behind if they redshirted, but this is not true. These days, it's quite common for students to finish their high-school-through-college education in 7 years instead of 8. Many high schools offer a path that will allow students to graduate in 3 years instead of 4. But even students who take the full 4 years to graduate high school can take accumulate enough AP credits and concurrent community college credits to have a year of college credit under their belt as soon as they finish high school and start college as a sophomore, putting them on track to graduate college in 3 years. Since older kids do better in school, it follows logically that the older students will have an easier time doing what they need to do in high school to either graduate a year early or graduate on time with a year of college credit.

If a kid with a fall birthday starts on time, they'll start high school at 13 and graduate college at 21. If a kid with a fall birthday starts on time, they'll start high school at 14, but will still probably graduate college at 21, as their age advantage will either allow them to graduate high school a year early or start college as a sophomore.

Also, the better a student does in high school, the more likely they are to be accepted into a university abroad. In the UK, university if automatically 3 years instead of 4, so a student who gets superior grades in high school has a better chance of going to a university that will allow them to finish in 3 years. Since a redshirted student is more likely to get superior grades, this is also another reason why redshirting a student will most likely not set them behind. The bottom line, your kid is probably going to graduate college on time regardless of whether or not your redshirt them.

Don’t know where you are getting your statistics, but completion time for college (4 year degree) is only getting longer. While there are many dual enrollment programs, these typically happen at community colleges, and those credits do not always count toward 4 year degrees. Even if they count toward graduation credits, they may not count toward credits toward your major, so don’t cut down time to graduation.

[Anonymous]

A friend works at a top public HS in Virginia and says if you look at the kids on the Honor Roll and the kids on the Suspension List - guess who's on the HR (kids who are old for their grade) and who's on the SL (kids who are the youngest in the grade).

This is HS. And that affects college and the rest of life. Why wouldn't you hold them back if you're on the fence?