Why don’t schools have stronger policies about redshirting?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son graduated high school a year early, his bday is Mid Sept. He started college at 16 and his Masters at 20.
Now THAT is the way to do it.

Most masters degrees are a scam and a money grab by universities. Very few are worth getting.

If your kid had a PhD or MD then I would say good job. A masters degree makes me wonder what the heck your kid is doing with their time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have you all talked with any K teachers? They're thrilled with the redshirted kids, especially boys.

At a tony private where the kids are redshirted due to pressure to conform? Maybe.

Not true at a public where most redshirting is done as a quick "fix" for maturity issues. Redshirting without addressing the real issues just leads to more classroom chaos.

This. The parents who redshirt in public are PITAs and their kids often have untreated issues the parents blame on stuff like being premies or having a late summer birthday.

Private school redshirting tends to be school driven. It's a major difference. Giving parents carte Blanche on this is a mistake because parents are poor judges of how their children will perform/behave in the classroom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Haven’t read the whole thread. OP, the answer is that only weirdos care about redshirting because it’s a non-issue. I assume this thread is full of the usual sheltered anti-redshirting hysterics, but in real life, this is not an issue.

The pro-redshirters are just as crazy.

Agree, though, that irl most people don't care. Outside of private schools that push for redshirting, even in high income areas, only a small portion of the students redshirt.

The people who claim otherwise--that their classrooms are full of Spring redshirters--are either mistaken or outliers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Haven’t read the whole thread. OP, the answer is that only weirdos care about redshirting because it’s a non-issue. I assume this thread is full of the usual sheltered anti-redshirting hysterics, but in real life, this is not an issue.

The pro-redshirters are just as crazy.

Agree, though, that irl most people don't care. Outside of private schools that push for redshirting, even in high income areas, only a small portion of the students redshirt.

The people who claim otherwise--that their classrooms are full of Spring redshirters--are either mistaken or outliers.

On DCUM, no, the pro-redshirters are not nearly as crazy. I say that as someone who didn’t redshirt but has read these threads for years. There are occasional crazy redshirters, but they are dwarfed by the insane anti-redshirters. Those people are both nuts and weirdly unable to do math.

Agree nobody cares, though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Haven’t read the whole thread. OP, the answer is that only weirdos care about redshirting because it’s a non-issue. I assume this thread is full of the usual sheltered anti-redshirting hysterics, but in real life, this is not an issue.

The pro-redshirters are just as crazy.

Agree, though, that irl most people don't care. Outside of private schools that push for redshirting, even in high income areas, only a small portion of the students redshirt.

The people who claim otherwise--that their classrooms are full of Spring redshirters--are either mistaken or outliers.

On DCUM, no, the pro-redshirters are not nearly as crazy. I say that as someone who didn’t redshirt but has read these threads for years. There are occasional crazy redshirters, but they are dwarfed by the insane anti-redshirters. Those people are both nuts and weirdly unable to do math.

Agree nobody cares, though.

Eh, parents who want to redshirt normal, bright children are also the same people who probably had their panties in a bunch when their kid didn't take their first steps on the same day as the kid down the street. Have some faith in your kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Haven’t read the whole thread. OP, the answer is that only weirdos care about redshirting because it’s a non-issue. I assume this thread is full of the usual sheltered anti-redshirting hysterics, but in real life, this is not an issue.

The pro-redshirters are just as crazy.

Agree, though, that irl most people don't care. Outside of private schools that push for redshirting, even in high income areas, only a small portion of the students redshirt.

The people who claim otherwise--that their classrooms are full of Spring redshirters--are either mistaken or outliers.

On DCUM, no, the pro-redshirters are not nearly as crazy. I say that as someone who didn’t redshirt but has read these threads for years. There are occasional crazy redshirters, but they are dwarfed by the insane anti-redshirters. Those people are both nuts and weirdly unable to do math.

Agree nobody cares, though.

There is someone on these boards (maybe you) who interprets any criticism of ANY redshirting as being a "crazy anti-redshirters." You can say you live redshirting, that you redshirted your own kid in fact, but if you say "eh, I think it should be limited to summer birthdays" or "sometimes people redshirt and I don't think it's necessary in that case" you are crazy on these boards. I don't get it.

It's not a subject on which it's necessary to take a strong pro or con position. It's often fine but sometimes it's not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have you all talked with any K teachers? They're thrilled with the redshirted kids, especially boys.

At a tony private where the kids are redshirted due to pressure to conform? Maybe.

Not true at a public where most redshirting is done as a quick "fix" for maturity issues. Redshirting without addressing the real issues just leads to more classroom chaos.

Which schools are suffering from chaos from redshirters with unaddressed issues? Never heard of that. I would think the opposite is true in most public schools. Parents are dumping their feral kids off as soon as legally possible and letting the schools figure out the rest.

That’s not fair— parents who don’t have resources to properly feed their kids, parents who need the social and educational resources in school, should not be shamed for sending kids at four. But, that doesn’t mean it should be legal requirement for anyone else to do so.

Nobody shamed them. But if you’re going to say redshirted kids are causing chaos you need to substantiate it because it appears patently false. Anyone with any familiarity with public schools can see the lie.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Haven’t read the whole thread. OP, the answer is that only weirdos care about redshirting because it’s a non-issue. I assume this thread is full of the usual sheltered anti-redshirting hysterics, but in real life, this is not an issue.

The pro-redshirters are just as crazy.

Agree, though, that irl most people don't care. Outside of private schools that push for redshirting, even in high income areas, only a small portion of the students redshirt.

The people who claim otherwise--that their classrooms are full of Spring redshirters--are either mistaken or outliers.

On DCUM, no, the pro-redshirters are not nearly as crazy. I say that as someone who didn’t redshirt but has read these threads for years. There are occasional crazy redshirters, but they are dwarfed by the insane anti-redshirters. Those people are both nuts and weirdly unable to do math.

Agree nobody cares, though.

Eh, parents who want to redshirt normal, bright children are also the same people who probably had their panties in a bunch when their kid didn't take their first steps on the same day as the kid down the street. Have some faith in your kids.

Likewise, assume parents know their children best and are doing what they think is right. Have some faith, indeed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have you all talked with any K teachers? They're thrilled with the redshirted kids, especially boys.

At a tony private where the kids are redshirted due to pressure to conform? Maybe.

Not true at a public where most redshirting is done as a quick "fix" for maturity issues. Redshirting without addressing the real issues just leads to more classroom chaos.

Which schools are suffering from chaos from redshirters with unaddressed issues? Never heard of that. I would think the opposite is true in most public schools. Parents are dumping their feral kids off as soon as legally possible and letting the schools figure out the rest.

That’s not fair— parents who don’t have resources to properly feed their kids, parents who need the social and educational resources in school, should not be shamed for sending kids at four. But, that doesn’t mean it should be legal requirement for anyone else to do so.

Nobody shamed them. But if you’re going to say redshirted kids are causing chaos you need to substantiate it because it appears patently false. Anyone with any familiarity with public schools can see the lie.

Calling their kids “feral” and saying they send the moment they’re legally allowed is absolutely an attempt at shaming.

The reason anti-redshirters are so enormously worked up about this is resource scarcity. In a situation where a parent has no other way to feed their child or provide them a safe environment or any educational stimulus they absolutely should be encouraged to and praised for sending their kid to kindergarten “as soon as legally allowed” even if you do think they’re likely to be badly behaved.

But that’s not most of the DCUM crowd. For a lot of them this is just a painful middle class problem: a lot of people in this area can’t afford “optimal” for their child. A lot of people can’t get even $50,000 into a 529 by 18 if they have to invest $24,000 for 4-5 care. The decision to saddle your kid with more college debt in exchange for a more optimal early childhood environment is probably a painful one, and this is for families for whom private school is already financially out of reach.

So the extreme defensiveness and chart making and obsessing and straight lying, while misguided, does make a certain amount of sad sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Haven’t read the whole thread. OP, the answer is that only weirdos care about redshirting because it’s a non-issue. I assume this thread is full of the usual sheltered anti-redshirting hysterics, but in real life, this is not an issue.

The pro-redshirters are just as crazy.

Agree, though, that irl most people don't care. Outside of private schools that push for redshirting, even in high income areas, only a small portion of the students redshirt.

The people who claim otherwise--that their classrooms are full of Spring redshirters--are either mistaken or outliers.

On DCUM, no, the pro-redshirters are not nearly as crazy. I say that as someone who didn’t redshirt but has read these threads for years. There are occasional crazy redshirters, but they are dwarfed by the insane anti-redshirters. Those people are both nuts and weirdly unable to do math.

Agree nobody cares, though.

Eh, parents who want to redshirt normal, bright children are also the same people who probably had their panties in a bunch when their kid didn't take their first steps on the same day as the kid down the street. Have some faith in your kids.

Likewise, assume parents know their children best and are doing what they think is right. Have some faith, indeed.

Ironically this is the conclusion the “anti-redshirt” paper that was provided a few pages ago came to: parents should ultimately make this decision for their kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have you all talked with any K teachers? They're thrilled with the redshirted kids, especially boys.

At a tony private where the kids are redshirted due to pressure to conform? Maybe.

Not true at a public where most redshirting is done as a quick "fix" for maturity issues. Redshirting without addressing the real issues just leads to more classroom chaos.

This. The parents who redshirt in public are PITAs and their kids often have untreated issues the parents blame on stuff like being premies or having a late summer birthday.

Private school redshirting tends to be school driven. It's a major difference. Giving parents carte Blanche on this is a mistake because parents are poor judges of how their children will perform/behave in the classroom.

All this redshirting fighting is amusing to me because we had to fight the public school to allow our child to enroll a year *early*. He was born two days after the cutoff date, but 1000% ready for school. Being the youngest hasn't been an issue for him.

I think public schools within a state should have uniform policies about making exceptions to the cutoff dates. If you want to send your kid to K early, they need to pass an assessment. (Like we ultimately did.) If you want to send late, you need to have a documented medical reason and commit to getting ongoing support for the issue. Otherwise, abide by the cutoff date.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Haven’t read the whole thread. OP, the answer is that only weirdos care about redshirting because it’s a non-issue. I assume this thread is full of the usual sheltered anti-redshirting hysterics, but in real life, this is not an issue.

The pro-redshirters are just as crazy.

Agree, though, that irl most people don't care. Outside of private schools that push for redshirting, even in high income areas, only a small portion of the students redshirt.

The people who claim otherwise--that their classrooms are full of Spring redshirters--are either mistaken or outliers.

On DCUM, no, the pro-redshirters are not nearly as crazy. I say that as someone who didn’t redshirt but has read these threads for years. There are occasional crazy redshirters, but they are dwarfed by the insane anti-redshirters. Those people are both nuts and weirdly unable to do math.

Agree nobody cares, though.

There is someone on these boards (maybe you) who interprets any criticism of ANY redshirting as being a "crazy anti-redshirters." You can say you live redshirting, that you redshirted your own kid in fact, but if you say "eh, I think it should be limited to summer birthdays" or "sometimes people redshirt and I don't think it's necessary in that case" you are crazy on these boards. I don't get it.

It's not a subject on which it's necessary to take a strong pro or con position. It's often fine but sometimes it's not.

As someone who thinks that DCUMs anti-redshirters are certifiable for the most part, I can assure you I am one of several different posters who have reached the same conclusion. I often don’t post at all in these threads or even read them, but when I open them, I see the same observations. The fact is most DCUM anti-redshirters sound crazy, I am sorry to say.

I actually kind of love Natural Law Anti-Redshirter for the entertainment value alone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Haven’t read the whole thread. OP, the answer is that only weirdos care about redshirting because it’s a non-issue. I assume this thread is full of the usual sheltered anti-redshirting hysterics, but in real life, this is not an issue.

The pro-redshirters are just as crazy.

Agree, though, that irl most people don't care. Outside of private schools that push for redshirting, even in high income areas, only a small portion of the students redshirt.

The people who claim otherwise--that their classrooms are full of Spring redshirters--are either mistaken or outliers.

On DCUM, no, the pro-redshirters are not nearly as crazy. I say that as someone who didn’t redshirt but has read these threads for years. There are occasional crazy redshirters, but they are dwarfed by the insane anti-redshirters. Those people are both nuts and weirdly unable to do math.

Agree nobody cares, though.

Eh, parents who want to redshirt normal, bright children are also the same people who probably had their panties in a bunch when their kid didn't take their first steps on the same day as the kid down the street. Have some faith in your kids.

Maybe so, but they aren’t posting here sounding like they are few stalking citations away from a restraining order like a lot of the anti-redshirt posters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Haven’t read the whole thread. OP, the answer is that only weirdos care about redshirting because it’s a non-issue. I assume this thread is full of the usual sheltered anti-redshirting hysterics, but in real life, this is not an issue.

The pro-redshirters are just as crazy.

Agree, though, that irl most people don't care. Outside of private schools that push for redshirting, even in high income areas, only a small portion of the students redshirt.

The people who claim otherwise--that their classrooms are full of Spring redshirters--are either mistaken or outliers.

On DCUM, no, the pro-redshirters are not nearly as crazy. I say that as someone who didn’t redshirt but has read these threads for years. There are occasional crazy redshirters, but they are dwarfed by the insane anti-redshirters. Those people are both nuts and weirdly unable to do math.

Agree nobody cares, though.

Eh, parents who want to redshirt normal, bright children are also the same people who probably had their panties in a bunch when their kid didn't take their first steps on the same day as the kid down the street. Have some faith in your kids.

Likewise, assume parents know their children best and are doing what they think is right. Have some faith, indeed.

It's hard having faith in redshirting parents after reading this thread. I can't decide which one of you is crazier. It's either the person who says they redshirt their kid because being an adult "sucks" and they want to prolong their kid's childhood or maybe it's the parent who said their preschool says she'd rather be traveling the world and practice her second language or maybe it's the person who says redshirting "gives the edge you need to become a champion" or perhaps it the person who said their kid is too smart to move on to the next grade or possibly it's the person who said it's necessary to be good at lacrosse, which is possibly the least competitive sport there is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Haven’t read the whole thread. OP, the answer is that only weirdos care about redshirting because it’s a non-issue. I assume this thread is full of the usual sheltered anti-redshirting hysterics, but in real life, this is not an issue.

The pro-redshirters are just as crazy.

Agree, though, that irl most people don't care. Outside of private schools that push for redshirting, even in high income areas, only a small portion of the students redshirt.

The people who claim otherwise--that their classrooms are full of Spring redshirters--are either mistaken or outliers.

On DCUM, no, the pro-redshirters are not nearly as crazy. I say that as someone who didn’t redshirt but has read these threads for years. There are occasional crazy redshirters, but they are dwarfed by the insane anti-redshirters. Those people are both nuts and weirdly unable to do math.

Agree nobody cares, though.

Eh, parents who want to redshirt normal, bright children are also the same people who probably had their panties in a bunch when their kid didn't take their first steps on the same day as the kid down the street. Have some faith in your kids.

Likewise, assume parents know their children best and are doing what they think is right. Have some faith, indeed.

It's hard having faith in redshirting parents after reading this thread. I can't decide which one of you is crazier. It's either the person who says they redshirt their kid because being an adult "sucks" and they want to prolong their kid's childhood or maybe it's the parent who said their preschool says she'd rather be traveling the world and practice her second language or maybe it's the person who says redshirting "gives the edge you need to become a champion" or perhaps it the person who said their kid is too smart to move on to the next grade or possibly it's the person who said it's necessary to be good at lacrosse, which is possibly the least competitive sport there is.

Why do you care so much? Of all the issues, why this one?

That is what is bizarre about anti-redshirters, their singleminded obsession with an issue that literally does not matter. It’s frankly weird.