Why is redshirting so rare if it's so advantageous?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know some people refuse to believe it, but the older kids end up doing better in school. It's not surprising that people who can swing redshirting do it.

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/08/18/544483397/oldest-kids-in-class-do-better-even-through-college

Why has the subject of pressure not come up once in regards to this? What you say is true. Since older kids usually do better, this means that if a kid is redshirted, they'll be expected to excel. So if, for some weird reason, an older kid does worse, it'll be a lot more embarrassing for them than had they been on the young end. It's always embarrassing to perform poorly, but it's still much less embarrassing to perform poorly when you were expected to excel than it is to perform poorly when you were expected to perform poorly. Conversely, it's much more impressive to excel when you were expected to perform poorly than it is to excel when you were expected to excel. I just think parents should consider how much pressure their kid would be under if they redshirted. There's no room to exceed expectations in school when you're the oldest.

God you people are crazy.

[Anonymous]

The reason that the child is older is an important factor though.

If a child was having behavioural problems at 5 and the parents thought that it was just immaturity but there where other reasons as well that they don’t out grow of in a year then they will take that in to kindergarten at 6 and still struggle.

Looking in the later grades, if a kid is told to repeat a year due to poor performance then they might not fair much better and have an added chip on their shoulder over getting left behind friends.

Others could just luckily have been born in the first quarter of the year group and naturally where one of the oldest. The increased maturity relative to peers increases aptitude and confidence etc.

[Anonymous]

I have a fall son who just started preschool. Unsure what we will do. Not every study shows that redshirting is advantageous - some studies show that young birthdays do better academically then the older class birthdays. I will take cues from his preschool and the kindergarten he will attend. I don’t want to redshirt him and have him be bored, either. He’s in 3s now and I see a big difference between him and kids a year younger.

[Anonymous]

We green-shirted. My kid is doing very well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know some people refuse to believe it, but the older kids end up doing better in school. It's not surprising that people who can swing redshirting do it.

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/08/18/544483397/oldest-kids-in-class-do-better-even-through-college

Why has the subject of pressure not come up once in regards to this? What you say is true. Since older kids usually do better, this means that if a kid is redshirted, they'll be expected to excel. So if, for some weird reason, an older kid does worse, it'll be a lot more embarrassing for them than had they been on the young end. It's always embarrassing to perform poorly, but it's still much less embarrassing to perform poorly when you were expected to excel than it is to perform poorly when you were expected to perform poorly. Conversely, it's much more impressive to excel when you were expected to perform poorly than it is to excel when you were expected to excel. I just think parents should consider how much pressure their kid would be under if they redshirted. There's no room to exceed expectations in school when you're the oldest.

I remember all the times job interviewers asked when my birthday was so they could determine if my success was due to my young age and then reward me accordingly. Oh wait, that never happened. How is it that nobody is impressed by my success because I was one of the younger kids to graduate from my class? How do people impress people when their birthday and age are unknown? Besides ones own parents, who are the kids trying to impress? I have the same expectations of all my kids regardless of their birthdays.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know some people refuse to believe it, but the older kids end up doing better in school. It's not surprising that people who can swing redshirting do it.

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/08/18/544483397/oldest-kids-in-class-do-better-even-through-college

Why has the subject of pressure not come up once in regards to this? What you say is true. Since older kids usually do better, this means that if a kid is redshirted, they'll be expected to excel. So if, for some weird reason, an older kid does worse, it'll be a lot more embarrassing for them than had they been on the young end. It's always embarrassing to perform poorly, but it's still much less embarrassing to perform poorly when you were expected to excel than it is to perform poorly when you were expected to perform poorly. Conversely, it's much more impressive to excel when you were expected to perform poorly than it is to excel when you were expected to excel. I just think parents should consider how much pressure their kid would be under if they redshirted. There's no room to exceed expectations in school when you're the oldest.

I remember all the times job interviewers asked when my birthday was so they could determine if my success was due to my young age and then reward me accordingly. Oh wait, that never happened. How is it that nobody is impressed by my success because I was one of the younger kids to graduate from my class? How do people impress people when their birthday and age are unknown? Besides ones own parents, who are the kids trying to impress? I have the same expectations of all my kids regardless of their birthdays.

It's not about impressing employers or colleges. It's about being able to find comfort within yourself in knowing that your failures are not to you being stupid. You may not be able to impress anyone, but you can still yourself, "I'm not stupid, just younger." An older kid who did poorly can't tell themselves that and will have to live with the knowledge that they may really be stupid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know some people refuse to believe it, but the older kids end up doing better in school. It's not surprising that people who can swing redshirting do it.

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/08/18/544483397/oldest-kids-in-class-do-better-even-through-college

Why has the subject of pressure not come up once in regards to this? What you say is true. Since older kids usually do better, this means that if a kid is redshirted, they'll be expected to excel. So if, for some weird reason, an older kid does worse, it'll be a lot more embarrassing for them than had they been on the young end. It's always embarrassing to perform poorly, but it's still much less embarrassing to perform poorly when you were expected to excel than it is to perform poorly when you were expected to perform poorly. Conversely, it's much more impressive to excel when you were expected to perform poorly than it is to excel when you were expected to excel. I just think parents should consider how much pressure their kid would be under if they redshirted. There's no room to exceed expectations in school when you're the oldest.

I remember all the times job interviewers asked when my birthday was so they could determine if my success was due to my young age and then reward me accordingly. Oh wait, that never happened. How is it that nobody is impressed by my success because I was one of the younger kids to graduate from my class? How do people impress people when their birthday and age are unknown? Besides ones own parents, who are the kids trying to impress? I have the same expectations of all my kids regardless of their birthdays.

It's not about impressing employers or colleges. It's about being able to find comfort within yourself in knowing that your failures are not to you being stupid. You may not be able to impress anyone, but you can still yourself, "I'm not stupid, just younger." An older kid who did poorly can't tell themselves that and will have to live with the knowledge that they may really be stupid.

Whatever you say But I have 3 kids and none has ever said anything remotely like "Guess I aced that spelling test because I'm the oldest in class." And when they fail they don't think "well, I'm young, so guess I wasn't expected to do well anyway" this is not at all how the kids I know think so your input is not resonating with me at all since there is no pressure one way or the other with respect to their age. I expect them all to do their best, there is no minimizing for being old nor is there any excuse for being young. If they failed an exam (hypothetically) it would be because they didn't study enough. Pretty simple. And there's plenty of room to exceed expectations, there is never a ceiling, weirdo!

[Anonymous]

Trust me that no redshirted person who gets into an ivy and excels at life is questioning his value because he was redshirted. This thread is hilarious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We green-shirted. My kid is doing very well.

+ 1 in high school magnet

[Anonymous]

We double redshirted my son. We did the research and it showed holding back a year was advantageous. So we thought if one year is good two must be better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a fall son who just started preschool. Unsure what we will do. Not every study shows that redshirting is advantageous - some studies show that young birthdays do better academically then the older class birthdays. I will take cues from his preschool and the kindergarten he will attend. I don’t want to redshirt him and have him be bored, either. He’s in 3s now and I see a big difference between him and kids a year younger.

I would go read the actual studies. Most of the popular reporting around redshirting is, to be blunt, absolutely terrible and misrepresents what the actual studies say. Plus, the articles pull from studies from, say, high school students in the 1950s (without saying that in the articles). Then there are the studies themselves. The academic work here is actually fairly thin and not very good, generally speaking.

The only real studies of any academic heft tend to come sideways out of population studies of ADHD. But that isn't looking at redshirting directly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We double redshirted my son. We did the research and it showed holding back a year was advantageous. So we thought if one year is good two must be better.

And we wonder why New York had deemed its former gifted and talented program racist? When privileged people are stacking the deck so that an already disadvantaged poor block kid has to compete with someone two years older than them for a converted spot in an elite school, what chance have they got?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We double redshirted my son. We did the research and it showed holding back a year was advantageous. So we thought if one year is good two must be better.

And we wonder why New York had deemed its former gifted and talented program racist? When privileged people are stacking the deck so that an already disadvantaged poor block kid has to compete with someone two years older than them for a converted spot in an elite school, what chance have they got?

But the younger kids do better because they are more challenged, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We double redshirted my son. We did the research and it showed holding back a year was advantageous. So we thought if one year is good two must be better.

And we wonder why New York had deemed its former gifted and talented program racist? When privileged people are stacking the deck so that an already disadvantaged poor block kid has to compete with someone two years older than them for a converted spot in an elite school, what chance have they got?

You have no ability to recognize sarcasm, do you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We double redshirted my son. We did the research and it showed holding back a year was advantageous. So we thought if one year is good two must be better.

And we wonder why New York had deemed its former gifted and talented program racist? When privileged people are stacking the deck so that an already disadvantaged poor block kid has to compete with someone two years older than them for a converted spot in an elite school, what chance have they got?

You have no ability to recognize sarcasm, do you?

I think maybe pp could have benefited from an extra year of school!! Dear Lord.