Speak up (to your school) if you are worried about all the redshirting

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And round and round we go. I honestly don't understand why certain parents care what other parents choose to do. If other children are a behavior problem (which would more likely be the result of going to school too soon, than too late) that is causing problems for the class, thats one thing. Otherwise, why is it any of your business?

Redshirts dominated in elementary and middle school. Better in sports , leaders, social, etc. It evened out at about grade 10 and 11. Socially the redshirts are more advanced than classmates. High amounts of game time has now decreased to little if any for some of them.

What school are you talking about here?

[Anonymous]

I have an end of august kid too and plan to redshirt her. My parents have taught for 80 years combined and both say they can name dozens of kids who were moved ahead and suffered bc of it and many, of course, did fine. But can hardly think of a kid who was held back and suffered bc of it. no mention of the teaching problems either.

Too bad she came five days early - she was due on Sept 3 or the anti-redshirters wouldn't have cared what class she was in....

Hope she won't intimidate all of your 'regular aged' kids or wreak havoc on the classroom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have an end of august kid too and plan to redshirt her. My parents have taught for 80 years combined and both say they can name dozens of kids who were moved ahead and suffered bc of it and many, of course, did fine. But can hardly think of a kid who was held back and suffered bc of it. no mention of the teaching problems either.

Too bad she came five days early - she was due on Sept 3 or the anti-redshirters wouldn't have cared what class she was in....

Hope she won't intimidate all of your 'regular aged' kids or wreak havoc on the classroom.

I think redshirting a girl presents different issues from redshirting a boy. A redshirted girl may be a year or more older than her classmates. She may feel awkward in the teen years as she physically develops and grows far in advance of other girls and towers over boys, and this could cause problems socially. As a parent I would never redshirt a girl unless she were emotionally or intellectually behind her peers in a substantial way. Redshirting should not be done automatically to gain an advantage, for girls or for boys.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have an end of august kid too and plan to redshirt her. My parents have taught for 80 years combined and both say they can name dozens of kids who were moved ahead and suffered bc of it and many, of course, did fine. But can hardly think of a kid who was held back and suffered bc of it. no mention of the teaching problems either.

Too bad she came five days early - she was due on Sept 3 or the anti-redshirters wouldn't have cared what class she was in....

Hope she won't intimidate all of your 'regular aged' kids or wreak havoc on the classroom.

I don't know any red shirt girls only boys. Many girls develope earlier than boys so socially I did notice the girls and redshirt boys having more advanced social interaction. Think 6th grade and up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And round and round we go. I honestly don't understand why certain parents care what other parents choose to do. If other children are a behavior problem (which would more likely be the result of going to school too soon, than too late) that is causing problems for the class, thats one thing. Otherwise, why is it any of your business?

The issue doesn't come up on an individual basis as much as overall as the practice feeds on itself and redshirts seem to have been held back with earlier and earlier birthdays. We saw no social/academic reason to hold our early-March birthday son back, but have been surprised to find him to be one of the youngest boys in his grade (of approx 30 boys). We see the difference, particularly with respect to physical maturity. Someone has to be the youngest, of course, and I guess if we had known how common the practice is, we also could have made a decision as to whether we wanted our son to be one of the oldest (and contribute to pushing the birthdates even earlier) or one of the youngest. But it feels at times like the redshirters (and the curriculum as several posts address) are forcing an older kindergarten entry age by fiat and certain boys -- especially those with Feb - May birthdays -- are getting a bit caught in the middle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And round and round we go. I honestly don't understand why certain parents care what other parents choose to do. If other children are a behavior problem (which would more likely be the result of going to school too soon, than too late) that is causing problems for the class, thats one thing. Otherwise, why is it any of your business?

The issue doesn't come up on an individual basis as much as overall as the practice feeds on itself and redshirts seem to have been held back with earlier and earlier birthdays. We saw no social/academic reason to hold our early-March birthday son back, but have been surprised to find him to be one of the youngest boys in his grade (of approx 30 boys). We see the difference, particularly with respect to physical maturity. Someone has to be the youngest, of course, and I guess if we had known how common the practice is, we also could have made a decision as to whether we wanted our son to be one of the oldest (and contribute to pushing the birthdates even earlier) or one of the youngest. But it feels at times like the redshirters (and the curriculum as several posts address) are forcing an older kindergarten entry age by fiat and certain boys -- especially those with Feb - May birthdays -- are getting a bit caught in the middle.

Which school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And round and round we go. I honestly don't understand why certain parents care what other parents choose to do. If other children are a behavior problem (which would more likely be the result of going to school too soon, than too late) that is causing problems for the class, thats one thing. Otherwise, why is it any of your business?

The issue doesn't come up on an individual basis as much as overall as the practice feeds on itself and redshirts seem to have been held back with earlier and earlier birthdays. We saw no social/academic reason to hold our early-March birthday son back, but have been surprised to find him to be one of the youngest boys in his grade (of approx 30 boys). We see the difference, particularly with respect to physical maturity. Someone has to be the youngest, of course, and I guess if we had known how common the practice is, we also could have made a decision as to whether we wanted our son to be one of the oldest (and contribute to pushing the birthdates even earlier) or one of the youngest. But it feels at times like the redshirters (and the curriculum as several posts address) are forcing an older kindergarten entry age by fiat and certain boys -- especially those with Feb - May birthdays -- are getting a bit caught in the middle.

It was posted on DCUM that GDS ran spring to spring. So I guess Jan-Feb are the new July-Aug at GDS. I have heard Feb through May are not uncommon at STA but would be unusual at Prep. Problem is it's going to constantly pushed back by parents. kid is not a superstar so some change schools and they repeat a grade. Easy since they already had the work. These kids don't have special needs or need special education. One mom said the husband was redshirted and it allowed him to be better at sports so it helped him get into an Ivy and from there a great job......the problem is where does it end?

Do we not send Jan and febs to school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have an end of august kid too and plan to redshirt her. My parents have taught for 80 years combined and both say they can name dozens of kids who were moved ahead and suffered bc of it and many, of course, did fine. But can hardly think of a kid who was held back and suffered bc of it. no mention of the teaching problems either.

Too bad she came five days early - she was due on Sept 3 or the anti-redshirters wouldn't have cared what class she was in....

Hope she won't intimidate all of your 'regular aged' kids or wreak havoc on the classroom.

I think redshirting a girl presents different issues from redshirting a boy. A redshirted girl may be a year or more older than her classmates. She may feel awkward in the teen years as she physically develops and grows far in advance of other girls and towers over boys, and this could cause problems socially. As a parent I would never redshirt a girl unless she were emotionally or intellectually behind her peers in a substantial way. Redshirting should not be done automatically to gain an advantage, for girls or for boys.

NP. There's quite a lot of good research about the negative effects on girls who mature physically ahead of their classmates. I'd be very reluctant to do this without some other overriding reason.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

It was posted on DCUM that GDS ran spring to spring. So I guess Jan-Feb are the new July-Aug at GDS. I have heard Feb through May are not uncommon at STA but would be unusual at Prep. Problem is it's going to constantly pushed back by parents. kid is not a superstar so some change schools and they repeat a grade. Easy since they already had the work. These kids don't have special needs or need special education. One mom said the husband was redshirted and it allowed him to be better at sports so it helped him get into an Ivy and from there a great job......the problem is where does it end?

Do we not send Jan and febs to school?

Whoever posted has incomplete info. DS accepted GDS, mid-late summer b-day, no red-shirting, no special circumstances. I think the people who post these things are skewing actuality or are possibly looking for reasons why their summer b-day boys didn't get accepted.

Please take these red-shirting trends with some skepticism. I have YET to hear real stats at a school.

[Anonymous]

In this economy, if you can pay the full tuition anywhere, I think the schools are more lax with their admissions decisions.

[Anonymous]

Teacher here...

"My parents have taught for 80 years combined and both say they can name dozens of kids who were moved ahead and suffered bc of it and many, of course, did fine. But can hardly think of a kid who was held back and suffered bc of it. no mention of the teaching problems either. "

These kids weren't moved ahead. They were put in the proper class. If kids struggle in the proper class more than the typical struggles a kid would experience, then they need additional supports regardless of where they are. Putting kids in the right class should never be an issue, unless there are bigger issues in need of further addressing? These might be issues with the student or issues on the school's behalf (overly accelerated curriculum), but the idea that putting typically developing 5-year-olds in a 5-year-old classroom is somehow wrong is simply mindboggling. It's clear that the primary attitude behind most redshirting is attempting to manipulate the system to gain an unfair, and ultimately futile, advantage for a child. Your kid is 5, go to kindergarten. Your kid is 6, go to first grade. If they're not ready, seek supports; don't game the system.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And round and round we go. I honestly don't understand why certain parents care what other parents choose to do. If other children are a behavior problem (which would more likely be the result of going to school too soon, than too late) that is causing problems for the class, thats one thing. Otherwise, why is it any of your business?

actually, children who are bored b/c they are more advanced than the class often have behavior problems.
and, it makes it harder for the teachers when the age (and developmental-age span) of the classroom spans 18 or more months.

Some people say they're concerned about other parents redshirting because of the seemingly-noble reasons above, but I suspect that for most parents it's really that they worry about their own "right aged" children losing an advantage, as suggested by the post below ....

Redshirts dominated in elementary and middle school. Better in sports , leaders, social, etc. It evened out at about grade 10 and 11. Socially the redshirts are more advanced than classmates. High amounts of game time has now decreased to little if any for some of them.

[Anonymous]

As I have said previously, can we worry about real problems. Having a few redshirted kids in the grade is not a big deal. Can people stop second guessing decisions made by other parents. It is none of your business!! Our son is at a Big 3, and there are several redshirted kids in the grade. It has been a non-issue at all levels, kids, parents and teachers. If some kid happens to have some school issues, that does not mean that the problem is due to redshirting. Get a life!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As I have said previously, can we worry about real problems. Having a few redshirted kids in the grade is not a big deal. Can people stop second guessing decisions made by other parents. It is none of your business!! Our son is at a Big 3, and there are several redshirted kids in the grade. It has been a non-issue at all levels, kids, parents and teachers. If some kid happens to have some school issues, that does not mean that the problem is due to redshirting. Get a life!!

School policy that allows unwarranted redshirting by parents trying to game the system to gain an advantage for their child relative to other children is EVERYONE's business. These parctices can be harmful to the children and to the school community. It is not a question of parental choice but school policy, which we parents have the right and the responsibility to scrutinize.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teacher here...

"My parents have taught for 80 years combined and both say they can name dozens of kids who were moved ahead and suffered bc of it and many, of course, did fine. But can hardly think of a kid who was held back and suffered bc of it. no mention of the teaching problems either. "

These kids weren't moved ahead. They were put in the proper class. If kids struggle in the proper class more than the typical struggles a kid would experience, then they need additional supports regardless of where they are. Putting kids in the right class should never be an issue, unless there are bigger issues in need of further addressing? These might be issues with the student or issues on the school's behalf (overly accelerated curriculum), but the idea that putting typically developing 5-year-olds in a 5-year-old classroom is somehow wrong is simply mindboggling. It's clear that the primary attitude behind most redshirting is attempting to manipulate the system to gain an unfair, and ultimately futile, advantage for a child. Your kid is 5, go to kindergarten. Your kid is 6, go to first grade. If they're not ready, seek supports; don't game the system.

AGREE!!