Reply to "redshirting" - holding kids back a year just to gain an advantage

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I don’t get this. Our daughter’s birthday is in September. The school we had applied to last year suggested she needs to be redshirted. And I am against it. Now I see that some parents go out of their ways to do this [/quote]

A few privates we looked at wanted me to hold my September kid back and couldn't give me any good reason given they had all top grade and test scores.[/quote]

I think what you’re missing is the social aspect of this as your kid gets older. Most kids start in kindergarten with the top test scores but some are a year older than your child. How will that go when they start hitting puberty at different times, are trying out for the same sports teams, and are hitting milestones much later. I know we all want to believe that our kids are the very smartest and somehow they’re all above average but the youngest in the class are often at a disadvantage socially especially as they get into middle and high school.[/quote]

... which is an argument against redshirting, not in favor of it.

If the school wants everyone to start K at 6th, they can just make that the cut off and offer a "pre-1st". It's weird to say the cut off for K is 5 and then insist that everyone redshirt. I don't get what the point of that is.

Also, in the PP's case, the effect of that policy works against a high performer. Because if a child has top test scores at 5 heading into K, but the school wants that child to wait a year before beginning K material, they are basically saying, "no we want to wait until the other kids in her age cohort have caught up." That's a weird thing for a school that claims to be academically rigorous to do.[/quote]

Again, this is not about academics. Most kids at private schools are getting top test scores. The schools are saying to the younger kids it would be better for you socially to wait a year so you’re not the little guy in middle school, academically you are all about the same and you’d be fine either way but as you get older there will be more important factors that the most pushy parents of little test takers haven’t considered.[/quote]

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