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[quote=Anonymous]People - and schools - do it on purpose. Children test better when they're older, they find it easier to handle the excessive workload, and they're likely to be more capable athletically.

I perceive some negatives. Parents holding their children back due to (inappropriate) educational expectations encourage schools in continuing with those inappropriate educational expectations, as well as other parents. When parents hear "Johnny read Oliver Twist in Kindergarten!" they don't hear "Johnny, age 7, read Oliver Twist!" and think their "Billy, age 5, struggling with Cat In The Hat" is disadvantaged at best or delayed at worst. Educators should explain to parents that children achieve fluency over a range of ages instead of suggesting that a 5/6/7 year old who is still working on achieving fluency is somehow behind. Instead, they are well aware that children who are reading fluently are basically self-educable and they want children reading fluently from the beginning of their academic careers. Additionally, children who are older have longer attention spans and require less behavior management, so naturally educators prefer those children in their classrooms. I think that can lead to children who are intellectually ready for more of a challenge being prevented from engaging in that challenge because of a single area of slower growth. As I told my child's teachers, if I were retained in Kindergarten due to immature social growth, I would probably still be struggling to be promoted to first grade.

It will be interesting to see what the kids who have grown up in this environment do for their own children when it comes time. [/quote]

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