Reply to My son's kindergarten class has several 7 yr olds in it.

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote]My sense, especially since the metaphor is borrowed from sports, is that whether you accept or reject the practice probably relates to how you look at schools. I'm an educator so I look at them as places whose primary function is to foster learning. From that perspective, the practice makes lots of sense. If, by contrast, school's primarily an arena for competition I guess some people will resent any practice that helps some other kid but doesn't benefit their own. I just don't think it's such a zero-sum game. [/quote]

But it isn't always that simple, especially if your kid happens to have very asynchronous development. So if a child is advanced academically and behind socially/emotionally, what to do? Some think those kids should be held back, but in many cases it can make their social issues worse to be the oldest. But because so many people hold their kids back, sending them on time becomes not such a great choice either.

I guess it just seems to make sense to me that if everyone sent their kids on time, then it would make the overall spread in the classroom less than what it is now. By holding kids back we enable schools to perpetuate developmentally inapprorpiate curriculum.[/quote]

I'm the PP you quoted and I agree that it can be a tough choice.  What seems simple to me is the decision that it's an option that should be available to parents in such situations.

And I think that if everyone sent their kids at the same time, you'd actually see a greater spread.  Parents generally decide to hold kids back because they're concerned that their kids would be outliers in a classroom full of age-mates.  So the logic is increase the age spread to narrow the readiness spread (or, more accurately, since these schools are generally quite rigid about enforcing the minimum age, to minimize the number of kids for whom readiness could be a problem).

I think that whether or not the curriculum is age-appropriate has less to do with the kids than with parents, politics, markets, etc. 
[/quote]

You would have a 12 month spread if everyone sent their child on time.  Sorry but one dad who held his march child back said he felt forced into it after the older one got action figures for Xmas and others electric razors.     Another spring told me she[and DH] wanted to ensure another year of growth and confidence for college sports potential.   People in the public school universe thought the March extremely odd but it was not unusual at the private attended by the child.[/quote]

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