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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I don't care about redshirting -- there are redshirted kids in my kid's class, it's fine, I don't even thing about it.

However as the parent of a kid with an August birthday, I also think parents worry WAY too much about their kid being youngest. Is it because of that stupid Gladwell book? It's really fine. My august birthday kid (not redshirted) is on the mature side of the grade in some things, on the immature side in others. Does well academically and I've never felt the academics are too much.

I figure most people redshirting are doing so because of some kind of delay and I'm sure that's fine. But the way it gets talked about on here, some parents seem to think that if your kid is the youngest in the grade, they are somehow disadvantaged for life. It's dumb. Kids mature at different rates anyway. Also some kids are on the small side or need extra help in math or reading even if they get he extra year.

I just think a lot of you overthink this. As long as the kids are all around the same age, it's fine, and it's more important to just support your kid at home and address any issues that come up, than worrying that their relative age will somehow be this be-all-end-all advantage or disadvantage. It's really not that big of a deal and becomes less of one as they get older.[/quote]

Not at my son's private school. Everyone will be 18.

At DCPS, students will range from 17-19.
this was my opinion, until he got to fifth grade, and then the difference in maturity started to pop up, mainly in how much the social order was being decided by the kids who were most confident, had phones first, had video games first, etc. DS was always one of the larger kids in the class but by sixth grade it was getting bad—he was going to school with some kids kids who were 12-13 years older than him—thanks to redshirting!—and it was having a detrimental effect.

We still didn't connect the dots until we applied to a private—for academic not social reasons—and the admissions office pointed out how incredibly young our son was, even before they saw his grades or saw him physically. He red-shirted and is now one of the older kids and it's like night and day. A kid who we always thought was doing fine is now doing great—now the comments from teachers are things like "unusual maturity" and 'really knows who he is" and "confident with the other kids" instead of "he's trying to fit in" and "He'll be okay with a bit more of a confidence boost"...

Obviously not right for everyone and sometimes beign around more mature kids can be a positive experience—if they're the kind of kids who mature into decent people and not mature into bullies. But, some kids can really benefit, especially if they're young for the grade.

Malcom Gladwell's book has nothing to do with this, because it's not about whether all kids will benefit from being an older kid, it's about whether the kids who are younger than their peers—by a substantial margin—in a grade will benefit from not being in that position. [/quote]

Just so you realize though, there are now kids in his class that are 13+ months younger than him. I'm glad you worked it out but this is one of the arguments against redshirting is that it's a never ending cycle with people constantly fighting not to be the youngest.

There's no question some kids do need to be held back, but a blanket allowance to start K late is what is being asked for by these parents and it's just not conducive to the system as a whole.[/quote]

well, actually, now he's in a private school that has control over the ages of the students in each grade and the flexibility to build the class as they see fit. His birthday is early July, and the youngest kid in the class is nine months younger than him.

But, you are not wrong...

That said "blanket red shirting" is just shifting the age requirements for grades. I don't really know how to fix DCPS' system but it does seem to have some problems.[/quote]

The youngest kid in the class has an early April birthday?

I feel like this is just proving why DCPS has the policy they do.[/quote]

I dunno, makes sense to me. On the day of graduation, every kid will be 18.

As it was in DC, some kids would be 18, a number of kids would still be 17 and a few kids would be weeks from turning 19. Seems effed up to me.[/quote]

Actually no. On the day of graduation, many kids would still be 17.[/quote][/quote]

At my son's private school (where he was redshirted), all kids in the class will be 18 when they graduate. At the DCPS where he was before, he would've been 17 when he graduated while some of his classmates would be days from turning 19.[/quote]

And, wonder why this is and why the school struggles to teach younger kids?[/quote]

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