Reply to This age discrepancy due to "redshirting" is ridiculous

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Reply to "This age discrepancy due to "redshirting" is ridiculous"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]
In the mid to late eighties, Virginia gradually switched deadline from 31 December to 30 September. It took a few years, so among kids who entered K in those years there was at least a 15 month age span within each grade. Families had a fair amount of discretion to send their children or not during those years, with the date moving back a month each year, so there were a lot of September, October, and December birthday kids who were a year apart from each other in those classes.  
So, if you went to school in Virginia and you are in your late twenties or early thirties, this was your school experience. What did you think? Were you very aware of the age differences in the kids in your grade? Did it make a big difference in your experience of school?
[/quote]

I went to Virginia schools before the deadline was switched, but yes, children were aware of each other's ages. Age is a big thing in kid world. Even if we didn't know specifically you were held back (I had one K classmate who was held back) we knew who was "older than average." Even if we didn't know specifically you were leapfrogged a grade, we knew who was "younger than average."

Knowing the ages of other students did not make a big difference in my experience. However, I was a high achiever with strong academic talents, one of those grade skipping people.I do have concerns about the trend of redshirting because it contributes to the tendency of schools to have unrealistic expectations of the average K student. It makes parents ask questions like "my rising K isn't reading yet, will it be ok?" which is ridiculous when you compare it to things our parents used to ask about us "my rising K isn't snapping her pants yet, will it be ok?"[/quote]

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