Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Why aren't parents the best judge (in public school) when it comes to accelerating children in that same, very specific, very limited circumstance? If they can choose to hold out a year, why not allow them to accelerate a year? What makes parents the best judge at delay but not the best judge at acceleration?

Take it up with your state board of education -- or the board of trustees of your private school, if you're in private school.

Huh. So you think it makes perfect sense for parents to be the best judge for retaining, but not accelerating.

And parents who think parents are the best judge for accelerating should take it up with the authorities. Yet people here get all angst ridden when parents vent about a growing trend of other parents retaining, often for no specific reason.

Interesting.

You're the one who wants a change from the status quo. So you're the one who should push for the change from the status quo.

My children are in grades appropriate for them, so I'm not particularly worried about it. I do find this discrepancy fascinating though.
You seem somewhat hostile about it. That's interesting too.

I am impatient with people who want to complain about Problem X but want other people to do the work it takes to fix Problem X.

I don't want people to do anything except admit the inconsistency. And also, explain why a parent is the best judge for whether a child should start school at 5 or 6, but not whether their child should start instead at 7, or 8. Or skip K completely. At what age do parents stop being the best judge and the school begin to be the best judge? Is it the same age for both retention and advancement? Parents arguing for (and against) redshirting often say parents are the best judge. What does that mean? Why in this case and not in others?

There is an easy answer. If a parent hold a child back, the child misses no academic content. If a child skips a year then there is a risk of missing content. The school will then be responsible for remediation. Also, there are many parent who would happily send a 4 year old to k instead of paying for an additional year of preschool, which would likely result in a bunch of kids too immature to start.

You do realize the cost of preschool for many is very expensive and not affordable to many. We were forced to hold back our September child. He enjoyed academics so we basically homeschooled him that year. He progressed enough that he skipped k. And went to 1st this year. No remediation. He was more than prepared and happy to skip k. Given he preferred the stronger academics.

Anonymous wrote:daughter in first grade just told me today 2 kids in her class already turned eight! this is FIRST GRADE!!!!!

This is ridiculous. My DC will only turn 8 in summer after he is done with his 2nd grade. So these 8 years old first graders are older than my 2nd grader!!

We have this in my son's 1st grade class as well, except that the kids turned 8 in the fall. I would not say that their behavior is obnoxious, I would say that they are acting up because they are in an environment that is not developmentally appropriate for them.

how did they turn 8 in the fall of first grade? seems like more than red-shirting going on.

I don't know. It could be an issue with attendance, I know that our public school will not promote to the next grade if you miss more than a certain number of days of school.

A friend told me the prince is redshirting George. Can't have the little King be the youngest in reception!

Anonymous wrote:

daughter in first grade just told me today 2 kids in her class already turned eight! this is FIRST GRADE!!!!!

We have this at our school - two kids turned 8 the past few months. Their behavior is obnoxious.

We have this in my son's 1st grade class as well, except that the kids turned 8 in the fall. I would not say that their behavior is obnoxious, I would say that they are acting up because they are in an environment that is not developmentally appropriate for them.

how did they turn 8 in the fall of first grade? seems like more than red-shirting going on.

daughter in first grade just told me today 2 kids in her class already turned eight! this is FIRST GRADE!!!!!

We have this at our school - two kids turned 8 the past few months. Their behavior is obnoxious.

We have this in my son's 1st grade class as well, except that the kids turned 8 in the fall. I would not say that their behavior is obnoxious, I would say that they are acting up because they are in an environment that is not developmentally appropriate for them.

Anonymous wrote:daughter in first grade just told me today 2 kids in her class already turned eight! this is FIRST GRADE!!!!!

We have this at our school - two kids turned 8 the past few months. Their behavior is obnoxious.

daughter in first grade just told me today 2 kids in her class already turned eight! this is FIRST GRADE!!!!!

If you are worried about your child being in a class with those a year older, you have a long, tough slog ahead of you.

Anonymous wrote:I am all for a set day of required age (say Sept 1st) and a 1 month leeway of parent decision whether to advance (birthdays Sept 2-Oct 1st) or hold back (Aug 1st-31st). Beyond that 30 days, your child needs to be tested and met with the school/staff development to agree whether your child needs to be held back or advanced.

If a parent has no right to advance a child on their own, they should have no right to decide not to start school at the required age.

There would be a lot of expenses for the school associated with testing to see if kids should be held back.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MYOB.

This.

Our friend's child had her perfectly normal looking, social 7 year old in kindergarten. The child spend the prior 18 months undergoing cancer treatments.

This is a different situation but why not have the school provide a tutor is she cannot go or homeschool and then she could be in 1st with kids her age.

This is exactly what's wrong with our culture. A child is undergoing cancer treatments for 18 months, was likely very ill, and pp thinks the parent should have force their seriously ill 4-5 year old to have a tutor so she/he could start school on time. Sorry, I think having their child survive and spending time with her/him was the most important priority.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Why aren't parents the best judge (in public school) when it comes to accelerating children in that same, very specific, very limited circumstance? If they can choose to hold out a year, why not allow them to accelerate a year? What makes parents the best judge at delay but not the best judge at acceleration?

Take it up with your state board of education -- or the board of trustees of your private school, if you're in private school.

Huh. So you think it makes perfect sense for parents to be the best judge for retaining, but not accelerating.

And parents who think parents are the best judge for accelerating should take it up with the authorities. Yet people here get all angst ridden when parents vent about a growing trend of other parents retaining, often for no specific reason.

Interesting.

You're the one who wants a change from the status quo. So you're the one who should push for the change from the status quo.

My children are in grades appropriate for them, so I'm not particularly worried about it. I do find this discrepancy fascinating though.
You seem somewhat hostile about it. That's interesting too.

I am impatient with people who want to complain about Problem X but want other people to do the work it takes to fix Problem X.

I don't want people to do anything except admit the inconsistency. And also, explain why a parent is the best judge for whether a child should start school at 5 or 6, but not whether their child should start instead at 7, or 8. Or skip K completely. At what age do parents stop being the best judge and the school begin to be the best judge? Is it the same age for both retention and advancement? Parents arguing for (and against) redshirting often say parents are the best judge. What does that mean? Why in this case and not in others?

There is an easy answer. If a parent hold a child back, the child misses no academic content. If a child skips a year then there is a risk of missing content. The school will then be responsible for remediation. Also, there are many parent who would happily send a 4 year old to k instead of paying for an additional year of preschool, which would likely result in a bunch of kids too immature to start.

Anonymous wrote:People wait until you get into high school. Those refugee kids splattered all over local schools are 17yr old freshman. There are 21yr old kids in high school. It is insane.

But yes the redshirting is insane. My friend's son just turned 16 as a freshman and was 7 in K. I think there should be a minimum and maximum age.

This is only a one year difference. Most freshmen turn 15 in 9th and most kindergarteners turn 6 in K. There is nothing insane about a year's difference. My kids are friends with kids who are a year older or a year younger than they are. DS was a mature kid for a 5 year old and gravitated toward the two 7 year old kids in the neighborhood. Guess what, they are still his best friends. Am I to cut off the friendship be cause there is a two year difference. Will you never put your kids on sports teams with kids who are a year older. No playdates at homes with older siblings? Send older siblings to live with grandma lest they corrupt younger siblings. My point is, kids are constantly exposed to kids a year older.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are you concerned exactly?

Yeah, OP. Does the presence of this kid some how tarnish the sheen on your shiny snowflake?

Because the redshirted kids seem to be the ones behaving badly - and constantly taking the teachers' attention away from the kids who are the right age.

My DS, with a May birthday, who went on time was the kids in the class that drove his teacher crazy. Unless you're a teacher who has taught for years, you should back off of the generalization.

My nice will start K at 6 and turn 7 in the middle of the year. She was held back because she had some serious health issues that prevented her from going on time. So while it could be a bogus red shirting situation, it could be a situation like my niece's.