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Anonymous wrote:I’m redshirting my July daughter

Ditto. She's 4 and my youngest child and she's not happy about that. She's always the youngest in the class too and she's more immature. Another year of childhood seems like a great gift to give her.

She isn't less mature. You are not comparing her to her actual peers and kids a year younger. You are doing it for her, not you. You aren't giving her an extra year of childhood. You are taking away a year of being an adult and forcing them to continue being a child.

It's not robbing them of a year of adulthood, it's making sure they are as ready and a prepared as they can be to get the most out of their education. It's not a race.

I agree that education isn't a race. You know how you sometimes hear about a 12-or-13-year-old heading off to college? It's the parents of those kids who view education as a race, not the parents of the kids starting college a few weeks shy of their 18th birthdays.

So, if I have a late August vs. late September child/birthday, what exactly is the difference between a month? You may be robbing them of a year of adulthood by forcing them to be kids an extra year when they are 18/adults.

Robbing of a year of adulthood? You have only a few years of childhood, it's precious and fleeting, but decades of being an adult. Who needs another year of working, bills, taxes, and stress? Most people given the choice would likely prefer another year of being a carefree child. Maybe this is why so many 20somethings are refusing to grow and and get into "adulting" because they weren't allowed to be kids in the first place. Or their parents rushed them through school as soon as possible for no particular reason.

Or maybe kids refuse to grow up because the parents don’t support it. If you are keeping your 18 year old a child and extra year you are not allowing them to grow up.

But since redshirting is so rare, that doesn't support your hypothesis. It's not the older kids refusing to grow up.

+1

If failure to launch were a redshirting issue, it would be obvious because there are so few redshirted kids. It's not.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m redshirting my July daughter

Ditto. She's 4 and my youngest child and she's not happy about that. She's always the youngest in the class too and she's more immature. Another year of childhood seems like a great gift to give her.

She isn't less mature. You are not comparing her to her actual peers and kids a year younger. You are doing it for her, not you. You aren't giving her an extra year of childhood. You are taking away a year of being an adult and forcing them to continue being a child.

It's not robbing them of a year of adulthood, it's making sure they are as ready and a prepared as they can be to get the most out of their education. It's not a race.

I agree that education isn't a race. You know how you sometimes hear about a 12-or-13-year-old heading off to college? It's the parents of those kids who view education as a race, not the parents of the kids starting college a few weeks shy of their 18th birthdays.

So, if I have a late August vs. late September child/birthday, what exactly is the difference between a month? You may be robbing them of a year of adulthood by forcing them to be kids an extra year when they are 18/adults.

Robbing of a year of adulthood? You have only a few years of childhood, it's precious and fleeting, but decades of being an adult. Who needs another year of working, bills, taxes, and stress? Most people given the choice would likely prefer another year of being a carefree child. Maybe this is why so many 20somethings are refusing to grow and and get into "adulting" because they weren't allowed to be kids in the first place. Or their parents rushed them through school as soon as possible for no particular reason.

Or maybe kids refuse to grow up because the parents don’t support it. If you are keeping your 18 year old a child and extra year you are not allowing them to grow up.

But since redshirting is so rare, that doesn't support your hypothesis. It's not the older kids refusing to grow up.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m redshirting my July daughter

Ditto. She's 4 and my youngest child and she's not happy about that. She's always the youngest in the class too and she's more immature. Another year of childhood seems like a great gift to give her.

She isn't less mature. You are not comparing her to her actual peers and kids a year younger. You are doing it for her, not you. You aren't giving her an extra year of childhood. You are taking away a year of being an adult and forcing them to continue being a child.

It's not robbing them of a year of adulthood, it's making sure they are as ready and a prepared as they can be to get the most out of their education. It's not a race.

I agree that education isn't a race. You know how you sometimes hear about a 12-or-13-year-old heading off to college? It's the parents of those kids who view education as a race, not the parents of the kids starting college a few weeks shy of their 18th birthdays.

So, if I have a late August vs. late September child/birthday, what exactly is the difference between a month? You may be robbing them of a year of adulthood by forcing them to be kids an extra year when they are 18/adults.

Robbing of a year of adulthood? You have only a few years of childhood, it's precious and fleeting, but decades of being an adult. Who needs another year of working, bills, taxes, and stress? Most people given the choice would likely prefer another year of being a carefree child. Maybe this is why so many 20somethings are refusing to grow and and get into "adulting" because they weren't allowed to be kids in the first place. Or their parents rushed them through school as soon as possible for no particular reason.

Or maybe kids refuse to grow up because the parents don’t support it. If you are keeping your 18 year old a child and extra year you are not allowing them to grow up.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m redshirting my July daughter

Ditto. She's 4 and my youngest child and she's not happy about that. She's always the youngest in the class too and she's more immature. Another year of childhood seems like a great gift to give her.

She isn't less mature. You are not comparing her to her actual peers and kids a year younger. You are doing it for her, not you. You aren't giving her an extra year of childhood. You are taking away a year of being an adult and forcing them to continue being a child.

It's not robbing them of a year of adulthood, it's making sure they are as ready and a prepared as they can be to get the most out of their education. It's not a race.

I agree that education isn't a race. You know how you sometimes hear about a 12-or-13-year-old heading off to college? It's the parents of those kids who view education as a race, not the parents of the kids starting college a few weeks shy of their 18th birthdays.

So, if I have a late August vs. late September child/birthday, what exactly is the difference between a month? You may be robbing them of a year of adulthood by forcing them to be kids an extra year when they are 18/adults.

Robbing of a year of adulthood? You have only a few years of childhood, it's precious and fleeting, but decades of being an adult. Who needs another year of working, bills, taxes, and stress? Most people given the choice would likely prefer another year of being a carefree child. Maybe this is why so many 20somethings are refusing to grow and and get into "adulting" because they weren't allowed to be kids in the first place. Or their parents rushed them through school as soon as possible for no particular reason.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m redshirting my July daughter

Ditto. She's 4 and my youngest child and she's not happy about that. She's always the youngest in the class too and she's more immature. Another year of childhood seems like a great gift to give her.

She isn't less mature. You are not comparing her to her actual peers and kids a year younger. You are doing it for her, not you. You aren't giving her an extra year of childhood. You are taking away a year of being an adult and forcing them to continue being a child.

It's not robbing them of a year of adulthood, it's making sure they are as ready and a prepared as they can be to get the most out of their education. It's not a race.

I agree that education isn't a race. You know how you sometimes hear about a 12-or-13-year-old heading off to college? It's the parents of those kids who view education as a race, not the parents of the kids starting college a few weeks shy of their 18th birthdays.

So, if I have a late August vs. late September child/birthday, what exactly is the difference between a month? You may be robbing them of a year of adulthood by forcing them to be kids an extra year when they are 18/adults.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m redshirting my July daughter

Ditto. She's 4 and my youngest child and she's not happy about that. She's always the youngest in the class too and she's more immature. Another year of childhood seems like a great gift to give her.

She isn't less mature. You are not comparing her to her actual peers and kids a year younger. You are doing it for her, not you. You aren't giving her an extra year of childhood. You are taking away a year of being an adult and forcing them to continue being a child.

Meh I'd rather my kid enter adulthood mature, ready for the next step, and with confidence than launching them too soon. I'll take my chances with the gift of time rather than roll the dice and find out that it would be an uphill battle and struggle by forcing them before they were ready because of an arbitrary cutoff. You only get one chance to get it right. I know people who regret sending the kids on time when they were young and immature, I don't know anyone who regrets redshirting. It's not robbing them of a year of adulthood, it's making sure they are as ready and a prepared as they can be to get the most out of their education. It's not a race.

To your first sentence, if a 17-year-old who has just graduated high school doesn't feel ready for adulthood, they can just take a gap year before college. If, however, a 17-year-old who has just finished 11th grade is ready for college and bored of high school, they don't really have much choice but to stick out that last year of school.

To your last sentence, if you don't think of education as a race, you should actually be against redshirting. The word "race" implies that everyone finishes at different times. It's true that in most races, the object is to finish first. However, there are some races where the object is to be the last one standing. One notable example of the latter is a competition where everyone starts standing on one leg, and the last person still on one leg wins. Another example is a game where people dive underwater to see how long they can hold their breathe, and the last one still holding their breathe is, again, the winner. Because education is not a race, everyone should start and finish together. Everyone born in 2016 should start K in 2021 and graduate high school in 2034, everyone born in 2017 should start K in 2022 and graduate high school in 2035, everyone born in 2018 should start K in 2023 and graduate high school in 2036, etc.

DCUM antiredshirters are SO WEIRD. Do you understand how the academic calendar works.

I'm sorry. I should've been more clear. Everyone born in year N should start Kindergarten in the fall of year N+5 and graduate in the spring of year N+18.

Are you the weirdo "academic calendars are against natural law" anti-redshirter?

There is no way this weirdo even has school aged kids that her priorities seem to have nothing to do with educating kids and what is developmentally appropriate and everything to do with arbitrary timelines and absolute age which serves no real purpose.

Okay, so it doesn't affect me directly, but it does negatively affect other families. For instance, one of my colleagues has a son who turns 2 in October. She and her husband are really nice people, so chances are they're going to follow the rules and send him to Kindergarten on time, right before he turns 5. Redshirting could potentially cause my colleague's son to have a classmate a full year older than him. The same goes for any other child whose parents follow the rules. That's why I care.

Oh honey.

Your poor coworker.

The PP is an idiot. Obviously doesn't have kids and says redshirting "negatively affects other families" then says it "could potentially blah blah". Yeah, as suspected. Busy body has no clue what she's talking about, has no kids, and zero vested interest in any child's education but has a lot of stupid options she can't help but share. Might as well go into to pregnancy forum next and tell those ladies how to do it right. Wonder what other useless opinions she has on topics she has no experience or background in?

Anonymous wrote:Omg someone tell me on what page I can find the "natural law" comment, because it sounds REMARKABLE

It was another thread, unfortunately. If you search for natural law and redshirting you might be able to find some examples. The weirdo PP sounds like natural law anti-redshirter. She is prolific.

And yes it was amazing. Natural law anti-redshirter believes that "redshirting" means going to school on anything other than strict Jan 1 to Dec. 31 calendars and the calendar year is the natural law of schooling age. So people with fall birthday kids after the fall school cutoffs are also "redshirting" and cheating and harming their classmates, in addition to "normal" redshirting.

I really don't understand why DCUMs anti-redshirt posters are so strange, but redshirting threads are like a bat signal to those entertaining little weirdos, which makes the threads fun if surreal (though I feel sorry for parents who are genuinely struggling with the decision and might not understand that the DCUM anti-redshirts are not a crowd anyone rational should take advice from). I will say that reading DCUM for years has made me internally alert if I run into anyone in real life who says that they oppose redshirting because I keep waiting for the crazy to leak out.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m redshirting my July daughter

Ditto. She's 4 and my youngest child and she's not happy about that. She's always the youngest in the class too and she's more immature. Another year of childhood seems like a great gift to give her.

She isn't less mature. You are not comparing her to her actual peers and kids a year younger. You are doing it for her, not you. You aren't giving her an extra year of childhood. You are taking away a year of being an adult and forcing them to continue being a child.

Meh I'd rather my kid enter adulthood mature, ready for the next step, and with confidence than launching them too soon. I'll take my chances with the gift of time rather than roll the dice and find out that it would be an uphill battle and struggle by forcing them before they were ready because of an arbitrary cutoff. You only get one chance to get it right. I know people who regret sending the kids on time when they were young and immature, I don't know anyone who regrets redshirting. It's not robbing them of a year of adulthood, it's making sure they are as ready and a prepared as they can be to get the most out of their education. It's not a race.

To your first sentence, if a 17-year-old who has just graduated high school doesn't feel ready for adulthood, they can just take a gap year before college. If, however, a 17-year-old who has just finished 11th grade is ready for college and bored of high school, they don't really have much choice but to stick out that last year of school.

To your last sentence, if you don't think of education as a race, you should actually be against redshirting. The word "race" implies that everyone finishes at different times. It's true that in most races, the object is to finish first. However, there are some races where the object is to be the last one standing. One notable example of the latter is a competition where everyone starts standing on one leg, and the last person still on one leg wins. Another example is a game where people dive underwater to see how long they can hold their breathe, and the last one still holding their breathe is, again, the winner. Because education is not a race, everyone should start and finish together. Everyone born in 2016 should start K in 2021 and graduate high school in 2034, everyone born in 2017 should start K in 2022 and graduate high school in 2035, everyone born in 2018 should start K in 2023 and graduate high school in 2036, etc.

DCUM antiredshirters are SO WEIRD. Do you understand how the academic calendar works.

I'm sorry. I should've been more clear. Everyone born in year N should start Kindergarten in the fall of year N+5 and graduate in the spring of year N+18.

Are you the weirdo "academic calendars are against natural law" anti-redshirter?

There is no way this weirdo even has school aged kids that her priorities seem to have nothing to do with educating kids and what is developmentally appropriate and everything to do with arbitrary timelines and absolute age which serves no real purpose.

Okay, so it doesn't affect me directly, but it does negatively affect other families. For instance, one of my colleagues has a son who turns 2 in October. She and her husband are really nice people, so chances are they're going to follow the rules and send him to Kindergarten on time, right before he turns 5. Redshirting could potentially cause my colleague's son to have a classmate a full year older than him. The same goes for any other child whose parents follow the rules. That's why I care.

Oh honey.

Your poor coworker.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m redshirting my July daughter

Ditto. She's 4 and my youngest child and she's not happy about that. She's always the youngest in the class too and she's more immature. Another year of childhood seems like a great gift to give her.

She isn't less mature. You are not comparing her to her actual peers and kids a year younger. You are doing it for her, not you. You aren't giving her an extra year of childhood. You are taking away a year of being an adult and forcing them to continue being a child.

It's not robbing them of a year of adulthood, it's making sure they are as ready and a prepared as they can be to get the most out of their education. It's not a race.

I agree that education isn't a race. You know how you sometimes hear about a 12-or-13-year-old heading off to college? It's the parents of those kids who view education as a race, not the parents of the kids starting college a few weeks shy of their 18th birthdays.

No, the parents who view it a race are the ones who keep harping on the correct age one must be when graduating from high school If it's anything other than 17 then it's "too old". Too old for what? In the example of the 12-13 child prodigies in college, the fact that hardly any of them live up to the hype when they reach adulthood just underscores that maturity rather than chronological age is what matters. It's the tortoise and the hare all over again, slow and steady is the way to go.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m redshirting my July daughter

Ditto. She's 4 and my youngest child and she's not happy about that. She's always the youngest in the class too and she's more immature. Another year of childhood seems like a great gift to give her.

She isn't less mature. You are not comparing her to her actual peers and kids a year younger. You are doing it for her, not you. You aren't giving her an extra year of childhood. You are taking away a year of being an adult and forcing them to continue being a child.

It's not robbing them of a year of adulthood, it's making sure they are as ready and a prepared as they can be to get the most out of their education. It's not a race.

I agree that education isn't a race. You know how you sometimes hear about a 12-or-13-year-old heading off to college? It's the parents of those kids who view education as a race, not the parents of the kids starting college a few weeks shy of their 18th birthdays.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m redshirting my July daughter

Ditto. She's 4 and my youngest child and she's not happy about that. She's always the youngest in the class too and she's more immature. Another year of childhood seems like a great gift to give her.

She isn't less mature. You are not comparing her to her actual peers and kids a year younger. You are doing it for her, not you. You aren't giving her an extra year of childhood. You are taking away a year of being an adult and forcing them to continue being a child.

Meh I'd rather my kid enter adulthood mature, ready for the next step, and with confidence than launching them too soon. I'll take my chances with the gift of time rather than roll the dice and find out that it would be an uphill battle and struggle by forcing them before they were ready because of an arbitrary cutoff. You only get one chance to get it right. I know people who regret sending the kids on time when they were young and immature, I don't know anyone who regrets redshirting. It's not robbing them of a year of adulthood, it's making sure they are as ready and a prepared as they can be to get the most out of their education. It's not a race.

Same here. I bet if you looked at everyone who ever dropped out of college or took longer than 4 years to graduate, you'd see that the vast majority started before they were 18.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m redshirting my July daughter

Ditto. She's 4 and my youngest child and she's not happy about that. She's always the youngest in the class too and she's more immature. Another year of childhood seems like a great gift to give her.

She isn't less mature. You are not comparing her to her actual peers and kids a year younger. You are doing it for her, not you. You aren't giving her an extra year of childhood. You are taking away a year of being an adult and forcing them to continue being a child.

Meh I'd rather my kid enter adulthood mature, ready for the next step, and with confidence than launching them too soon. I'll take my chances with the gift of time rather than roll the dice and find out that it would be an uphill battle and struggle by forcing them before they were ready because of an arbitrary cutoff. You only get one chance to get it right. I know people who regret sending the kids on time when they were young and immature, I don't know anyone who regrets redshirting. It's not robbing them of a year of adulthood, it's making sure they are as ready and a prepared as they can be to get the most out of their education. It's not a race.

To your first sentence, if a 17-year-old who has just graduated high school doesn't feel ready for adulthood, they can just take a gap year before college. If, however, a 17-year-old who has just finished 11th grade is ready for college and bored of high school, they don't really have much choice but to stick out that last year of school.

To your last sentence, if you don't think of education as a race, you should actually be against redshirting. The word "race" implies that everyone finishes at different times. It's true that in most races, the object is to finish first. However, there are some races where the object is to be the last one standing. One notable example of the latter is a competition where everyone starts standing on one leg, and the last person still on one leg wins. Another example is a game where people dive underwater to see how long they can hold their breathe, and the last one still holding their breathe is, again, the winner. Because education is not a race, everyone should start and finish together. Everyone born in 2016 should start K in 2021 and graduate high school in 2034, everyone born in 2017 should start K in 2022 and graduate high school in 2035, everyone born in 2018 should start K in 2023 and graduate high school in 2036, etc.

DCUM antiredshirters are SO WEIRD. Do you understand how the academic calendar works.

I'm sorry. I should've been more clear. Everyone born in year N should start Kindergarten in the fall of year N+5 and graduate in the spring of year N+18.

Are you the weirdo "academic calendars are against natural law" anti-redshirter?

There is no way this weirdo even has school aged kids that her priorities seem to have nothing to do with educating kids and what is developmentally appropriate and everything to do with arbitrary timelines and absolute age which serves no real purpose.

Okay, so it doesn't affect me directly, but it does negatively affect other families. For instance, one of my colleagues has a son who turns 2 in October. She and her husband are really nice people, so chances are they're going to follow the rules and send him to Kindergarten on time, right before he turns 5. Redshirting could potentially cause my colleague's son to have a classmate a full year older than him. The same goes for any other child whose parents follow the rules. That's why I care.

😂 Because “really nice people” don’t make the explicitly allowed choice to redshirt? That’s the most puzzling thing about you, lady. You seem completely unable to acknowledge that your own personally invented definition of cheating is shared by pretty much no one, and certainly no school administration, public or private.

Not one single redshirting family has broken the rules. The rules are what the school says they are, and what the school says is that parents and teachers can make the judgment about which grade child belongs in.

When your nice, nice friends make decisions for their child’s education, chances are they’ll make that decision based on what’s best for their child, taking into account the recommendation of those educational professionals who know their child.

I hope they make whatever decision is best for the child. But I admit I also hope that the redshirt just to make you writhe.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m redshirting my July daughter

Ditto. She's 4 and my youngest child and she's not happy about that. She's always the youngest in the class too and she's more immature. Another year of childhood seems like a great gift to give her.

She isn't less mature. You are not comparing her to her actual peers and kids a year younger. You are doing it for her, not you. You aren't giving her an extra year of childhood. You are taking away a year of being an adult and forcing them to continue being a child.

Meh I'd rather my kid enter adulthood mature, ready for the next step, and with confidence than launching them too soon. I'll take my chances with the gift of time rather than roll the dice and find out that it would be an uphill battle and struggle by forcing them before they were ready because of an arbitrary cutoff. You only get one chance to get it right. I know people who regret sending the kids on time when they were young and immature, I don't know anyone who regrets redshirting. It's not robbing them of a year of adulthood, it's making sure they are as ready and a prepared as they can be to get the most out of their education. It's not a race.

To your first sentence, if a 17-year-old who has just graduated high school doesn't feel ready for adulthood, they can just take a gap year before college. If, however, a 17-year-old who has just finished 11th grade is ready for college and bored of high school, they don't really have much choice but to stick out that last year of school.

To your last sentence, if you don't think of education as a race, you should actually be against redshirting. The word "race" implies that everyone finishes at different times. It's true that in most races, the object is to finish first. However, there are some races where the object is to be the last one standing. One notable example of the latter is a competition where everyone starts standing on one leg, and the last person still on one leg wins. Another example is a game where people dive underwater to see how long they can hold their breathe, and the last one still holding their breathe is, again, the winner. Because education is not a race, everyone should start and finish together. Everyone born in 2016 should start K in 2021 and graduate high school in 2034, everyone born in 2017 should start K in 2022 and graduate high school in 2035, everyone born in 2018 should start K in 2023 and graduate high school in 2036, etc.

DCUM antiredshirters are SO WEIRD. Do you understand how the academic calendar works.

I'm sorry. I should've been more clear. Everyone born in year N should start Kindergarten in the fall of year N+5 and graduate in the spring of year N+18.

Are you the weirdo "academic calendars are against natural law" anti-redshirter?

There is no way this weirdo even has school aged kids that her priorities seem to have nothing to do with educating kids and what is developmentally appropriate and everything to do with arbitrary timelines and absolute age which serves no real purpose.

Okay, so it doesn't affect me directly, but it does negatively affect other families. For instance, one of my colleagues has a son who turns 2 in October. She and her husband are really nice people, so chances are they're going to follow the rules and send him to Kindergarten on time, right before he turns 5. Redshirting could potentially cause my colleague's son to have a classmate a full year older than him. The same goes for any other child whose parents follow the rules. That's why I care.

Oh well. As a parent I have to consider my own children's needs first. I redshirted 1 out of my 3 because that's what he needed. Other parents need to do the right thing for their own kids. I'm sure there are plenty of ways you advantage your kids in ways other people can only dream of. This is just one of the many examples. And it should be obvious, but there are always kids a full year older than other kids in a classroom, that is by design.

And in 3 and 4 years from now they will make decisions based on what is best for their child and their family. Ta Dah.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m redshirting my July daughter

Ditto. She's 4 and my youngest child and she's not happy about that. She's always the youngest in the class too and she's more immature. Another year of childhood seems like a great gift to give her.

She isn't less mature. You are not comparing her to her actual peers and kids a year younger. You are doing it for her, not you. You aren't giving her an extra year of childhood. You are taking away a year of being an adult and forcing them to continue being a child.

Meh I'd rather my kid enter adulthood mature, ready for the next step, and with confidence than launching them too soon. I'll take my chances with the gift of time rather than roll the dice and find out that it would be an uphill battle and struggle by forcing them before they were ready because of an arbitrary cutoff. You only get one chance to get it right. I know people who regret sending the kids on time when they were young and immature, I don't know anyone who regrets redshirting. It's not robbing them of a year of adulthood, it's making sure they are as ready and a prepared as they can be to get the most out of their education. It's not a race.

To your first sentence, if a 17-year-old who has just graduated high school doesn't feel ready for adulthood, they can just take a gap year before college. If, however, a 17-year-old who has just finished 11th grade is ready for college and bored of high school, they don't really have much choice but to stick out that last year of school.

To your last sentence, if you don't think of education as a race, you should actually be against redshirting. The word "race" implies that everyone finishes at different times. It's true that in most races, the object is to finish first. However, there are some races where the object is to be the last one standing. One notable example of the latter is a competition where everyone starts standing on one leg, and the last person still on one leg wins. Another example is a game where people dive underwater to see how long they can hold their breathe, and the last one still holding their breathe is, again, the winner. Because education is not a race, everyone should start and finish together. Everyone born in 2016 should start K in 2021 and graduate high school in 2034, everyone born in 2017 should start K in 2022 and graduate high school in 2035, everyone born in 2018 should start K in 2023 and graduate high school in 2036, etc.

DCUM antiredshirters are SO WEIRD. Do you understand how the academic calendar works.

I'm sorry. I should've been more clear. Everyone born in year N should start Kindergarten in the fall of year N+5 and graduate in the spring of year N+18.

Are you the weirdo "academic calendars are against natural law" anti-redshirter?

There is no way this weirdo even has school aged kids that her priorities seem to have nothing to do with educating kids and what is developmentally appropriate and everything to do with arbitrary timelines and absolute age which serves no real purpose.

Okay, so it doesn't affect me directly, but it does negatively affect other families. For instance, one of my colleagues has a son who turns 2 in October. She and her husband are really nice people, so chances are they're going to follow the rules and send him to Kindergarten on time, right before he turns 5. Redshirting could potentially cause my colleague's son to have a classmate a full year older than him. The same goes for any other child whose parents follow the rules. That's why I care.