Redshirtting kids

Saw on the news that there is a trend of parents holding their kids back a grade in school so they can be more advanced than their peers. Its called "redshirtting". It's mostly done with kindergarteners. Is this something they should do in your opinion?

I was about a year older than most of my classmates but not because of any intentional holding me back. Something to do with a birthday at the end of the year.

As a mild mannered guy, I liked it because bullies were hesitant to mess with me. Teen years with growth spurts can make a lot of difference between a 17-year-old and an 18-year-old.

RobbieFTW wrote:Saw on the news that there is a trend of parents holding their kids back a grade in school so they can be more advanced than their peers. Its called "redshirtting". It's mostly done with kindergarteners. Is this something they should do in your opinion?

I'm not sure I get it, you hold them back for an additional year in the same class? What are they going to learn that's different from the first go-round?

Its not so much learning differently, but being a little more mature and ready to learn. In NJ the birthday cut off was Oct 1st. So before that you could enter kindergarten at 5. If you were born after Oct 1st, then you entered kindergarten at 6. I think it does make a difference. Another year of educating the child how to behave in school and in social scenarios. If they are better behaved, then they can take in more. Do you not feel as though you are smarter today than you were a year ago? of course you have learned a lot in a year... same for them.

Do i think that it is appropriate? No. I dont think i like the way they do it now either. Kids already feel so much pressure to succeed, so trying to compete against kids that have a whole year on them just adds to the pressure.

This article is on the lengthy side so I'm just posting the link.

http://www.greatschools.org/students/academic-skills/4165-redshirting-kindergarten.gs?page=2

W2L already touched on some of the points.

It's dumb and no.

RobbieFTW wrote:Saw on the news that there is a trend of parents holding their kids back a grade in school so they can be more advanced than their peers. Its called "redshirtting". It's mostly done with kindergarteners. Is this something they should do in your opinion?

For this particular reason, no. But sometimes a kid may too young/not developed enough to begin school. Then it can be for their benefit to hold them back for a year.

It seems dumb to me.

Ok, I really need to put my glasses on before I start reading here, because this is the second time in a month, I've misread a thread title due to the letters being small and fuzzy---thought this one said "Reshitting" instead of "Redshirtting" LOL

Anyway! I think holding kids back and making them repeat a grade when it's not necessary, will socially stunt them--let them stay with their peers, because they need that security at such a young age. I held my daughter back only in the sense that we started her in pre-K a year later than we could have, but for good reason. She wasn't done with eye surgeries then and I didn't want to have her in school with all that mess going on, and the grade she would've been in were the asshole snotty children of all the assholes and snots we went to school with as kids. Better to not be around those types, but if my daughter had already started school, I certainly wouldn't have purposefully held her back to repeat. She's doing fine and at 17, is in the running for Valedictorian in her class at the high school.

I wouldn't do something so haphazard. When you cut off kids from their peers and surround them with younger children who aren't as far along in the learning process as they are, I can't imagine that it wouldn't be anything but a recipe for acting out.

Never heard of this but it makes little sense. The child would likely resent not being able to advance with their original classmates, become bored having to go through again what they already learned and will probably start misbehaving. Schooling should be about what a child knows and is capable of learning more of. All this is is a neurotic parent trying to manipulate the system.