“Someone has to be the youngest in class”

[Liberal_in_LA]

The Littlest Redshirts Sit Out Kindergarten
By PAMELA PAUL
Published: August 20, 2010

AFTER all those attentive early childhood rituals — the flashcards, the Kumon, the Dora the Explorer, the mornings spent in cutting-edge playgrounds — who wouldn’t want to give their children a head start when it’s finally time to set off for school?

Suzanne Collier, for one. Rather than send her 5-year-old son, John, to kindergarten this year, the 36-year-old mother from Brea, Calif., enrolled him in a “transitional” kindergarten “without all the rigor.” He’s an active child, Ms. Collier said, “and not quite ready to focus on a full day of classroom work.” Citing a study from Malcolm Gladwell's book "The Outliers" about Canadian hockey players, which found that the strongest players were the oldest, she said, “If he’s older, he’ll have the strongest chance to do the best.”

Hers is a popular school of thought, and it is not new. “Redshirting” of kindergartners — the term comes from the practice of postponing the participation of college athletes in competitive games — became increasingly widespread in the 1990s, and shows no signs of waning.

In 2008, the most recent year for which census data is available, 17 percent of children were 6 or older when they entered the kindergarten classroom. Sand tables have been replaced by worksheets to a degree that’s surprising even by the standards of a decade ago. Blame it on No Child Left Behind and the race to get children test-ready by third grade: Kindergarten has steadily become, as many educators put it, “the new first grade.”

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With the wide age spans in kindergarten classrooms, each new generation of preschool parents must grapple with where exactly to slot their children. Wiggly, easily distracted and less mature, boys are more likely to be held back than girls, but delayed enrollment is now common for both sexes.

“Technically, Lillian could go to kindergarten,” Ms. Tayse Baillieul said. Moving her up from part-time preschool would allow Ms. Tayse Baillieul to return to work and earn income. But Lillian’s preschool teachers counseled her to hold Lillian back. “They said staying in preschool a year longer will probably never hurt and will probably always help, especially with social and emotional development.”

Regardless, a classroom with an 18-month age spread will create social disparities. “Someone has to be the youngest in class,” pointed out Susan Messina, a 46-year-old mother in Washington. “No matter how you slice it.” When Clare, her daughter, who is now 9, entered kindergarten at 4, Ms. Messina was aware of widespread redshirting.

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Still, it bothers her that children in the same class are as much as a year and a half older than Clare. “She has friends who are 11 who are going to get their periods this year, and she’s still playing with American Girl dolls.” Another mother complained that her 4-year-old became hooked on Hannah Montana by her aspiring-tween classmates. A 6-year-old wielding a light saber can be awfully intimidating to a boy who still sleeps with his teddy.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/22/fashion/22Cultural.html?_r=1&src=me&ref=homepage

[bluethruandthru]

1. This was the case when my youngest started kindergarten.

She was 4 and wouldn't be turning 5 for 3 months...but the laws in the county we lived in called for any child that would be 5 by December 31st to enter Kindergarten that year. Imagine my surprise when about half the boys in her class were already 6 going on 7!
My daughter struggled with feeling like the class "dummy" for years because everyone was so much older than her. It's ridiculous allowing parents to keep their children back so they'll have an advantage.

[T Wolf]

2. Our younger was the opposite. At four, she was ready to go so we sent her. It was the best thing

for her.

I think it is really sad that parents are pulling this redshirt bullshit with kids barely out of diapers.

But I guess it is to be expected in modern America - where getting ahead by any means is the only thing that matters.

[slampoet]

6. My ma was told not to enter me at age 4 even though i could read and spell. Reading was 1st grade

subject matter not even gotten to in kindergarten.

Thank goodness she entered me. I was almost always bored with my subject in school and got almost all of my education from the library years before it came up. Sending me at age 6 would have bored me completely out of learning all together.

[sandnsea]

3. I was always the youngest in class

And until I went to high school, always the smartest. Kids are different. I thought we wanted an education system that allowed kids to compete on readiness rather than a rigid age requirement.

[mike_c]

4. kids need time to be kids, dammit....

I hated sending my daughter to kindergarten when she was five years old. She adjusted just fine, but I still don't see the NEED to impose that adjustment on children that age unless THEY pursue it.

[tammywammy]

5. My birthday is Sept 4

The rule in Texas is you have to be 5 by Sept 1 to enter kindergarten. So, the first year, when I was a few days shy, my mom enrolled me into a private kindergarten. She told the teacher that she understood I would still have to do it again the next year, and so she wasn't worried about my performance. The next year I did kindergarten again. So I was naturally one of the oldest in my class.

[exboyfil]

8. Funny the difference in school districts

My youngest was born Sept. 5th, and our cut off was Sept. 15th. We would probably have sent her except her preschool cutoff was Sept. 31st so she would have had only one year of preschool. She is one of the older children but not the oldest in her class. The age does have some bearing on TAG placement though (your test scores are adjusted for age).

I was born Sept. 20th, and I was placed early in 1st grade (no kindergarden). I struggled my first two years. In retrospect my parents should have had me repeat first grade (I was way behind in reading in 1st grade, changed schools after 1st grade, and missed almost a month of school for 2nd grade). It worked out in the end since I finished with a pretty good GPA, took Honors courses in High School, got a ROTC scholarship, and went to a university in the top ten in engineering. I wonder if my early adversity and lack of ability of my parents to help me through it made me a better student? My daughters have an entirely different upbringing with active participation by me in their education. They are tracking a year ahead of me in Math and Science because of my intervention.

[AnnieBW]

7. Yeah, so?

I was in something called "Junior First Grade" because my birthday was after the cutoff date for starting first grade, and my parents didn't push to get me into first grade. My friend Karen, who is a week older than me, graduated a year ahead of me.

OTOH, my friends have a son who was born on September 3rd. The cutoff date for their county's schools is... September 1st. They had to have this kid tested out the wazoo just to have him start kindergarten with the rest of his cohort. Ironically, the kid blew away the tests because he's lived in Japan and England before coming back to the States.

[JCMach1]

9. In British schools they have K-1 and K-2... starting at age 4

K-1 is what Kindergarten was when most of us were little.