Redshirting...
Remember the days when you were impressed that a friend graduated high school at 16 or when your best-friend got skipped, leaving you behind as you marveled at their achievements? Well, today such outstanding accomplishments are not receiving the accolades they used to. Parents are increasingly torn between whether to “redshirt,” hold their child back one year to start kindergarten later to ensure academic readiness. There are many factors to consider but is the national media focusing on what most parents are struggling with? Redshirting occurs more often in white affluent families and more boys are redshirted than girls.
My daughter was promoted to kindergarten at her private school. She has always been very mature for her age but still a fun loving child in her own right. When I went to enroll her in first grade at our public school, the school stated that she would have to repeat kindergarten because she was too young to go first grade. My husband and I haven’t decided what we will do. But, I know what you are thinking..”this is not actually redshirting.” True, but it’s in the same family, so let’s keep chatting.
We all agree that we must do what’s best for the child. But for some, the financial sacrifice to redshirt or the opposite of that (keeping your child in private school for an extra year because the cut-off for kindergarten is later) is not available for many parents. And how much sense does it make for us to not take advantage of a public school system that has received great reviews just because our child will lose the status of “I was skipped. or I was redshirted”? Studies on children being skipped and redshirted are inconclusive but for the most part show both types of children are on the same level academically and socially by grade 3. What are parents to do?
Chime in why don't you...
I was the girl everyone was impressed with because I graduated from high school at 16. I was always smart, quick and bright but when I got to a private HBCU I was sooo lost. Socially, I must have been behind everyone light years. Because everyone was so much older, my boyfriend at 19 who was only in a grade above me with an early birthday, my mother restricted everything I did, being completely overly protective. It was disastrous. I was void of the social skills necessary to function because she left me unprepared. when I transferred to a predominantly white Big Ten university, most of my friends were my age. Although my lifestyle was different because of my "adult" work schedule, socially I was more comfortable.
My second son had a late birthday making him the youngest in his class in an independent private school. The school wanted him "red shirted" because he was 5 going into 1st grade but there were already two kids who were 7 and the majority already 6. I fought it because he is soo smart but by October, I requested that he be moved to pre-first, fearful that there were no spaces. They politely informed me that a space had been saved just for us.
I think it was one of the BEST parenting decisions I have ever made. He is so well adjusted, confident and not struggling in the least. I think that you can't make a child learn how to sit still and not ask when is snack time every 15 minutes when every one else is sitting still quietly listening to a story. It can be disruptive to the other children and cause self-esteem issues in your child so it's not always the academic issues with redshirting that's at issue.
You also can't take a 17 year old Pre-Med to a hospital and expose them to all things medical with out them having the proper foundation of the world to stand on...
Life is too short to push your kids through. There's nothing wrong with your kids graduating from college at 22 or 23, well prepared for the world. If you push them, they might go in at 16 - 17 and still come out at 22 and 23 and you will REALLY wish you paid the extra year of Private school and not of College...
Kecia
Baltimore, MD
http://www.warmspirit.org/wellness_massage
Love the site, Mokie!
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Kecia, thanks for sharing your great story. Our son has attended the same private school for the last two years. He did very well. He turned 5 at the end of August and returned to the same school and began kindergarten. I was concerned about him being able to keep up with the challenging curriculum the same as the children who had birthdays in the earlier part of the year. Since this is my first child, I thought it would be a good idea to do my own research about "Redshirting." In many articles, I found that some parents believed a child should be held back because of their maturity and social stage or that an additional year would grant their child an advantage over the younger children the following year. On the flipside of that, many parents believed that keeping their child back would affect their self-esteem and cause them not to do well later.
Finding the right balance for our child during the early years is a challenging task, but I agree with you Kecia, pushing kids through can have do more damage than good.
However, our son is progressing well and we believe he is where he should be.
If you are not familiar with the author David Elkind's "The Hurried Child", please check out his book. "David Elkind is an author and child psychologist. His groundbreaking books The Hurried Child and Miseducation informed early childhood education professionals of the possible dangers of "pushing down" the elementary curriculum into the very early years of a child's life. By doing so, he argued, teachers and parents alike could lapse into developmentally inappropriate instructional and learning practices that may somewhat distort the smooth development of learning. He is associated with the belief of decline of social markers." www.hoover.org/publications/ednext/3385081.html - 43k
This site is wonderful!
Latisha, Newark
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My child will be entering kindergarden at the age of 6, due to the date of her birthdate. I think this is ridiculous. We currently have her in private school as not to waste vauable development of her learning skills at this point her life.
Can anyone tell me what we as a county are gaining by not providing quality education for our preschool children?
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