Comments on: Kindergarten "redshirting." What would you do?
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- First of all, as a public school teacher in northeast Wisconsin, in my opinion, in the interview in this week's segment of "60 Minutes" there was no testing data discussed. Research or valuable data reveals a lot of information of a child's progress and/or delays. Secondly, 5 year old kindergarten is much different, rigid, and harder than a 4 year old kindergarten in the skills of academics, etc. Many children are entering without the background knowledge or prerequisite skills to be able to succeed in 4 and 5 year kindergarten. Thirty years ago or more, kindergarten was not 'strong with academics' like it is at the present time. There is not as much playtime and social time like we had years ago because of the skills and lessons that have to be covered according to the state standards. (Wisconsin has many standards.) As a parent, I have 2 children who did very well in our public school, however, their maturity and ability to learn new material was watched over the years. Granted they started 4 year old (private) kindergarten and were taught to read and calculate simple math facts. When they were in 5 year old kindergarten at the public school they had a good foundation to continue with their academics. I think providing all students with a good foundation and evaluating their test scores will alleviate many problems down the road for students.
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- They missed some very important points.
It is not just about the effects at the elem level.
It is also about do you want to send a 17 yr old to college? Do you want to put your kid into the car of another teenager that can drive where you have NO influence? Would you rather have your kid driving and have more impact?
Coming from a family of educators (6 in the family) ALL.... ALL stated that it was better to allow for more maturity. It was not about being the smartest... biggest.. it was simply that the more mature the better that education can be obtained by that child.
Sending an almost 19 yr old boy to college vs a 17 yr old is night and day.
I held my son with an Aug 22nd bday. He was too immature and not ready to start kindy. Have no regrets.
I did NOT hold my daughter...late July bday... she was very mature and ready.
I think this is a child by child decision. Parents can only make the decision they think best for their child. I don't think anyone has to right to tell them they are wrong. You do the best for your child that you can... That is being a good parent. - Reply to this comment
- I am an educator and a parent as well and I am so glad that 60 Minutes did a piece on "redshirting'. Part of my job is to help out with Children starting Kindergarten and assisting families with this process. Every year I meet with parents who are not sure if they should send their children to Kindergarten since they will be one of the youngest in the class. My advice is almost always to send the child to Kindergarten when the school district says to. In my experience, I don't really see the advantage of holding a child back. I work with students all the way through elementary school as a school counselor and I don't find myself saying "Oh, it's because of the student's age that they have academic or social problems". Children are children and it doesn't matter what month they are born in in order to be successful in elementary school and life as a whole. I agree with many of the parents interviewed that it is to give their child an advantage. But at what price? When parents hold the July and August children back, then the May and June children become the youngest. The "disadvantage" is then placed on them for being the new youngest in the grade and at the bottom of the totem pole. Someone is always going to be the youngest.
One thing the story touched on is how students that are redshirted are often bored when they eventually start Kindergarten. I see this with my work. These children also watch as their peers who happen to be a few months older than them start Kindergarten without them. These children's parents have to then explain why they aren't starting Kindergarten even though age-wise, they should be.
My child has a summer birthday and will be one of the youngest when he starts Kindergarten. I am proud of my decision to allow him to start when the school district says he should start and not giving him another year so that he can have some sort of "advantage" over his peers. If he is challenged by the academics of Kindergarten, so be it. That's life and it's an important lesson for him to learn at a young age that world doesn't change for him, he needs to change for the world. - Reply to this comment
- Thanx CBS & 60 Minutes for calling out this disgusting behavior that is now reached epidemic proportions in public schools as kids are being held back for ALL the WRONG reasons these days based on the PARENTS judgement and not on a professionals.....
School districts should put their feet down on this immoral behavior like Chicago has and force these crazy people to seek another forums to make themselves feel better about themselves and their children.......
These same crazy people who redshirt their children also expect the school districts to expend money on resources to teach them accelerated subject matter??? How crazy is that? If they had started their child when they should have, then the curriculum would be appropriate for their child's level....yet, more hard earned taxpayer dollars have to go toward this insanity....
people just can't seem to follow the rules....since thats for other people to do, but not them....a very sad state of affairs in the USA's educational system..... - Reply to this comment
- I have taught for 42 years, Kindergarten and Second Grade. I have always, and will ALWAYS be an advocate of holding a child back if he/she needs another year of growth and development! Of the few I have held back, and have had the privilege of teaching again, they ALL have been successful. I do not agree that ALL children who were born close to the starting date should be held back (or "redshirting" as it must be called now), but looking at each child as an indivitual, and look what's best for him/her. It's not what is best for the parent, but what is best for that child. No matter how smart a child is, if they don't have the social maturity, it makes a BIG difference, and will cause many more problems as they get older. It took my child, who has a summer birthday, AND was reading when starting Kindergarten, 30 years and a child to grow up. Kudos to those parents who wanted to hold their child back, and I'm so sorry that the system wouldn't let them. In most systems the parent has the FINAL word! It's time that many Americans learn that education is not just academics, but being developmentally ready for whatever grade they are in. The saddest part of education today is that nobody really cares about kids anymore. It's ALL ABOUT DATA!!!
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- I am troubled by the whole premise of the story...that we are somehow bad parents because we decided to be involved in our children's lives and make decisions that would perhaps give them a good or better start in life. As opposed to all the neglectful parents who shove their kids out the door as soon as possible and as often as possible so they can have more "me" time.
A little more balance to this story would have been nice. How about interviewing a few representative veteran kindergarten teachers who can speak to the issue from a practical perspective? Instead we get an egghead academic who, if he has kids, they are probably adults, and another academic with a hair style trying to look like Einstein who looks barely old enough to shave much less have any valuable experience to draw upon. - Reply to this comment
- One aspect that Morley didn't address was that the school districts have a vested interest in keeping kids,especially boys, out of school until they are as old and "developed" as possible. In my school district, I have raised three daughters and one son. I know from talking to other parents that if they have a son, then if he isn't 5 by the end of January (our kindergarten cutoff is August 31), then if they put him in kindergarte, then the school will make sure he is held back. This is so wrong but what is a parent to do. This was occuring back in the '80's. I can only feel sorry for today's parents because the situation is 100 times worse.
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- Where to start on this topic.....First, I would like to begin by taking the stance of definitely being AGAINST this behavior....To me, its unbelievable that parents would stoop to this level of behavior in trying to gain an advantage for their child......quite frankly, its actually quite JUVENILE as today it hard to tell which human is more the childish, the parent or their 5 year old.....
so, now that thats out of the way, lets stop for a moment and consider perhaps an exception.....I see no problem if someone has a child who has a learning disability or a physical disability that is in FACT a legitimate MEDICAL reason to red shirt their child....the point here is that the child would not be ready to meet the standards of Kindergarten and therefore should be forced to fail, but that is the ONLY reason why a red shirt should be permitted to happen and school districts should require a physcians authorization..........
now, the primary problem with this red shirting behavior that most of the people who do it don't seem to think about or consider the impact of it is that most of the them then expect the school district to put their child in accelerated classes!!!?!??!?! So, as a taxpayer, I have to pay for additional teachers for children who should have started school earlier and are really not gifted or accelerated yet are forcing the use of resources because they want their child to be considered special.....this is total nonsense and I say if a child who has been redshirted needs accelerated or gifted services then the child should just be promoted to the grade they are supposed to be in in the first place......
as far as the child gaining an advantage in sports....again, this is utter nonsense, although the child will have an advantage early on, once the growth rates even out in the mid teens, it really doesn't matter anymore...the child is either a scholarship athlete or they aren't....no amount of holding the child back for a year or two will change that.....
in my opinion, the same is true academically, although the redshirted child may get labeled as accelerated or gifted earlier on, other children will catch up and surpass them; however, its sadly up to the school district to police this...and this is what the unethical behavior of those who redshirt their children are counting on NOT TO HAPPEN...
I have to only laugh at the extent of some of these LOSER parent will go to...to try and game the system....just a very sad and disgusting reality of just how pathetic some people are.... - Reply to this comment
- As a first grade teacher and parent of a November boy, I think about this issue on a daily basis. The district where I teach has a Dec 1st cut off, where the one I live in has a Dec. 31st cut off. Holding a child back is not done to always provide the child with the "upper hand." It is often to level the academic playing field. Because of these cut off dates, there are children who are 4 years old for months while in Kindergarten. Developmentally, it is not the same as a 5 year old. I held my child back, not because he wasn't academically prepared, but because I thought he needed more time to mature. Of course, every parent has their own views about when their child is prepared, as well as what is best.
As a teacher, I see that often the district uses the late birthdays as the reason for why a child is having academic difficulty. If I have concerns about a child's progress, the first thing that I am asked is "when is their birthday." If districts believe that these cut off dates are appropriate and create a level playing field for all children, they can't then use those late birthdays to excuse a child from showing the appropriate academic progress. When it comes to state tests, those children are all given the same exam, with the same expectations no matter what their age is, even if they are at different spots developmentally. I truly believe that all schools should have a Sept. 1 cut off, all children 5 when they walk in the door for Kndergarten. My younger son has a birthday at the end of August and will be starting K when he is supposed to. It's about starting Kindergarten at age 5, the developmentally appropriate age. - Reply to this comment
- Over the years I've often had occasion to wonder what planet the 60 Minutes people inhabit. This piece may have provided a valuable clue: apparently, it's a place where parthenogenesis is common.
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