Re: study of red****rting (late entrance to kndergarten)

In article <rKudnQ2gJJg2yhzVnZ2dnUVZ_srinZ2d@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>, toypup says...
>
>
>
>"Nikki" <skavanagh@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message 
>news:z-Cdnc7dmMLOTx3VnZ2dnUVZ_qTinZ2d@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>> The problem we are also dealing with is that when it becomes soooo
common 
>> the typical age really is a young age.  My kid was born in April so
nearly 
>> 5.5yo when he started kindy.  He was the youngest boy in the class.  He

>> repeated a grade and he is the oldest of course but there are a few in 
>> there with him.
>
>So true.  DS is a June birthday against a December 2 cutoff and he was
one 
>of only two boys in class not red****rted.  That made him among the
youngest 
>of the class and the second youngest boy.

That's part of the problem of red****rting when it snowballs.  Parents
begin to
feel pressured to do it, when they otherwise wouldn't, because it gets to
the
point that following the normal schedule *disadvantages* their child.

>
>The oldest boy was a mid-December birthday who was red****rted.  He is
bright 
>(though not as bright as it would first appear considering his age),
reading 
>at the third grade level when kindergarten started.  The kindergarten 
>teacher was nice and developed an special customized curriculum for him. 
He 
>had homework different from the class for the entire year.  The mother
was 
>very upset this year that the teacher did not challenge him, gave him 
>regular class homework with enrichment she didn't like.  She complained
he 
>was bored, that she should have done what kindy teacher did for him.  He 
>made no progress the entire year in his academic skills because he was so

>far ahead.  Really, this is a hole she dug for herself and her child and 
>should have foreseen.  I asked why she didn't skip him up a grade (which 
>would have put him at least in the proper grade and he would have been 
>learning multiplication and division, which he did not know), and she
said 
>she didn't even think of it.  But that kid didn't learn anything new the 
>entire year.  What a waste of two years of schooling (the year he missed 
>being red****rted and this past year in first grade).
>
>I understand the teachers should challenge the students who are gifted,
but 
>what about all these gifted red****rted kids?  Is it reasonable to expect 
>that if you red****rt your kid, that the teacher will always develop a 
>special curriculum specially tailored for the entire year?  I do feel for

>the kid, but what do the parents expect when they pull something like
this?

Of course not.  This is this idea that someone sets things up however
strikes
them as maximally beneficial for themselves, then everyone has to bend
around
that.

>
>Honestly, my opinion is that there is a test for skipping grades, make a 
>test for red****rting.  There are kids who need it, but only kids who need
it 
>should be red****rted.  My guess is some of these competitive parents (not

>all are competitive, but it can get that ways some places) wouldn't  want

>their kid to be officially declared not ready for school by anyone but 
>themselves and will stop with the red****rting already. 

Good idea.  How to enforce, though?  Without perhaps having truant
officers
appear at five and six year old's doors.  Also, what of kids like my son
with a
teacher happy and eager to testify as to his need to be red****rted.

Banty