Matt Yglesias talks about the growing trend of parents holding their kid back a year so that they’ll be advanced relative to their class. With our oldest starting kindergarten in a couple weeks (by the way — who decided school starts in mid-August!? Absurd!) we’ve noticed this kind of jockeying from many parents.

I think it’s silly if not actually counter-productive. I would rather my child be around children who were a little bit more developed than him. It spurs him on. Maybe I’m being egotistical about his brains, but I think our kid will be bored a lot in school as is, if the level is dumbed down that much more it will be that much worse. Then there’s the overall time — you are robbing them of a year of adult life. When they are nineteen they don’t want to be stuck in school and you don’t want them around. It’s better for everyone if he grows up when it’s time to grow up.

Mrs. Muttrox adds: I couldn’t help contributing to this post as the education of young children is just about the only thing I can speak about with much authority these days. I’m split on this issue. I’ve seen kids “redshirted” for rational reasons- a child (usually a boy) who is slightly developmentally delayed and barely makes the age cut-off for kindergarten held back in pre-K for another year. Sometimes this makes sense. Kindergarten is not what it used to be. Many districts have all day kindergarten now. ALL kids are expected to be read, write, and understand fairly complex math concepts well before the end of kindergarten. Many boys just turning five are still working on the ability to sit still and follow directions for hours at a time, never mind accomplishing real academic milestones. Generally, girls at this age are better able to control impulses and have more developed verbal capabilities.Unlike what the article claims, this is the reason I’ve typically seen for the gender gap seen in higher education now. Girls start out ahead from the beginning and are more likely to naturally possess the skills lauded by teachers (listening, sitting still, following directions) which lead to continued success in school. I have a hard time believing the conclusion of the article that redshirting has led to gender inequality in higher education mainly because redshirting is a relatively new phenomenon which I doubt has had time to show such a long-term effect.

On the other hand, many parents in our area hold back boys with summer birthdays because of the “fear factor.” These boys are clearly ready for school but their parents feel that they will somehow be at a disadvantage by being younger, either immediately or in the future. I have heard future competitiveness in junior high sports used as a rational for keeping a child back. This seems to me yet another example of highly anxious suburban parents trying to micromanage their children’s lives in an attempt to ensure their future success. I also recently read that redshirting is further increasing disparities between high and low income children because this practice is a luxury of the prosperous. School is free day care, and many families simply can’t afford to pass it up. As a result, poorer children find themselves not only with less formal preparation for kindergarten (preschool, enrichment classes, etc), but also nearly a year younger than the more privileged children in their class. All that being said, I am relieved that our childrens birthdates coincidentally save us from having to make this decision.