DEAR TEACHER
– by Peggy Gisler and Marge Eberts
Helping all parents make their
children’s educational experience
as successful as possible
Redshirting Is Not
as Popular as Many
Parents Believe
Q
uestion: My son is a sum-
mer baby who will be 5
this July. I’ve been told to
meet with a kindergarten teacher to find
out if he’s ready to start school. But I’m
also looking down the line to middle and
high school, when he may face another
set of maturity issues — something no
one can predict, obviously. I’d like to
know what the experts think. Do most
children with summer birthdays begin
kindergarten as 5-year-olds? When is it a
good idea to send a child to kindergarten
as a 6-year-old? — Decision Time
Answer: The experts are all over
the place in answering this question. The
highly-regarded National Association
for the Education of Young Children
says to send children to kindergarten
when they meet the age requirement. On
the other side, there are books and arti-
cles galore about the wisdom of holding
children, especially boys, back if they
have summer birthdays. And over the
years, we have received countless letters
endorsing one view or the other because
parents have sent or redshirted their chil-
dren.
Since no one has a crystal ball, we
advise considering: opinions of pre-
school teachers; children’s relationships
with their peers; interest in academic
areas, especially reading and math; the
age of most of the children in the local
kindergarten; and the appropriateness of
the kindergarten curriculum for young
children.
It also can be helpful to visit the kin-
dergarten that your son will attend and
see if it might be appropriate for your
child. And do use the school’s readiness
checklist or the one on our Dear Teacher
website (dearteacher.com) to get more
information on your child’s readiness.
Finally, remember, you are the one who
knows your child best and will make the
best decision for him.
Here are some statistics for you:
The National Center for Education Sta-
tistics reports that academic redshirting
occurs at the rate of about 9 percent na-
tionwide among kindergarten-age chil-
dren. Boys are more likely than girls to
be redshirted, and in affluent communi-
ties the rate of redshirting can be as high
as 20 percent of the students.
A Good Approach to
Sports for Children
Question: All my son in fifth grade
wants to do is play soccer. Is this the
best approach for being a good player?
He wants a private coach now. What is
happening to kids’ sports today? — Ath-
lete’s Mom
Answer: People used to think that
children did better playing the same
sport year-round starting at a young age.
However, today Stephen Curry of the
Golden State Warriors basketball team
is changing this model. You and your
son should go online and read one of the
many stories about Curry’s approach to
youth sports. Curry feels that children
are much healthier at a young age if they
play a whole sports buffet, from baseball
to soccer
Today in an age of hyper-special-
ization, this Golden State Warriors star
feels that his sports career has benefited
from his playing multiple sports until he
reached college. Curry reached the pin-
nacle of his sport by not specializing in
one sport. He did the exact opposite, as
he not only played basketball but also
played football, soccer, and baseball.
The American Medical Society for
Sports Medicine, the American Acad-
emy of Pediatrics, as well as the Inter-
national Olympic Committee have all
supported Curry’s position that children
should sample a variety of sports be-
fore concentrating on one. There is the
danger that focusing on only one sport
can lead to overuse injuries as well as
burnout. There is also the argument that
it can be more fun for children to play
several different sports.
High Early Achievement
Translates into Future
Success
Question: I am very proud of my
elementary and middle school children’s
academic achievements. They score off
the charts on standardized tests. Is this
high level of achievement likely to con-
tinue when they are adults? — High
Achievers
Answer: It is highly likely that your
children will continue to be high achievers
as adults. A Duke University Talent Iden-
tification’s Study of Mathematically Pre-
cocious Youth (SMPY) found that those
who were in the top 0.01 percent (or the
top 1 in 10,000) for their age on above-
grade-level tests in the 1980s and 1990s
grew up to make outstanding accomplish-
ments. They found that 37 percent of these
students earned doctorates, 7.5 percent
became tenured professors, and 9 percent
held at least one patent by 40.
This study was a strong validation
of earlier SMPY studies that showed that
students tested and identified as gifted
at an early age generally become high-
achieving adults. And interestingly, their
quantitative and verbal scores were good
predictors of the type of career they were
likely to follow.
Similar outcomes were found in the
long-running Genetic Studies of Genius
by Lewis Terman of Stanford University.
The young people in the study were gen-
erally successful later in life, and many
were rewarded for achievement.
Parents should send questions and com-
ments to dearteacher@dearteacher. com
or to the Dear Teacher website.
March 2019 WNY Family 51