Quote:
Originally Posted by Clodfobble
I imagine it's because kids are artificially grouped into grade levels, which are then considered equal. The oldest kid in 1st grade might be almost an entire year older than the youngest kid, yet they will be expected to be equal.
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LL went to a private school up until... well next month. The school gimmick is that their kids test an average of a year ahead of grade on all standardized tests. We didn't realize until we were already part of the system is that it's because all of the kids are at least a year older than they should be in that grade. They gave us a lot of trouble over starting LL in kindergarten the same year he would have in a public school but we overruled the administration and did it anyway. When he was in first grade they called us in and told us they were concerned because LL was testing "low". It turns out that meant he was middle of the road in his class. He was 6 and the oldest kid in his first grade class turned 8 in September.
They tried scaring us with the "he'll be picked last in sports", "when he gets older scouts will ignore him because he'll be younger than his classmates", and the classic "boys mature slower than girls and he'll be an immature high school freshman in a class full of 16 year old girls".
We ignored them and they finally backed off after the 3rd grade soccer team asked for him to be on their team... when he was a full year or so younger than the first graders. The teachers just ignored us and we ignored them from that point on.
Lil Lookout has always been grouped with kids older than himself. When he was 4 the other parents didn't want him playing Under6 soccer so he played with the Under8's. Now he turned 9 and when he plays rec league he plays with the Under14's. Club team he plays with his own age group but has been invited to help on tournament teams up to two years older than he is.
I can look back on it now and see that it was all down to the number of hours he spent on the field at an early age. He is 9 but has probably spent the same number of hours practicing and playing as an average12-13 year old player.