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TIME: Almanac 1990
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1990 Time Magazine Compact Almanac, The (1991)(Time).iso
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1990-09-19
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EDUCATION, Page 102The Redshirt SolutionFor some children, delaying kindergarten is the right choice
Kathy and Jeff Hewson of Ocean Township, N.J., faced a tough
decision. Their son Christopher had turned five and was eligible
to enter kindergarten. Christopher had already spent two years at
nursery school, but its director felt he was "developmentally
young." She recommended that kindergarten be delayed; the Hewsons
agreed; and a year later they could not be happier with their
choice. Christopher, who started kindergarten in September, is now
a secure, energetic little boy who plays easily with his peers. "By
keeping our son back last year, we gave him a gift," says Kathy.
"We allowed him to be a child for one more year."
Resisting the temptation to turn their child into an early
overachiever, a surprising number of parents are consciously
delaying their youngster's entrance to kindergarten even when age
eligible. This is known, quaintly, as redshirting, after the common
university practice of keeping athletes out of games to allow them
an extra year of playing eligibility. To some teachers, redshirting
children is necessary because all too many kindergartens are more
concerned with academics than with the emotional and physical
development of youngsters. To others, the practice is not much
better than coddling.
Leslie Rescorla, a Bryn Mawr clinical child psychologist, notes
that it is currently common practice for educators to recommend
that socially or physically immature children with autumn birthdays
enter kindergarten at six, rather than five. The practice makes
sense, Rescorla says, if parents have special concerns about their
child's social development: "If it's interacting, cooperating,
playing with others you're worried about, then keeping children in
nursery school for another year is good. It's nursery school, not
kindergarten, where these important skills are now being learned."
Eric Dlugokinski, a University of Oklahoma psychologist,
believes five-year-olds need to spend some time away from home,
but, for late bloomers, an academically oriented kindergarten may
not be the right environment. If a child does poorly in a first
school experience, "that failure is very hard to eradicate. You
want a child's first experience in learning to be satisfying." He
thinks kindergartens should de-emphasize early exposure to the ABCs
and concentrate on what he calls an "emotional competence
curriculum," meaning one that teaches children such social skills
as how to share and how to deal with their feelings.
Sue Bredekamp, an executive with the National Association for
the Education of Young Children, feels that redshirting may be of
value to about 1% of children but in some places is routinely
suggested for 30% of kindergarten applicants. "Being older is no
guarantee of success," she says. "By holding children back, you'll
never know what they could have done if you let them go on."
How can parents decide if delaying kindergarten is right for
their child? Psychologist Dlugokinski raises these questions: Is
the child well-enough coordinated to hold pencils properly? Is he
or she impulsive or shy about playing with others? Was he or she
slow to walk or talk? Does the child seem fearful about leaving
home? If any answer is yes, the youngster may be a potential
redshirt.