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Location: Full Time: N.NJ Part Time: S.CA, ID, Coastal GA
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One thing to add.
If you're truly on the fence - read malcolm gladwell's book Outliers. He discussed this topic in detail (with research). I'm doing this from memory - but bottom line is "older" kids are smarter (or, more fairly, more developed), bigger, stronger, etc. This is internalized and carried on into young adulthood. This is also why you're seeing it more in wealthier communities where parents try to give their kids every possible head start. Don't kill the messenger. Great book/author either way.
OP, I'll try to suggest this gently: in my experience, there's not usually a huge intellectual maturity difference between a seventeen year old versus an eighteen year old, or an eighteen year old versus a nineteen year old, and then as they go into their early 20s, the differences level out even more. Your son might well have required two attempts at pre-Calculus, or taken five years versus four years to finish a Bachelor's degree, even if he'd started school a year later - he might just not be quite as academically adept as his friend group. Comparison is the thief of joy.
Also, it's really common for students to go to college without having taken Calculus yet - typically only the top math students are taking Calc in high school. It's not like he was BEHIND by not doing Calc in HS, he was just not as far AHEAD as some peers were. Five years from now it won't matter that he took an extra year to finish his Bachelor's, especially if he takes the extra year as an opportunity to network and get some practical experience and connections. He's above average in academic achievement however you cut it.
The purpose is this post is to encourage parents of kids born between October and December to think long-term when deciding whether or not to send them to kindergarten at 4. Our son has a late November birthday, and when he was 4, all that mattered to us was that he was ready for Kindergarten. We didn't ask ourselves how he would do in high school or college. Thus, we sent him at 4, and he has ultimately been emotionally damaged because of it.
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So he started K when he was 4. Turned 5 in November. Graduated high school at 17. That's not an unusual age to graduate high school. So, he took 5 years for college. That's not unusual either.
Whether he, as an individual, was ready for kindergarten is an open question. But the ages, by themselves, are not sufficiently different to mean much in the overall population of students, many of whom are that same age.
We sent our kid with a summer birthday to Kindergarten on time. We had considered red shirting him but opted against it. For him, that decision has worked out well. He graduated from HS at 17 and wound up graduating from college early due to some college credit classes he had taken in HS,
Our kid with a mid fall birthday missed the cut off date for starting K by only a matter of a couple of weeks, so he got an extra year and started K at almost 6. That, too, has worked out just fine for him. He's in college now and on track to graduate early.
While I agree that a November cut off seems pretty late, it doesn't sound as though it was a complete disaster for your son. It's not exactly unusual for kids to graduate from HS without having taken Calculus. The fact that he was accepted into college suggests that he did, indeed, have enough math. If he takes an extra year to graduate from college that is not exactly uncommon and he shouldn't feel ashamed of himself.
In the grand scheme of things, none of this is a big deal. Your son will get his degree and have an extra year to mature and get some life experience under his belt before he enters the professional working world. Enjoy having him home on breaks. He'll be off in his own place and working FT before you know it.
We sent our kid with a summer birthday to Kindergarten on time. We had considered red shirting him but opted against it. For him, that decision has worked out well. He graduated from HS at 17 and wound up graduating from college early due to some college credit classes he had taken in HS,
Our kid with a mid fall birthday missed the cut off date for starting K by only a matter of a couple of weeks, so he got an extra year and started K at almost 6. That, too, has worked out just fine for him. He's in college now and on track to graduate early.
While I agree that a November cut off seems pretty late, it doesn't sound as though it was a complete disaster for your son. It's not exactly unusual for kids to graduate from HS without having taken Calculus. The fact that he was accepted into college suggests that he did, indeed, have enough math. If he takes an extra year to graduate from college that is not exactly uncommon and he shouldn't feel ashamed of himself.
In the grand scheme of things, none of this is a big deal. Your son will get his degree and have an extra year to mature and get some life experience under his belt before he enters the professional working world. Enjoy having him home on breaks. He'll be off in his own place and working FT before you know it.
That's one of the biggest fallacies being promoted, that Calc is required for college acceptance. The reality is that a kid doesn't get Calc in high school unless they've been fast-tracked going back to early middle school or even elementary.
I know way too many college Calc instructors and to a man (well, actually person since some of them are women) they would rather have kids in their classes who didn't take Calc in high school. Their claim is the kids that do have too many bad Math habits.
We sent our kid with a summer birthday to Kindergarten on time. We had considered red shirting him but opted against it. For him, that decision has worked out well. He graduated from HS at 17 and wound up graduating from college early due to some college credit classes he had taken in HS,
Our kid with a mid fall birthday missed the cut off date for starting K by only a matter of a couple of weeks, so he got an extra year and started K at almost 6. That, too, has worked out just fine for him. He's in college now and on track to graduate early.
While I agree that a November cut off seems pretty late, it doesn't sound as though it was a complete disaster for your son. It's not exactly unusual for kids to graduate from HS without having taken Calculus. The fact that he was accepted into college suggests that he did, indeed, have enough math. If he takes an extra year to graduate from college that is not exactly uncommon and he shouldn't feel ashamed of himself.
In the grand scheme of things, none of this is a big deal. Your son will get his degree and have an extra year to mature and get some life experience under his belt before he enters the professional working world. Enjoy having him home on breaks. He'll be off in his own place and working FT before you know it.
That sort of transition has to happen sooner or later, and would've been much more bearable for my son had he made such a transition alongside his friends.
That sort of transition has to happen sooner or later, and would've been much more bearable for my son had he made such a transition alongside his friends.
By saying, alongside his friends, are you talking about friends that are not in his grade?
That sort of transition has to happen sooner or later, and would've been much more bearable for my son had he made such a transition alongside his friends.
He will transition out of college with the friends he made in his classes and dorms.
No reason to make a big deal out of it.
That sort of transition has to happen sooner or later, and would've been much more bearable for my son had he made such a transition alongside his friends.
Did these kids all attend the same college? Are they all accepting jobs in the same area?
My kid got a job and moved out of state when he graduated from college. He has friends all over the country. Once kids enter college their entire world gets bigger - their universe no longer revolves around HS.
Your son is doing things on his own time schedule. If he had been socially immature in comparison to his friend group, he likely wouldn't have been accepted by them. In fact, he would have gravitated towards younger kids. But he didn't do that.
He's in college and he will need an extra year to complete his degree, that happens. He's doing alright for himself. You've raised a good kid. Be proud.
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