The New York TImes notes the effort of parents to help their kids by holding them back. Does it work?
In “Kindergarten Can Wait,” Debra Nussbaum writes (excerpt):
Parents seeking guidance from experts will not find consensus on whether there is a benefit to holding children back a year. Trying to get a higher SAT score or set an athletic record are the wrong reasons to make that decision, the experts say. They recommend holding back only those children who are struggling developmentally or do not behave as maturely as others in their age group.
“This is a very difficult judgment call because children don’t develop in an even, linear pattern,” said Dr. Ada Beth Cutler, dean of the College of Education and Human Services at Montclair State. “I worry about parents making that decision not because the child is not ready, but to give the child a leg up.
“There is no question that today’s parents worry much more about how their children will achieve throughout school. This is a middle-class and upper-middle-class phenomenon and it’s because they are worried about their children being able to achieve.”
More affluent parents seem most likely to hold children back to try to “buy an edge,” said Harriet Beckerman, former principal of Wyoming School in Millburn, and now the principal of Barton Elementary School in Cherry Hill. “In the long run there is probably nothing to be gained. There’s really nothing to show that it works.”
My 41/2 year old son is a bright and happy child, with speech delays. This seems normal except that no one can understand most of what he says. We are in an uncomfortable position, where we have to decide if starting K at 5 is right when even if he could start to learn to read, he could not articulate his words. Holding him back is not a clear choice, but pushing him forward without the tools for the basics seems wrong.