A few weeks ago I spoke to the mother of two middle-schoolers. She mentioned that since they had birthdays in August, she was faced with the dilemma of when to let them start kindergarten. She could have held them out a year or put them in a bit early. She opted for the latter. I think she made a good choice. Redshirting has its benefits, but its downsides too.
What is “Redshirting”?
If you’re not familiar with the term, “redshirting” is a practice done in college to enable athletes to stagger out academics in order to gain an additional year of eligibility to play. It benefits those who get injured as Freshman and also those who could use another year to grow and develop skills.
Origins of “Redshirting”
In 2009, Malcolm Gladwell talked about this process in his book Outliers when he showed how hockey players in Canada had more success when they were held out a year an allowed to be older than their peers. Some parents believe that “redshirting” or holding a younger child back a year so they enter Kindergarten as a six-year old enables the to be more successful, and, as many in the story were quoted, a “leader in the classroom.”
My Take
I understand a parent’s interest in setting their kids up for success. I’ve done that with my own kids. We even wrestled with delaying my son’s entrance into Kindergarten (his birthday is in August) but we opted to let him enroll as a new five-year-old. He turned out just fine.
My concern is that even with the best of situations, there’s no predicting someone’s own personal motivation. To use an NFL example, for every Tim Tebow (Not a tremendous amount of skills but a ton of will), there’s a Todd Marinovich or Ryan Leaf (Skill and over-protective parents but little personal motivation). Best case scenario for “redshirting” is a personally motivated youngster who lives up to expectation. Worse case scenario are marginally motivated kids whose parents push into leadership positions through manipulation resulting in poorly-equipped people in positions of power.
Final Thoughts
Motivation comes from within. No parent or teacher can force it but they can lay out the conditions that lead to it. I’ve run across HR professionals who tell me parents will call them angrily enquiring as to why their kid wasn’t hired for a job. Some of the greatest lessons in life are learned through failure. I’ve learned my share that way! Shortcuts like “redshirting” are no predictor of success but they certainly increase the probability of failure.