There’s a strange phenomenon that just didn’t happen when I was a kid, and it appears to be more popular in certain regions: parents tend to start their kids — particularly white boys — in kindergarten a year late. The school office and adminstrative staff just smile and say that’s fine, because they arrive in school more mature and academically prepared. They just ignore the fact that every class will have a minimum two year age spread, and this will eventually mean they have fifth graders hitting puberty hard. Now, we are not talking about kids whose birthdays fall close to the state mandated cutoff for kids starting kindergarten. I can understand letting those kids stay home an extra year rather than have them be the youngest kid in the class, and maybe not developmentally ready.
This odd practice is called “redshirting,” based on a collegiate sports practice of benching a freshman athlete to allow better development and more reliable performance. And when all is said and done, I beleive it is done with kindergarten boys for the exact same reasons. It turns out that there are few academic advantages to being the oldest, biggest kid in class. But come high school, there are a number of advantages on the sports field. I wonder, when these kids reach high school, are coaches going to be enthusiastic about having these bigger, more physically mature players? And will coaches still be as enthusiastic when they realize these kids will legally be adults by the end of Junior year?
The parents who are thinking of the future sporting career of a kindergartener are not merely being vain either. They are thinking towards college. Or perhaps more accurately, thinking towards college scholarships. Joe and Jane Average can see that the cost of a college education is rising far faster than inflation, and far faster than their paychecks. They may not know is that financial aid isn’t keeping pace with the rise in college costs, either. And as if that isn’t bad enough, many familes find themselves sandwiched between aging parents, underfunded retirement savings, and kids going to college. It’s enough to make kids rethink going to college at all, and that’s a shame. The Chicago Sun Times pointed out just last week that “Huge college costs are a barrier to a smart workforce.
But frankly, none of that is my point today. The article that got me thinking about all of this stuff is Parents low-ball college costs. Here’s a great quote:
The study found that 87 percent of parents believe scholarships and grants will cover at least part of their children’s undergraduate expenses, and nearly three-quarters think their children are “special or unique” enough to win a scholarship.
Financial aid administrators said 92 percent of parents overestimate the amount of scholarship money their children will receive.
Almost 75% of parents think their kids are “special” enough to earn a scholarhip! Now don’t get me wrong, all parents think their kids are special and unique. It’s part of the job description. But don’t mistake your son’s ability to play “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” using nothing but his armpits for a future music scholarship! Sure, everybody is unique and special; not everybody is unique and special in a way that is valuable to a university. They go on to point out that most parents only end up saving about one year’s worth of college expenses. And that’s assuming a public school.
This country needs to get realistic about college, college expenses, vocational schooling, and financial aid. And they need to do it before the age of an average high school senior is 21.