At what age should a child start Kindergarten?
By AlliKat27s
@AlliKat27s (64)
United States
November 19, 2009 10:14am CST
Over recent year, in the US, there has been much research about the entrance age for Kindergarteners. Most school districts require the child to turn five by August 1st to enter school for that year. If a child has a June or July birthday and start school in the same year they turn five, they are considered young. Many parents opt to wait a year and have the child start when they are six, either for academic reasons or maturity level. Research considers both sides. There are some who say waiting until the child turns six is most beneficial, others will argue that it doesn't matter. As a former Kindergarten teacher I would have to say that most "young" Kindergarteners I've seen have either been retained in Kindergarten, or later in 1st and 2nd grade. Personally, I lived in Germany when I started school. I was four years old. I've never been held back and never had problems academically. Of course Kindergarten was a bit easier back then I believe. We didn't have reading levels and assessments. We had paint, blocks and crayons. Anyways, my question is what do you think? What are your experiences, either as a parent or as a teacher?
1 response
@AlliKat27s (64)
• United States
19 Nov 09
Where are you from? The reason I ask is several countries have different starting ages and their "grade levels" are different. For example, Kindergarten in some european countries is the equivalent of a "preschool" here. They still have some lessons (colors, letters, etc.) but socializing and independent interactions are the focus. The problem we have locally where I live, is a lot of the students are not attending any kind of preschool and are lacking in the social aspects of schooling. Do you think the lack of socialization could cause them to not gain the academics as quickly as classmates? It's such a curious debate. I absolutely agree with you though that by age 4 children should be starting some type of school just simply to learn how to be around children and have a structured day.
