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Post by Anthony Hilton on Apr 9, 2021 8:36:37 GMT -5
In the US, Michigan in particular, where is the line drawn for kids born before then to be in one school year and kids born after in the later school year?
In England it is 1st September. Born 1st September you are the oldest in the class, born 31st August you are the youngest in the same class.
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Post by Not Wes on Apr 9, 2021 19:15:07 GMT -5
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Post by Anthony Hilton on Apr 10, 2021 13:52:49 GMT -5
It seems to be the same for New York.
I find it surprising that Tyler and Cameron Patterson were both in kindergarten in September 2001 as Cameron wouldn't be five until December 2001.
In Bulldog Spirit, Cam states that he was in the same grade as Ty continuing the pattern.
I would have thought that January and december births the same calendar year would put them into different school years/grades.
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Post by Not Wes on Apr 10, 2021 17:53:02 GMT -5
It seems to be the same for New York.
I find it surprising that Tyler and Cameron Patterson were both in kindergarten in September 2001 as Cameron wouldn't be five until December 2001.
In Bulldog Spirit, Cam states that he was in the same grade as Ty continuing the pattern.
I would have thought that January and december births the same calendar year would put them into different school years/grades.
I agree with you Anthony, but dealing with the differences, in other words, fixing it in "Bulldog Spirit" (and maybe in "Picking up the Pieces," too?), was beyond our abilities. We just left it as Wes wrote it in "Bulldog." I would think that he'd know the situation, but that doesn't mean he actually did or remembered. Amanda was that age quite a while ago (sorry Amanda). Not Wes |
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Post by PeterC on Apr 11, 2021 16:17:19 GMT -5
For some reason I remember the cut-off date in Massachusetts (or at least my hometown) was January 1. With a February birthday I was one of the older kids in my class. Of course this was 50 years before 9/11.
Peter
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Post by Leo Kerr on Apr 11, 2021 21:01:07 GMT -5
Again, not Michigan, but I grew up in central Maryland. "Tradition" sort-of dictated that you went to kindergarten the year you turned 5 - Jan 1 to Dec 31. But - at least in the late 1970s, this was only tradition, because in my class was someone born in "next May/June" - so she was 4 and 3 or 4 months on starting school. And was the last in my class to get a driver's license, and all that.
To be fair, at least from my remove within the same grade-level, she was not disadvantaged in any way; probably one of the overall smarter kids in class, all through K-12.
Leo
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Post by Boyd Percy on Apr 11, 2021 22:13:20 GMT -5
In a private school, the ability to pay the school fees probably overrides everything else.
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Post by Not Wes on Apr 12, 2021 14:10:27 GMT -5
In a private school, the ability to pay the school fees probably overrides everything else. Boyd, I'd forgotten about the private school aspect of Cam and Ty's early education, and I'd assume, like you say, that money talks and they could have gotten in at about any age at the school in New York. It doesn't mean that they'd have been allowed to stay together in the same class at school in Michigan though, simply because of age. That was likely glossed over or just not brought up in Picking Up the Pieces, don't remember now. Thanks for the reminder. Not Wes |
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Post by John Robert Mead on Apr 18, 2021 7:51:48 GMT -5
That it was tricky placing them in the same grade was actually a plot point, as I recall; when they were looking for schools near Shay's apartment to place the kids in, a deciding factor was if they would be allowed to be in the same grade.
That also came into play with Bradford; so long as the younger child could handle it, they'd allow it to happen.
It was deliberately done to create a plot hook, several in fact.
!) Showing the inflexibility of some of the private schools under consideration in New York.
2) Providing an opportunity to showcase that the Bradford Public Schools were a very different place from when they were students there; adding yet another 'positive' to the list of things under consideration when looking at Bradford vs New York.
It's a bit like skipping a grade, after all, and that _does_ happen; it's just that it's "skipping a grade" _before_ you enter school, rather than _while_ you are in school.
Having a late December birthday myself, I was always one of the older students in my grade while attending school in Oregon, which has a September 1st cutoff date for being 5 prior to entering kindergarten.
It wasn't that you had to be five to enter kindergarten, but that you no longer had any options left once you had turned five but to enter kindergarten the next time September 1st rolled around, if you were going to do kindergarten; a special exception was required to _not_ be in school if you were aged 6 through 18, with school being defined as grades 1-12; when I was a kid kindergarten was still considered an optional thing on the whole.
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Post by Allen on May 3, 2021 10:05:22 GMT -5
Some years ago the cutoff date across the lake (Ontario) was January 1. I don't know if that is still the case. A summary of U.S practice can be found here: nces.ed.gov/programs/statereform/tab5_3.aspIt is highly unlikely that an older child would be held back because of a few months difference. That would be asking for trouble. Entering or moving up from Kindergarten could be a whole different matter. |
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Post by NavyDave on Jun 29, 2021 1:29:40 GMT -5
I was born in February, and started first grade at age 5 in Ohio. Halfway through the school year, we moved to Virginia. The school there said I was too young, and put me into the 1st half of first grade again, in the second half of the year. That summer, we moved to Rhode Island, and in the fall enrolled in the school. there. They also said I was too young, but someone figured out that putting me through the first half of 1st grade a 3rd time wasn't a good idea. I was put in 2nd grade on probation, and never looked back. I graduated HS 3 1/2 months after I turned 17. Oh, BTW, the moves were because the Navy transferred my dad.
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