Grade skipping

Ann Althouse blogs about how grade skipping is coming back into vogue:

I remember when grade-skipping went out of fashion. It was right around the time when I was in grade school. My mother told me later that they wanted me to skip, and she was adamantly against it. I was outraged that I wasn't asked and that I was stuck with a whole extra year of sitting in a classroom.

Everyone's experience is different, of course, which is part of the point that Prof. Althouse is making (her mom skipped a grade, hated it, and resolved not to make the same "mistake" for her daughter).  There are undeniable benefits to grade skipping, as Prof. Althouse notes: no need for "gifted" classes, more efficiency, etc.

At the same time, I wonder if she discounts too quickly the conventional explanation given for not having kids skip grades: "The whole explanation was a social one, as if life will be so wonderful if only you're surrounded by kids your own age."

I skipped a grade somewhere between 6th and 10th grades (unclear which one -- long story), and also have a birthday late in the year, which meant that I was 14 when I started 11th grade.  Being skinny and also only 5'5" was not exactly an ideal physical state to be in.  By the time I started college at 16, at least I was 5'10", but then I was only 120 pounds.  (Running cross-country that first quarter eliminated any possibility of the "freshman 15," which would have been a welcome gain in my case.)  I can't say that I was scarred irrevocably by the whole experience, since I am quite happy where I am now, and the twists and turns that brought me here almost certainly wouldn't have happened if I hadn't set off for college at 16.

But at the same time, the social aspect of schooling is not an insignificant one, and being a scrawny, small 14 year old amongst a bunch of much bigger 16 year olds -- even when intellectually I was at least their match -- was almost certainly suboptimal in a lot of ways.

Which leads me to wonder whether grade skipping causes more social problems for boys than it does girls.  After all, girls mature physically and emotionally faster and earlier than boys do, so a 14 year old girl may (in general) be more capable of coping in an environment full of 16 year old girls and boys than a 14 year old boy would be able to.

Comments

[?]

Obviously you are not a female. You have no idea how mean girls are to each other, and a big age difference certainly isn't going to help you get the friends that you need so much during high school. Besides, like boys, not all girls mature early. I don't think it would be easy socially for either sex to skip a grade.

[Amy]

I was in first grade when I was placed in a combo 1st/2nd grade class. Soon I was put in the 2nd grade reading group and doing 2nd grade work. I later found out that my school wanted me to skip 2nd and my mom also balked at the idea because it would harm my "social development." So, I spent the next year in 2nd grade writing out numbers by ones to 100, by twos to 200, by threes to 300...because my teacher didn't know what to do with me.

That wasted year was not worth any social benefit to me - I was still a semi-outsider on the fringes in my own age group AND I stagnated for a year.

[battlepanda]

Hmm...
I have a friend who skipped two grades. She's smart, really smart, but she didn't have the emotional maturity to handle the independent workload in college. It's not that there's too much work, she just didn't have the discipline to get it done without prodding.

She burned out and dropped out after never turning in some final essays.

Later on, she reenrolled at another school and graduated with honors. She ended up graduating with people who are roughly the same age, ironically, since she skipped two years and took two off.

[anonymous reader]

When I started college at 18, I too was 5'10" and 120 pounds. So I don't think anyone would have noticed that you were only 16 if you hadn't made it a point to tell people about it.

While I think skipping a grade may have made a difference socially at the time you skipped it, I doubt it made much of a difference by the time you got to college.

[Person]

I'm female and got skipped from grade 3 to 5. It sucked ass. I guess the other kids in my new grade were jealous or something because they made my time hell while I was with them - in senior high school they were still giving me shit for it. So no, I don't think the social problems are worse either way, but I do think there's a difference in the way females and males would be targeted for it. For me it was less about physical appearance and more about being belittled on an overall basis - you know, subtle jabs, hurtful names, generally being excluded. Like they couldn't compete with me intellectually so made my life a living nightmare instead. Ah, kids, they can be so cruel.

[Andy]

I got skipped from 1st to 4th grade and I agree with the "Person" post: it sucked ass. Big-time. I was skinny and short and moving up with bigger kids who resented me wasn't fun. By the time I got to 8th grade, I was a 4'11" 12-year-old still playing Little League baseball while my classmates were undergoing/had gone through puberty and were girl-crazy. We had nothing in common and I got picked on a lot.

In elementary school, a year age difference isn't that big deal. In middle school, it's a little bigger. By high school, it's huge. I was the last in my class to drive, I was the last in college to be able to drink (legally), and ask any high school boy who he hates and it's probably the older boys in his school (they get the girls, they have the cars, they're bigger, they shave, etc...).

Just my two cents, but I know I won't let my kids skip grades. It's a moderate advantage academically with a huge price socially and emotionally.

[Dan]

There are serveral postings here complaining other older kids being mean to you as you were the younger one in the class. We know immature kids can treat others badly. But isn't it better if you can skip more grades and enter college a lot early? This way you can avoid dealing with kids at high school. And college students are way more mature and easy to deal with than elementary/high school students.

[brittany thomas]

Hi i'm new to this place i have a research paper that i have to do for my english class and its about skipping grades and it is basically persuaive and i believe that students should not skip a grade regaurdless of how smart they are not only because of a social status but also you may never know what u may need if you skip that grade cause you could always be learning something new that you may never get tought and just might need but i was hoping someone could give me some feed back on what they think

thank you Brittany

[Jenn]

I am also a college student doing a research paper on skipping grades. Mine is focused on the social and emotional consequences involved when a child skips. I am personally interested in this subject as my son skipped kindergarten. He is currently in 2nd grade and 6yrs old. He is tall for his age, so he doesnt stand out in his class. He reads at a 4th grade level and math is very easy for him. I do not think I would want him to skip again, is there any other way? How do these exceptionally smart children get through school without getting bored if they are not challenged?

[anonymous]

Dont be too quick to jump to conclusions. I skipped first and fourth grade, entered high school at age 12, and I haven't really had a problem. I am fortunate to be big for my age - 5'10" 155 - but even if I was smaller, I do not think it would make a big difference. Maybe I have just gotten lucky, but I am on the varsity cross country and soccer team, am in all honors classes, have plenty of friends, and am equal to most kids in my grade in everything except age. If your child is smart enough and mature enough, I say let them skip.