Red-shirting is very, very common in our small competitive community. When we moved in to our house, the first conversation that we had with our next-door neighbor (whose twin sons have nearly the same birthday as our DS) was if we were planning to red-shirt our son or not. He was only one year old at the time!!
I was also at the pool one day and struck up a conversation with a dad there. He was going on and on about how he was fighting with the school about his third grade son. Apparently the boy was "ranked" #3 in his class, and the father was miffed about it. (I have never heard of our schools "ranking" anyone!) He was fighting with the school to have his kid repeat third grade so that he could be #1 next year!! The school was smart enough to refuse. The boy was very bright and was making excellent progress. Can you imagine such a parent?
On the other hand, you would think that a community which emphasizes competitive academics would be better about providing services for advanced kids. But no! All the parents want is the "label" that their son or daughter is "gifted". It is nothing more than a sport's trophy to them. (hence the red-shirting analogy)
