Redshirting is very popular at our school. At age 5, in Kindergarten, my son with a May birthday was the second youngest in the class with boys who were much bigger and older. Some of the older boys were bullies. My son's most vivid memory of Kindergarten is when two of these older, bigger boys challenged him to a fight on the playground. He said that luckily he was wearing a watch and knew that the bell was about to ring so instead of looking for the teacher, he put his fists up like he was ready to fight, but didn't have to defend himself because the bell did ring in time for him to avoid a fight. The attitude here is that boys will be boys and teachers seem to ignore some of the problems. I didn't think it was fair that so many boys were held back a year and that my son, in addition to an inappropriate education had to worry about dealing with these older boys on the playground.
It isn't an academic edge that most of the people here hold their kids back for--it is sports. The older, bigger boys are better at football against the schools who do not redshirt.
