As the forum mercenary :), let me mention a consideration that is rarely mentioned in discussions of redshirting and acceleration but which I think is important.
If a child is accelerated by a year, that may lengthen his or her career by 1 year. A ballpark estimate of earnings of gifted adults is $100,000. When in doubt, grab the $100K. If finishing school a year early meant an extra year of arduous manual labor, parents could decide that they want their children to enjoy another year of school before entering the "real world". Gifted children are lucky in that for most of them, their jobs will not be more unpleasant than school. We have accelerated two of our three children by one year, and they are both doing well.
