In other words, children learn from other children, and if their peers are all younger and less mature than they are, they will not have anyone to emulate. However, Wang and Aamodt explain that there are some situations when it is worth keeping a child back because of the cutoff date – if the child clearly displays a lack of maturity or skill. They clarify:
Learning is maximized not by getting all the answers right, but by making errors and correcting them quickly. In this respect, children benefit from being close to the limits of their ability. Too low an error rate becomes boring, while too high an error rate is unrewarding. A delay in school entry may therefore still be justified if children are very far behind their peers, leaving a gap too broad for school to allow effective learning.
In a sense, there is no right or wrong answer to the date debates. Instead, if your child’s school has wiggle room, it is a good idea to evaluate his skills and maturity to find out whether he is ready for kindergarten. If he is ready, let him jump in headfirst, his younger status might just work in his favor. On the other hand, if your child’s skills are weaker than expected, perhaps red-shirting him would not be such a bad idea. Giving him an extra year to mature and excel will help his school experience to be a more positive and enriching one.