Is it weird/uncommon for someone to start school a year late?

[Silver-Chariot]

You know you sometimes get people a year older than you in your class and I was wondering, is it weird/odd to for have them to start a year late? Do people usually assume this person was held back?

[Kate*]

It depends which level of school you're talking about. The older you get, the more common it is for people to be a year older or younger than you and the less of a difference it makes. It also depends when your birthday is; if you just miss the cutoff for Kindergarten, you'll be the oldest vs if you just make it, you'll be the youngest. I've also heard of parents delaying the start of school for their kids due to their maturity level rather than age. It's not that weird anymore. People might wonder why, but a person wouldn't necessarily stick out like a sore thumb.

[Celyn]

I pretty much agree with what Katie has said. The cut off points for birthdays and such for starting school can mean that some children are a year younger than most of their classmates. And as you get older, it's very common to have an extra year in school, or to start college later and be in classes of mixed ages.

However, regardless of age, everyone should be treated equally, and not singled out for some reason that may not be true (your question of whether people would assume the person was held back).

[Always *]

In college or university, it's totally normal, I know that much. A lot of people don't start university at 18 or they might have changed majors or need an elective (e.g. a 2nd year elective but being in 3rd year). Personally, I did this tons in university because I didn't necessarily take my courses in "order", with the exception of core courses because this is how my program was; I also switch majors and didn't take a full course load for quite a while because of my learning disability. I think it is weirder for 1st years who might not understand why an upper year student is in their course because they're not so used to people backtracking, this is especially true for 18-19 year old students who don't really "get" yet that some people might start university in their 20's or later....

In high school, I know where I went that sometimes people would back track, lets say they needed a math class that would be on the university trajectory because we had courses (e.g. math science english, french etc) at different levels. So there was academic (university stream) applied (college stream) and workplace (literally not able to get into post secondary school but able to get through high school). In grade 11/12 it was divided further just for the college/university streams (so there were 4 levels for some courses like math). Any ways, someone might've started in the applied stream but realized it was too easy or realized they do want to go to university etc. and need to take a course (e.g. maybe they're in grade 11 and need to take a grade 10 math class at a higher level to qualify for the grade 11 math class or something). I never thought it was a big deal, especially with electives.

Personally, I always tried to avoid spending time in grade 9's or college freshmen courses, especially when I was a junior or senior. I might've had friends who were freshmen, but there is a huge difference in maturity between freshmen and juniors/seniors and I never wanted to be in courses where people would goof off, work less-well, etc. but that's just me. It's still ok to do, I had to because it was unavoidable.

[Hiraeth]

You also don't really ever need to mention it. I was a year younger than my classmates for most of my primary and secondary education and it was almost never brought up as a thing. It's not like that is a common topic of conversation; maybe just around birthday time, but even then it's mostly limited to your friends and the people who actually care.

[Lelola]

In college or university, no one really cares. Some of my friends from nursing school were in their forties or fifties. I was actually on the younger side when I was 22ish. In graduate school, I am on the younger side.

[Silver-Chariot]

I mean more bout highschool?

[TheAtomicBlade]

Not really. i've had friends who are 2-3 years older in highschool. Some people are dicks, but thats everywhere. Most people were pretty chill.
Sure, there is the question about why they are late, but no one said anything, until that person mentioned the reason.
Thats just my experience anywho.

[hocus pocus]

Originally Posted by Silver-Chariot

I mean more bout highschool?

I don't think it is weird. One of my siblings did an additional year of early education which makes him one year older than his classmates. I, too, will be a year older than my classmates because life events made me need more time with my senior year of high school. I knew someone several years ago who was two or maybe three years older, and it wasn't weird.

To me, age is just a number. Like someone above said, people who are a year younger or older don't stick out like a sore thumb, and it doesn't always come up, nor do you have to answer any questions about it if it makes you uncomfortable.

[Elision]

I don't think it's weird at all. People might ask at the start, but once they know it just becomes a part of life and school carries on as normal. A year difference really isn't that much, the people around you will still be similar in age and tastes, so I really wouldn't worry. From ,y experience people have always been very accommodating!

[sektor]

I was wondering, is it weird to be a year older without being held back or having special needs?

[obelus]

I don't think it's weird at all. A year is not that much time in a person's life. Theoretically, if someone in my class was a year older than me I would not care. I probably wouldn't even know to begin with unless they told me themselves because you can't really tell the difference of a year.

I was always a year younger in my classes as my classmates because I started early. I was held back my junior year due to life so when that happened I was actually the same age, but that isn't really relevant. My senior year of high school I took gym class with, for the most part, a bunch of freshman. It wasn't weird or anything and I made quite a few good friends. And I was about four or five years older and it wasn't weird. No one cared that I was older or really noticed in the first place.

Sorry if that's not the answer you were looking for, but that's the only experience i have with being older.

[ThisWillDestroyYou]

I don't think its weird. I had a Summer birthday, so I was always a year behind everyone in my grade, and to be honest, I was jealous of the others. I could see the "held back" thing, but that's just based on an individual's deductive reasoning, though it may be wrong (obviously). I wouldn't loose sleep over it.

[Kintsukuroi.]

Originally Posted by Silver-Chariot

I mean more bout highschool?

It's not weird in high school. I had people in my actual grades classes who were older and younger depending on if they needed to upgrade a class or were just ahead. Half the time most people wouldn't even know unless they knew the person. When I took a higher grade class, I was younger and it wasn't that big of a deal.