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Comment by inuhj | Hacker News Reader

Is it still possible to be held back a grade in the US? I've heard stories of it happening in the distant past but I've never seen it happen. Usually they get promoted to the next grade and placed in special ed or remedial classes.

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It's generally largely frowned upon nowadays -- largely for social reasons. I recall talking to some folks in Texas about this, and they said, if you could hold kids back for academics, a lot of parents of football playing boys would push to do that. You'd probably see a lot of 18 year old freshman QBs in high school.

At least in Ohio, where I live, one must be under 19 years old to be eligible for high school sports.

I think 19 is the most common cut-off. I think some 20 still exist. So this 18 y/o QB may only get 3 years of eligibility. :-)

I knew a guy who transferred schools halfway through his senior year because it put him far enough back that he could play another year of high school football.

There are some really strange motivations out there.

Yeah. There's a term called kindergarten redshirts, where parents hold their child back to be older for athletic reasons. You end up with these weird kindergartens with some boys just about to turn 7 and all the girls are 5.

I think it happens more frequently at lower grade levels, especially Kindergarten through 3rd. Usually, by the time they reach higher grade levels, they will have been placed at a class with which they can keep pace.

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