[laker20]

It would be interesting to see eligibility lists from schools to see how many players graduate who do or dont have another year

I may be misunderstanding what your saying , but no one graduating from HS has a remaining year of eligibility. However, you may just be referring to the age of graduating athletes????

As far as holding back a child, I don't see how anyone other the parents (or guardians) of the child could have any concern or opinion over the matter, so why is it "Controversial?". There is no way that you or I or a whole panel from this forum could determine that any graduating student would have really benefited from either being held back or having not been. There is no definitive answer to hold back or not......the decision has to be based on where a child stands in the 7th grade (at the latest) in anticipation of where one expects him/her to be by HS graduation.

Personally, if I were making the decision I would base it on three primary factors (in my order of importance): 1) maturity level 2) academic preparedness 3) athletic/physical development.....again all based on where I expect him/her to be by graduation.

As to say whether or not the young man mentioned would or could have accomplished the things he has without having been held back, no one can say for sure either way.

So IMO holding a student back may be subjective, but the only controversial part about it is when an outsider (anyone other than the person making the decision) judges on the intent of the hold back or the decision that was made without having first hand knowledge of the factors used to make the decision.