[rojas]

When I was in the 8th grade (a million years ago) the high school football coach approached me about "staying back" in 8th grade. I was all for it. However, my mother wouldn't hear of it. Looking back, it was the best move my mother could have made. I graduated college in 3 years and obtained a great job that would not have been there the following year. I was able to retire with full benefits at a young age due to beginning my career so young. This enabled me to start a new career in a profession I love.

Fast forward a few decades. There was talk of my son holding back after his 7th grade year. After much consideration we all decided against it. Again, it turned out to be a great move not to hold back. My son graduated from UK and got a fantastic engineering job with a great company. Who knows if that position would have been available if he was a year behind.

My nephew, on the other hand, repeated 7th grade. If not for repeating 7th grade he would have never been a 1st team all-state basketball player and had a great Sweet 16 experience.

There is no right or wrong answer. It depends on the kid, family and exactly how important athletics are in the long term. It's the highlight in some people's lives, while others it was only a footnote in a full life after high school and college. I don't see that it has any real value in academics. The kids are not getting an extra year of education. They are getting the same year of education twice.