[topnotch]

One quick question on holding a kid back for "maturity" issues....

If you can tell a kid needs to mature more in 7th grade and be held back, wouldn't you have been able to see that when the kid was 5 for example? Why not just start the kid a year late, to my knowledge you can do that, or talk with his teachers and have him do pre school twice. I would imagine that only 5% of kids in southern KY have a legitimate shot at playing college football so I don't think I would ever hold my kids back just for that reason. When I was in school, I never noticed a difference in kids that were 6 months younger than me but in the same grade. Maybe I haven't been exposed to these types of kids as much, but I still believe holding a kid back in school is useless other than he failed the grade, in which case his priorities should be school work and not athletics.
I would have hated getting held back a year and starting life later than all my friends that I grew up with.

I understand where you are coming from, However, I have seen many, many, kids that have left for college A year or two too soon and have bombed out completely,, I have seen many, many, more that have changed majors that has put them far behind, try paying for A extra year in college, In the real world some Kids need that extra year, Sometimes Daddy's and Mammas need that extra year. JMO