the one aspect of this i can understand is the cut off birthday for the school years... some kids that are right at the cut off could either be the youngest kid in the grade by far, or oldest if they dont start school right away, and wait till the next year.
in this aspect, waiting an extra year i have seen to be beneficial for a couple ways. one is definitely in athletics, but not in any dominant way... but more for a kid growing, puberty, and jsut being physically capable more compared to his/her classmates and opponents. the kids that are not held back and are the youngest in their grade I have seen struggling early on due to them physically not maturing as fast, being smaller, etc... even as they are good athletes, they just dont have the opportunities at a young age which can be frustrating. when they finally "sprout" lets say and physically develop, it sometimes is too late.
one other aspect would definitely be maturity... my sisters twins are great kids, but one is very very immature and she chose to send them off to school at that birthday age... so they are the youngest, and though they dont struggle, the one that really immature i nhis own ways does struggle more behaviorally, socially, and jsut needs to figure it out and it taking a longer time to do so.... .but also, they are like 1st graders too, so they are young.
now once again i understand and am totally fine with holding these kids back a year that would be at this cut off date and the youngest in the grade... it does tend to be tougher on them athletically and socially due to them physically and mentally maybe not being as mature yet like their peers. but parents that are literally holding kids back to take complete advantage are just awful... what do you gain? is it really that important that year 6-10 year old dominates the field, just to disappear in their future due to not developing enough cause they dont have to work... same in the classroom... i can see that happening so much.
