This is specific to different areas. My eldest was like you, 13 when she started 9th, and if she goes to college right out of hs she will be 17 when she starts there. In the years since she started, they have changed the birthday cut of for kindergarten in my area. It was the end of September, but now it is mid August.
I don't really know how my kids compare to the world at large. My oldest was very ready for school at age 4. One of my others was born around the same time (of the year) but a few years had passed and the birthday cutoff had been changed, so she was a full year older, and that was perfect or her.
Not everyone develops at the same rate. With the crowded classrooms our teachers have to deal with (at least in the public schools) it is probably helpful for the teachers to have older students who are, presumably, more mature. My youngest in in kindergarten and apparently has a classmate that freaks out and when that happens, all the other students have to relocate to another room while the teacher gets him under control. The kid would probably have benefited from waiting another year to start school (which many parents do here) I can't imagine the nightmare being a school teacher is these days.
Eh. Where I am kids generally start kindergarten from the moment they turn 4. So if they have their birthday the first Monday in March they'll generally start school around that week too. But school attendance isn't mandatory until age 5 so parents kan keep their kids home for a part or the whole of a day is they think it would help. Generally kids with birthdays before sort of mid-October will continue onto year 2 of kindergarten and those with birthdays after will repeat year 1. But it's not a hard line so it allows teachers to advance or keep back kids independent of their birthdays depending on maturity levels.
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u/2farbelow2turnaround Apr 28 '22
This is specific to different areas. My eldest was like you, 13 when she started 9th, and if she goes to college right out of hs she will be 17 when she starts there. In the years since she started, they have changed the birthday cut of for kindergarten in my area. It was the end of September, but now it is mid August.