# Did you ever skip a grade? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 19, 2016, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-skip-a-grade/763318 "2016-08-19T17:17:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2016, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-skip-a-grade/763318/21 "2016-08-30T18:21:21Z")
Skipped first grade, which was a serious mistake. I wasn’t ready socially to be with the older kids, and it pretty much stunted my social development for the next decade. Spent those years being either a misfit or an outcast, or both. Went back to my age-appropriate grade when I was just shy of 14, but that only helped but so much, since the real problem was that I’d already missed a whole bunch of stages of social development, and really didn’t know how to relate to people at all. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2016, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-skip-a-grade/763318/22 "2016-08-30T20:13:20Z")
Skipped first grade. That made me a year younger than everyone else and I was still smarter than 90% of them. Needless to say, I got bored in school quickly and that was Not A Good Thing. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2016, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-skip-a-grade/763318/23 "2016-08-30T22:37:16Z")
Moved to IMHO from GQ. **samclem** ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2016, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-skip-a-grade/763318/24 "2016-08-30T23:06:47Z")
Skipped 9th grade. So I was never a HS Freshman! 🙂 I was big for my age, so that wasn’t an issue. Still ended up at the top of my class at the end of the year. And it got me out on my own 1 year earlier. Yeah for that!!! ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2016, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-skip-a-grade/763318/25 "2016-08-30T23:45:57Z")
NY junior highs had SP programs (kind of GATE) with an option which half the kids took to do 3 years of junior high in 2. My mother didn’t allow me to do this. Which was good, because I would have been drafted if I did. Lots of friends did do it, and did not seem to have suffered any ill effects. I think that they spent junior high with kids the same age must have helped. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2016, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-skip-a-grade/763318/26 "2016-08-31T02:35:14Z")
(Our district didn’t have kindergarten) I was offered (well, my parents actually) a skip in 3rd and again in 9th but didn’t take it. My math and reading was always sky high but my English and general science just a little above average and it didn’t seem like a good play to my folks. Kids I knew who did skip did fine both in academics and socially, but I’m happy with how it went for me. ---
**Author:** ![Sahirrnee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sahirrnee/32/13937_2.png) [@Sahirrnee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sahirrnee)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2016, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-skip-a-grade/763318/27 "2016-08-31T03:22:01Z")
Kind of. I was in a group of accelerated students. We skipped one year of math and had two years of science crammed into one. So we were in the same grade but a year ahead in math and science. It didn’t change anything for me. ---
**Author:** ![appleaday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/41988e/32.png) [@appleaday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleaday)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2016, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-skip-a-grade/763318/28 "2016-08-31T05:51:03Z")
No grade skipping, but started school at age 5. This was a parochial school that didn’t offer kindergarten, so I went straight into first grade. Not a good idea – I was confused and traumatized, and didn’t do at all well academically. ---
**Author:** ![smileysue74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f6c823/32.png) [@smileysue74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smileysue74)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2016, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-skip-a-grade/763318/29 "2016-08-31T05:59:40Z")
> [@ruadh](#): > > I skipped 6th and 12th. What had a really big effect on me was going off to college at 16, 3000 miles from home. I was totally not ready for that. If I’d gone to the local university while still living at home, I think I would have handled it a lot better. As it was, I went off the rails and dropped out after three semesters. I did go back eventually (and graduated at 26) but I’ve always had regrets about how long it took me. I tested out of high school and started college at 16 also but it was community college a few blocks from home so that I could walk there or get a ride home from my mom when she came home for lunch and then I went back with her bc I worked part time at the same company but in a different department. I can’t imagine going to school 3000 miles away at any age, lol. But then again, I lived deep in Mexico for 2 years. It’s amazing the things we are capable of without knowing it until we do it. Thanks to facebook, I can now see all of the people I went to high school with and it really bums me out that I missed all of that. Instead, I went to school with people who I wasn’t old enough to go out to a bar with after class. I can’t say that it caused me actual detriment, in any way. It may have slowed down my social life but doubtful. At the time, I figured I had a jump start on every one else but all those classes and all the hard work I did while in school and out of school doesn’t help me at all now that I have a spinal injury. So… look forward to everything working out in your favor and everything going as planned but just in case, set up some safeguards because life rarely goes the way we planned. Good luck ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Ace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6bbea6/32.png) [@Johnny\_Ace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Ace)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2016, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-skip-a-grade/763318/30 "2016-08-31T06:19:10Z")
My track was different in that it was accelerated but I was still in my age-appropriate grade. I started out in MGM, then in high school I took basically every AP class available and in my senior year spent half the day at my local JC. So I was already doing college-level coursework during my high school years, and got credit for all of those classes once I actually went to college. I figure I saved about a semester and a half in college courses already completed. And I didn’t suffer any of the social detriments of jumping grades. For me it was probably the best possible solution. (And I got in stamina training biking back and forth between school and the JC in my senior year.) ---
**Author:** ![UncleFred](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f0a364/32.png) [@UncleFred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleFred)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2016, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-skip-a-grade/763318/31 "2016-09-02T18:29:34Z")
In Junior HS (‘Middle School’ to some) I got in some advanced program that ended up putting me in High School a year early - so the next year I and maybe 20 others were age-wise Eight-Graders mixed in with all the ‘real’ Ninth Graders. We did not graduate HS early - we just took more courses the last year. (some College Level.) If it’s not clear; In our school system Elementary was K-5, Junior HS was 6-8, and HS was 9-12. ---
**Author:** ![SaharaTea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@SaharaTea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SaharaTea)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2016, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-skip-a-grade/763318/32 "2016-09-02T19:46:33Z")
Skipped kindergarten because my family was living in the UK at the time. I learned to read and write a year earlier than my peers in the US, and educationally I was fine. Never had a problem keeping up. However, being a year younger than all my classmates kinda sucked. I was the last one to get my driver’s license and the last one to turn 21. Now I love it though. Most of my classmates are turning 40 this year and I’m only 38. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2016, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-skip-a-grade/763318/33 "2016-09-02T19:50:36Z")
> [@harmonicamoon](#): > > Skipped kindergarten. Kindergarten was one half day. My parents didn’t want to pay for a sitter, so they fudged my birth date. And I went directly to first grade. I remember I peed my pants in first grade. I should have learned not to do that in kindergarten. > > At the end of my junior year in high school, I had sufficient credits to graduate. So, I went off to college at age 16. I missed out on building relationships in my senior year. Something I regret. But, I worked all during high school, so I didn’t have much of a social life there. > > Entering college at 16 was a challenge. Probably not a big deal for a female. But for a male, it created problems on the dating scene. > > I don’t recommend skipping grades. The man who wrote “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” well he entered college and graduated early. But then, what to do when your only 16 with a college degree? Well he decided to move in with his aunt, changed his name, and went back and finished his last 2 years as high school posing as an “average” student. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Ace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6bbea6/32.png) [@Johnny\_Ace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Ace)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2016, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-skip-a-grade/763318/34 "2016-09-02T20:54:05Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > The man who wrote “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” well he entered college and graduated early. But then, what to do when your only 16 with a college degree? > > Well he decided to move in with his aunt, changed his name, and went back and finished his last 2 years as high school posing as an “average” student. And was a freelance author for _Rolling Stone_, interviewed a number of the original classic rock idols, and wrote _Almost Famous_, among other things. One of my two favorite journalists ever, Cameron Crowe. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2016, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-skip-a-grade/763318/35 "2016-09-02T21:46:37Z")
Crowe graduated high school at 15. Did he get a college degree in one year? ---
**Author:** ![glowacks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/glowacks/32/5548_2.png) [@glowacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glowacks)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2016, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-skip-a-grade/763318/36 "2016-09-15T02:36:40Z")
I was offered to skip a grade, but for some reason, at least how I understood it, mid-year, changing which classes I would go to from one day to the next. It didn’t make sense to me, and I hated most of the kids a year older than me and couldn’t imagine actually having to be in classes with them. I also had enough credits to graduate HS in 3 years, but I never realized it until after I graduated “on time” and actually looked at my transcript. There was one required course I didn’t take and thus couldn’t have graduated anyway, although if I had known I could have taken it. I did take tons of AP classes though, and was able to bring in a couple terms’ worth of credits into college, shortening the time I needed there. I ended up getting ill and missing a number of terms, but I graduated in less than the normal number of completed terms - but at about the same age. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2016, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-skip-a-grade/763318/37 "2016-09-15T02:44:52Z")
My parents made me skip 2nd class because they thought I was bored. In fact I was traumatised by their separation and impending divorce, but they couldn’t admit that to themselves. It was a terrible thing in my life, because I ended up as the youngest and so smallest boy in my year for the rest of my school career. In an elite all-boy school, that made me bullying target #1. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2016, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-skip-a-grade/763318/38 "2016-09-15T13:12:59Z")
I was not skipped but started first grade barely past 5 1/2 because the rule was you had to be six before the end of the term which was Jan. 31 and my birthday was in late January, so I was the youngest member of the class. At the end of fifth grade, the teacher told us that she was under orders to skip two boys and two girls. The top boy was obvious but the teacher complained (publicly in class) that aside from the two girls she chose, she had to pass over 11 girls to get the second boy to skip (which was not me). So she considered that at least 15 kids in a class of maybe 35 were ahead of me. But there was a problem when I graduated from HS at 17 years and five months. I got a job starting in July at a lab at college. About Sept., they suddenly realized that I was not yet 18 and therefore subject to Pennsylvania’s child labor laws. So I had to go to some office and convince some bureaucrat that what I was doing in the lab was not too dangerous for someone 5 months short of 18. He was very dubious, but somehow relented. I basically lied and felt not a moment’s regret. Had he not approved, I would have had to drop out of school for a semester since there was no way I could have continued without that job. ---
**Author:** ![Gordon\_Urquhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/db5fbb/32.png) [@Gordon\_Urquhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gordon_Urquhart)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2016, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-skip-a-grade/763318/39 "2016-09-15T14:14:51Z")
We moved to a very small new town when I was nine. The school was small enough that some classes (like fourth and fifth grade) were combined into one room and the teacher taught both grades. The school district thought about putting me in fifth grade based on my birthdate and some preliminary aptitude testing. I can’t remember why, but my parents pushed to put me in fourth grade. Turns out it was a good thing they did – that class had some very smart students in it, and it provided a much more competitive environment throughout the rest of elementary school as well as junior and senior high. The class ahead of ours had some really good people in it, but I wouldn’t have been academically challenged nearly as much as I was in my class. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2016, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-skip-a-grade/763318/40 "2016-09-15T14:30:30Z")
My parents wanted my to skip a grade, because they wanted bragging rights to a bright child, but I was immature, and both my schools told my parents that my behavior would be a problem if I skipped ahead. I did go to reading with an older grade when I was in my Jewish Day school when I was younger, because I started kindergarten pretty much already able to read. I didn’t have the math readiness or other skills for first grade, though. When I went to public school, I was always getting put into gifted and talented programs (my school system basically had a policy against skipping grades, and using the G&T program instead), in which I did poorly, because I didn’t like having extra work to do. I was lazy as well as immature. After another series of standardized tests, I’d get put back into G&T classes, because I’d do so well on the tests, but then I never lived up to my scores. I just have a quirky little knack for taking standardized tests that doesn’t translate into any real-world skill. Pissed my parents off to no end, because they were dying to be the parents of a genius. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-skip-a-grade/763318.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-skip-a-grade/763318.md?page=3)