泰國的“紅衫軍”剛剛消停幾天，我們今天又討論幼兒園里的“紅衫軍”了。別緊張，此“紅衫軍”跟暴力一點兒關系都沒有，而是小朋友們學習上的事兒。

Redshirting refers to the practice of holding a child out of kindergarten for one year in the hope that the child will then do better academically and socially. This term comes from the common practice of redshirting freshman college athletes, which means keeping them out of competition for a year to develop their skills.

Redshirting指讓正在上幼兒園的孩子停學一年，期望一年后孩子在學習和社交方面的表現能夠有所提高，我們可以稱之為“紅衫行為”（跟我們通常說的 “休學”意思差不多）。Redshirting這個說法來源于大學運動員的一個慣例，即剛入校的隊員需要有一年的時間參加技能訓練，不能參加正式比賽（這些運動員被稱為“紅衫隊員”）。

The rise of redshirting dates to the 1980s, when mandatory testing put pressure on schools to make the early elementary grades more rigorous. As 3rd and 4th grade became more demanding, kindergarten had to keep up. Savvy parents were increasingly likely to worry about their children's early academic performance and resort to redshirting. Academic redshirting is a result of higher expectations of kindergartners, some educators say.

從二十世紀80年代開始，這種“紅衫行為”開始增多，因為當時學校面臨考試體制的壓力，對小學初級階段的課程要求更加嚴格。由于三、四年級就開始要求比較高，所以幼兒園階段就得抓緊。有頭腦的家長們開始為孩子早期的學習成績擔心，并考慮讓孩子進入“紅衫狀態”，即“休學”。有教育專家表示，課業學習方面的“紅衫行為”其實是幼兒園方面對孩子們期望過高導致的。

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（中國日報網英語點津 Helen 編輯）

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