I never understood how Wally could be 12 years old and in the 8th grade. He would be in the 7th grade. Beaver was 7 and in the 2nd grade. There was a five year age difference between them, and yet Wally was six grades above him. This was an inconsistency that always bugged me.
shareBack then it also depended on what time of the year your birthday was, early or late in the year. The way my birthday fell, I was always nearly a year younger than my classmates. Not because I was any smarter, mind you!
shareSame here Owl.
If the CUT OFF date back then had been SEPT (like it use to be in some places), I'd have also been KEPT BACK a year instead of ending up being YOUNGER than most of the rest of the class.
But being a year younger and being taught what others are who were older can also make you appear to be smarter whenever you take those test that they give you.
Personally I wish the cut off date had been SEPT so one would needed to wait a year. Because by the time one gets to JR. HIGH or MIDDLE SCHOOL that also becomes a problem when you still have a child's body and the rest of the class doesn't and then you also need to UNDRESS and change in front of them in GYM class.
What state was set in and was cut off date in September or December? In California when might started Kindergarten in 1986 had I been born few days earlier in December 1981 but started a year later due my birthday.
shareCut off date in MD may have been Jan 1st or Dec 31st???
So kids born in Dec would be turning 6 while others would turn 7 in Jan (making them a year older).
Later on I think maybe the cut off date was changed to Sept.
Was it ever stated in the show that Wally had not skipped a grade? He seemed like he was smart and probably a diligent student. My mom was skipped a grade, and I have a friend who skipped two, so he was a couple of years younger than his class mates. Also, I was born in February, so I didn't start kindergarten until I was five years and seven months old. A kid born in September would start when he was barely five. I finished eighth grade at fourteen, with a lot of kids who were still thirteen.
shareIt's likely a mistake:
"When Leave It to Beaver starts, it's established that Wally is 12 years old and in the 8th grade. Beaver is "almost 8" and in the second grade. But somewhere in those six seasons, while Beaver aged at a normal pace, Wally's growth seemed to slow. By the final season, Wally is a senior in high school (which puts him five years down the road), and Beaver is graduating 8th grade (6 years past his second grade start). The math seems a little off, but who's counting?"
https://moviechat.org/tt0050032/Leave-It-to-Beaver/60b3c9c39db8997ce6dab8eb/12-years-old-and-in-8th-grade
In real life, they were only 3 years apart in age.