When should my kid enter kindergarten???? HELP!

[Tikicampers]

The academic quality that kindergarten has taken on is NOT the result of parents holding their children back. It is the result of the accountability and standards movements by states and federal government.

That is exactly right. When I taught first grade it felt much more like second or third used to. Teaching K I'm doing things that used to be done in first. This is because in today's fast paced world, we have to keep up with other countries. K is also more academic, because we now know more about how children learn. We are able to introduce things earlier than in the past. And for the record I believe strongly in play based learning for young kids. In my classroom, we have a "store" to learn about money, we play with blocks to learn about geometry, etc.
If you are trying to decide whether to send a child with a late birthday, I strongly suggest you speak to a K teacher from the school your child will attend. She can tell you about the academic standards there and the social setting.