At first,it was established that Beav was in 2nd grade and Wally in 7th...but,unless I'm wrong,didn't they advance Beaver's grade level by one year? Because he was in 8th when Wally was a senior...this has made me wonder for years..Did he skip a grade or did Wally flunk one year?:)

Actually Wally was in 8th grade in the first season. It was never explained in the show why they were 6 grades apart at the beginning and only 4 at the end. I doubt very much that Beaver would have skipped a grade though, or Wally fail a grade for that matter. :)

Wasn't Wally twelve in the first season? By 8th grade I'd expect most studdents to be thirteen.

Wasn't Wally twelve in the first season? By 8th grade I'd expect most studdents to be at least thirteen.

Oops, sorry I posted twice.:crazy:

I always thought he was 12 and in 7th grade...i guess season one will be coming up again soon and i can see for sure:)

I'm not sure how old he was but I remember for sure Wally was in 8th grade in season one. In the ep Beaver Gets Spelled Mrs. Rayburn mentions it while talking to Miss Canfield.

There is an old thread on this board where the situation of Wally being in the 8th grade at age 12 was discussed. And one possible conclusion was that since he was born in 1945 (or maybe late '44), just before the original "baby boomers," educational authorities would have seen the need for greater facilities for those entering school in 1951-52, and since it took years to get many things back in order to a peacetime economy, it seems likely one thing to help the situation would have been for those born in '45-'46 to enter first grade at age 5 in order to help make room for all the baby boomers, some of whom also might have entered school earlier than customary, while communities were still struggling to build more schools and train more teachers.

I thought he didn't start talking about going to high school til season 2.I thought that was when that military school boy came to visit him,no?:confused:

It is true that many years ago (and even now in some school districts) a child could enter kindergarten before age 5, so maybe that's theoretically how Wally could have been in 8th grade and only be 12.

As for why the age difference diminished from 6 yrs. down to 4 yrs. - I guess the producers thought the it would be easier for the writers to develop interesting storylines if the boys were a little closer in age.

Originally posted by tdr
There is an old thread on this board where the situation of Wally being in the 8th grade at age 12 was discussed. And one possible conclusion was that since he was born in 1945 (or maybe late '44), just before the original "baby boomers," educational authorities would have seen the need for greater facilities for those entering school in 1951-52, and since it took years to get many things back in order to a peacetime economy, it seems likely one thing to help the situation would have been for those born in '45-'46 to enter first grade at age 5 in order to help make room for all the baby boomers, some of whom also might have entered school earlier than customary, while communities were still struggling to build more schools and train more teachers.

Yes, I was just rummaging through old threads and came across that. I remember I liked that baby boomers thing that I had never heard--it didn't apply to my born-in 45 aunt and my born-in-57 mom, because both were kindergardeners at age 4 1/2. But the baby boomer thing would explain why Wally was younger in school (during the first few seasons anyhow) and Beaver wasn't.

Wally was definitely 12 and in 8th grade during the first season. I don't think his age ever changed, just his grade (as a senior I believe he started out as a 17 year old, not 16, like he would have been if he was 12 in 8th.) I still can't figure out when the change of grades happened for him. 2 full seasons as a sophomore? A junior? A change during some mid season?

I *THINK* Beaver "skipped" 6th grade completely. Or was it 7th? Perhaps during some season he changed grades and I never noticed. Of course, we're not suppose to notice the change of grades--Wally really wasn't held back, and Beaver did not get moved up.