6 ms·

I was a classmate of Colin's, and I want to emphasize that he is extremely well adjusted. When he was in high school he struck everyone as a bright--if a little

by SlyShy 17y ago

I was a classmate of Colin's, and I want to emphasize that he is extremely well adjusted. When he was in high school he struck everyone as a bright--if a little smaller than usual--high school student. So I'd love to not hear any "he should go back and play with his age-mates so he can develop social skills, yadayada." The truth is, 13 year olds are obnoxious, and if I could've skipped that and started interacting with adults earlier I would've.

pasbesoin 17y ago
Why do people assume that "children" (I would tend to start applying the term "young adult") who learn everything else so quickly, somehow do not learn social skills and socialize at a faster than normal pace? Some individuals may not, but others may and, just as with intellectual capability, these other skills should be evaluated on a case by case basis. Further (as has been discussed here before and in several posted items), some people argue that one problem with kids these days is precisely that they and their culture are so cut off from adult and workplace culture, in general. From that perspective, Colin's interactions with adults might actually be healthy. I wasn't necessarily as bright as him, but I was considered bright. And was it ever frustrating at times to be forced into extensive interaction with my "peers" who were obsessed with isolated social ranking, posturing, and what was for me dumb/uninformed/boring behavior. Sure, you don't want a child to be taken advantage of, but a blanket response of "too young" is an excuse not to do your job and actually thereby takes advantage of that child in another way, constraining them for the sake of your convenience and peace of mind. In Colin's case, at least he has moved on to university, which should have broadened his social as well as intellectual environment. I guess a trip overseas might thereupon rather be posed as a challenge to his problem solving skills, and to his ability to adopt a sufficiently protective posture. (An adult is viewed, on the surface, as a more challenging target for victimization than a kid.) If he's getting himself through university with a 3.9 grade average and honor roll status, and in the face of the age difference with his peers, I'd argue that he already has problem solving skills at least equal to others participating in the program. I can imagine him, on the basis of his youthful and diminished stature, perhaps being prone to targeting by criminals and con-artists. I would think the program might be willing to put in a bit of work to counter-balance this concern (which might be legitimate, despite any waiving of liability, both out of genuine interest and out of concern for possible negative publicity). His traveling with a guardian, who can devote her full time to counter-balancing such possible threats, should resolve remaining concerns. This is an exceptional person. Can the university and program not be a bit exceptional, in return, in helping him achieve his goals? Hopefully, they'll admit the NSF work as equivalent and sufficient, for credit.
jedberg 17y ago
I started college when I was 12, and yes, I was more mature than most of my classmates. However, I didn't go full time. I still went back to high school. There is some social learning that you just miss out on if you don't spend time with your age-peers. High School sucked, but I'd still do it all over again. In the best interest of the kid, they should really send him to interact with some age-peers in some sort of activity, if not High School. That said, I don't think UConn should be preventing him, especially if his mom will go at her expense.
- DaniFong 17y ago
  I didn't go back to high school (you couldn't have made me if you wanted to), and whatever social learning attributed to it I think I made up with friends. This might not be the best transmission medium for our particular brand of culture (I am still told that I have to go to prom!), but I have a hard time believing that those who've grown up without school, either centuries ago or in other nations, were any less well adjusted or healthy. Learning from age peers is important, but I'm very glad I grew up with people of many ages and attitudes and intellects, away from the high school monoculture where age equals authority. The age of best friends now range from 21 to 55, and I am happier and wiser and stronger for it. More important than age peers, I think, is shared experience with people from diverse backgrounds. Which seems to me to be precisely what he's trying to lobby for...
  - thaumaturgy 17y ago
    I wholeheartedly agree with being exposed to people of different age groups and backgrounds, as often and as early as possible. When I was in the 3rd grade, I got to join an experimental "multi-graded" program which had students from the 1st through 5th grades in a single classroom. It's not that uncommon really, just sadly uncommon in U.S. public schools at the time. Anyway, it gave the older kids an opportunity to take leadership roles in group projects, and it gave the younger kids the opportunity to quickly learn behavior and skills from the older kids. It was a great, successful program, by most metrics.
- silencio 17y ago
  I agree, I did the whole accelerated education thing early in my life too, and in some ways it's been awesome and in other ways I feel like I missed out even if my parents or I occasionally went back to something more "normal". I went back to high school (and a highly gifted one at that, with pretty much all honors/AP classes) for just short of two years. But in that two years, as miserable as I may have been enough to drop out on my own for good in the end, I met people and went places with said people that I just wouldn't really have had the same experience doing any other way. (Not to say one should go back to high school or something as silly, but interacting with your own age peers can be an interesting experience...and one that can be done in many different ways, including meeting up with similarly-situated peers.) I've effectively been taking classes at colleges and universities for like the past ten years of my life, and my college experience ten years ago compared to my college experience at 16 and then at 20 have not been the same in any way. So I hope everyone going this path realizes what kind of ride they're in for. All that being said, UConn isn't doing anyone any favors trying to prevent this guy from doing what he wants solely based on his age, especially if it's necessary for his major and he and his parents are willing to foot the liability issues.
araneae 17y ago
How did you manage to go to high school with him if he attended an online high school?
- SlyShy 17y ago
  Because I attended an online high school. ;) In case you are wondering, though, yes I've met him in person. Many of us would meet up during school breaks at a central location, like Chicago.
imp 17y ago
The article says "He graduated from Stanford University Online High School at age 11, and soon after enrolled full-time at UConn." Did you go to the online high school also? If so, what is that like?
- SlyShy 17y ago
  Yeah, I did. My thoughts on that subject are a bit mixed. Before online high school I was home schooled, and I'm certain I would've learned more had I remained home schooled. However, as an alternative to a brick and mortar high school, I think the idea has a lot potential still to be unlocked. The high school I attended (Stanford's EPGY Online High School) botched the concept, for lack of good technology. Thus far online HSes have generally hobbled along by using corporate teleconferencing software--a clearly deficient solution. But with tailored software the experience could be very good. In fact, it's my personal view that online education + OLPC or similar initiative could do wonders for third world countries. One of the biggest obstacles to education in, say, Africa are the lack of school buildings and the lack of local teachers, according to my friends who've done peace corp. Both of these problems are mitigated by online education assuming you have internet infrastructure. Since internet infrastructure is a major component of recent investment in that part of the world, I think it would be achievable.
  - aptimpropriety 17y ago
    Somewhat unrelated, but I help to run an organization that is generally unhappy about the raving media attention OLPC gets repeatedly. While OLPCs cost many hundreds of dollars (not counting the high volume of volunteer hours/dollars), we ship computers all around the world at a cost of usually around $100/computer. Plus - from a sustainability perspective, our group is leaps and bounds ahead - instead of 3 year-old computers being sent to china to be 'recycled' (which results in significant waste) they are used and reused by very careful and grateful users in Africa, the middle east, and other parts of the developing world. http://rso.cornell.edu/ccra/ http://rso.cornell.edu/ccra/ - Check out our website. We're an undergraduate-run org and to our knowledge are the largest organization of our type in the nation. Our efforts to get programs started at other schools have been underwhelming.

by SlyShy 17y ago

pasbesoin 17y ago

Why do people assume that "children" (I would tend to start applying the term "young adult") who learn everything else so quickly, somehow do not learn social skills and socialize at a faster than normal pace? Some individuals may not, but others may and, just as with intellectual capability, these other skills should be evaluated on a case by case basis. Further (as has been discussed here before and in several posted items), some people argue that one problem with kids these days is precisely that they and their culture are so cut off from adult and workplace culture, in general. From that perspective, Colin's interactions with adults might actually be healthy. I wasn't necessarily as bright as him, but I was considered bright. And was it ever frustrating at times to be forced into extensive interaction with my "peers" who were obsessed with isolated social ranking, posturing, and what was for me dumb/uninformed/boring behavior. Sure, you don't want a child to be taken advantage of, but a blanket response of "too young" is an excuse not to do your job and actually thereby takes advantage of that child in another way, constraining them for the sake of your convenience and peace of mind. In Colin's case, at least he has moved on to university, which should have broadened his social as well as intellectual environment. I guess a trip overseas might thereupon rather be posed as a challenge to his problem solving skills, and to his ability to adopt a sufficiently protective posture. (An adult is viewed, on the surface, as a more challenging target for victimization than a kid.) If he's getting himself through university with a 3.9 grade average and honor roll status, and in the face of the age difference with his peers, I'd argue that he already has problem solving skills at least equal to others participating in the program. I can imagine him, on the basis of his youthful and diminished stature, perhaps being prone to targeting by criminals and con-artists. I would think the program might be willing to put in a bit of work to counter-balance this concern (which might be legitimate, despite any waiving of liability, both out of genuine interest and out of concern for possible negative publicity). His traveling with a guardian, who can devote her full time to counter-balancing such possible threats, should resolve remaining concerns. This is an exceptional person. Can the university and program not be a bit exceptional, in return, in helping him achieve his goals? Hopefully, they'll admit the NSF work as equivalent and sufficient, for credit.

jedberg 17y ago

I started college when I was 12, and yes, I was more mature than most of my classmates. However, I didn't go full time. I still went back to high school. There is some social learning that you just miss out on if you don't spend time with your age-peers. High School sucked, but I'd still do it all over again. In the best interest of the kid, they should really send him to interact with some age-peers in some sort of activity, if not High School. That said, I don't think UConn should be preventing him, especially if his mom will go at her expense.

DaniFong 17y ago
I didn't go back to high school (you couldn't have made me if you wanted to), and whatever social learning attributed to it I think I made up with friends. This might not be the best transmission medium for our particular brand of culture (I am still told that I have to go to prom!), but I have a hard time believing that those who've grown up without school, either centuries ago or in other nations, were any less well adjusted or healthy. Learning from age peers is important, but I'm very glad I grew up with people of many ages and attitudes and intellects, away from the high school monoculture where age equals authority. The age of best friends now range from 21 to 55, and I am happier and wiser and stronger for it. More important than age peers, I think, is shared experience with people from diverse backgrounds. Which seems to me to be precisely what he's trying to lobby for...
- thaumaturgy 17y ago
  I wholeheartedly agree with being exposed to people of different age groups and backgrounds, as often and as early as possible. When I was in the 3rd grade, I got to join an experimental "multi-graded" program which had students from the 1st through 5th grades in a single classroom. It's not that uncommon really, just sadly uncommon in U.S. public schools at the time. Anyway, it gave the older kids an opportunity to take leadership roles in group projects, and it gave the younger kids the opportunity to quickly learn behavior and skills from the older kids. It was a great, successful program, by most metrics.
silencio 17y ago
I agree, I did the whole accelerated education thing early in my life too, and in some ways it's been awesome and in other ways I feel like I missed out even if my parents or I occasionally went back to something more "normal". I went back to high school (and a highly gifted one at that, with pretty much all honors/AP classes) for just short of two years. But in that two years, as miserable as I may have been enough to drop out on my own for good in the end, I met people and went places with said people that I just wouldn't really have had the same experience doing any other way. (Not to say one should go back to high school or something as silly, but interacting with your own age peers can be an interesting experience...and one that can be done in many different ways, including meeting up with similarly-situated peers.) I've effectively been taking classes at colleges and universities for like the past ten years of my life, and my college experience ten years ago compared to my college experience at 16 and then at 20 have not been the same in any way. So I hope everyone going this path realizes what kind of ride they're in for. All that being said, UConn isn't doing anyone any favors trying to prevent this guy from doing what he wants solely based on his age, especially if it's necessary for his major and he and his parents are willing to foot the liability issues.

araneae 17y ago

How did you manage to go to high school with him if he attended an online high school?

SlyShy 17y ago
Because I attended an online high school. ;) In case you are wondering, though, yes I've met him in person. Many of us would meet up during school breaks at a central location, like Chicago.

imp 17y ago

The article says "He graduated from Stanford University Online High School at age 11, and soon after enrolled full-time at UConn." Did you go to the online high school also? If so, what is that like?

SlyShy 17y ago
Yeah, I did. My thoughts on that subject are a bit mixed. Before online high school I was home schooled, and I'm certain I would've learned more had I remained home schooled. However, as an alternative to a brick and mortar high school, I think the idea has a lot potential still to be unlocked. The high school I attended (Stanford's EPGY Online High School) botched the concept, for lack of good technology. Thus far online HSes have generally hobbled along by using corporate teleconferencing software--a clearly deficient solution. But with tailored software the experience could be very good. In fact, it's my personal view that online education + OLPC or similar initiative could do wonders for third world countries. One of the biggest obstacles to education in, say, Africa are the lack of school buildings and the lack of local teachers, according to my friends who've done peace corp. Both of these problems are mitigated by online education assuming you have internet infrastructure. Since internet infrastructure is a major component of recent investment in that part of the world, I think it would be achievable.
- aptimpropriety 17y ago
  Somewhat unrelated, but I help to run an organization that is generally unhappy about the raving media attention OLPC gets repeatedly. While OLPCs cost many hundreds of dollars (not counting the high volume of volunteer hours/dollars), we ship computers all around the world at a cost of usually around $100/computer. Plus - from a sustainability perspective, our group is leaps and bounds ahead - instead of 3 year-old computers being sent to china to be 'recycled' (which results in significant waste) they are used and reused by very careful and grateful users in Africa, the middle east, and other parts of the developing world. http://rso.cornell.edu/ccra/ http://rso.cornell.edu/ccra/ - Check out our website. We're an undergraduate-run org and to our knowledge are the largest organization of our type in the nation. Our efforts to get programs started at other schools have been underwhelming.