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I believe it. I had a home lab when I was a child. The Web didn't exist yet, but I read the scientific publications that were available at the library. It used
by philipkglass 9y ago
I believe it. I had a home lab when I was a child. The Web didn't exist yet, but I read the scientific publications that were available at the library. It used to be common enough that there were books published about how to set up a lab and do research at home, like there were about setting up a home dark room for photography. (More recently I met someone who even had his own NMR (second hand, non-superconducting, but still) at home, was doing sophomore ochem lab activities at home at age 13, and left for university by age 15.)
It takes a child of remarkable interests and aptitude to win a national competition, of course. That's why you're reading about her specifically. It also takes unusually supportive parents. A sizable minority of American families with children could afford a home lab, equipment, and supplies if a child were so inclined and the parents encouraged it, but I suspect it's rarer for parents to OK funding it than other costly-but-more-common extracurricular activities or adult hobbies. Half of the battle is just having parents who understand you well enough to support what you want to do.
- afpx 9y agoAgreed. As a child of the 80s, one of my favorite things to do was have my mom drop me off at the local university library. I used to just sit in the reference section and devour information. Of course, I never had any mentors or really even anyone with a bachelors degree in my life. So, my comprehension was very low. But, it didn’t stop me from dreaming and reading and thinking. I can only imagine how amazing it must be to be a curious kid in the 2010s. On the other hand, I think it requires natural and insatiable curiousity. For instance, myy kids, while quite smart, certainly don’t have the same thirst.
- hycaria 9y agoA bit off topic, but how do you manage not to be dissapointed by this last fact ?
- afpx 9y agoI guess it is a little disappointing, at first. But, as a parent, you learn to embrace your children’s interests and help them in the direction they choose to go. Although you can force and manipulate them into doing things (and, sometimes it makes sense to do so), at a certain point one realizes that motivation is very personal. That is, you can setup the environment to encourage interest. But, if there’s still no interest, even incidental, the outcomes won’t match the expectations. For a silly example, imagine a parent with a passion for collecting dust. They try every trick to make their children also enjoy it. But, whatever they try, the kids would rather play baseball. What does the parent do? They can make everyone miserable by continuing to force dust into every aspect of life. Or, they can learn to enjoy baseball. Fortunately, a very curious parent can easily learn to enjoy things that they normally wouldn’t enjoy.
- hycaria 9y agoI realize I wasn't clear as didn't meant "isn't it disappointing to be unable to share a specific thing" but more "isn't it disappointing to see your children having a narrower field of interest/curiosity than yourself" (which I also can see happen in your example btw, you're able to enjoy basketball yet they still don't get dust the slightest)
- datalog19908 9y agojust curious. how did you turn up? what are you up to these days?
- replicatorblog 9y agoIf you're at all willing, I'd love to interview you for a project I'm working on about precocious kids and how to parent them. I'm joseph.flaherty@gmail.com. Can be a lightweight email interview. Thanks!
- philipkglass 9y agoI emailed you, from a yahoo address.