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Skipped 4th through 6th grades. Impressive. Is this innate or did his parents do something to make this happen? Is there anything I'm supposed to be doing with

Skipped 4th through 6th grades. Impressive. Is this innate or did his parents do something to make this happen? Is there anything I'm supposed to be doing with my own kids? How/when do you know when your child has this potential?

pbh101 8y ago
I was around some people who did this growing up. In outlier cases like this it tends to get extremely obvious to anyone nearby, and then usually the onus is on the parents to push this process forward, keeping in mind what is best for the student holistically rather than solely educationally. Of course other situations are not as clear and the judgement call aspect becomes more pronounced, but at the same time the potential downsides are usually much smaller, i.e. skipping one grade is nowhere near the same thing as skipping three.
- paulpauper 8y ago
  this is someone who at the age 10 could have gone to college. That's how smart he is. One in 50 million IQ. I don't think parents are that involved, imho. This is the digital age. All you need in is an internet connection to learn the same material as everyone else has access to. This kid as a 10 year could have self-taught himself calculus online. if a 10-year old shows up to school knowing as much as a 20-year-old, then grades will be skipped..lots of them.
paulpauper 8y ago
probably really high IQ and knew all the material
acangiano 8y ago
Nature is important but people massively underestimate the nurturing component. Parents are most definitely key for these types of outcomes. If you're not familiar with the story already, read about the Polgar sisters. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/articles/200507/the-grandmaster-experiment https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/articles/200507/the-grand... To your question, my immediate answer was, "let them play outside". But it sounds dismissive of what you are asking. So the better answer is: provide them with the opportunity to learn, encourage their curiosity, praise them for their work not innate intelligence while still telling them that they are smart, create an environment that values and promotes education, create a program for them to follow when they show interest in a particular discipline, have great mentors help them develop, etc. The truth is, there is always going to be a compromise between having a care-free childhood and top performance from an early age. You can't really have both no matter how smart your kids are. Asian parents stereotypically tend to opt for the latter end of the spectrum with, on average, very successful outcomes.
- paulpauper 8y ago
  imho, I think ppl actually overestimate the role of parenting. Often extremely gifted children (as Tang and Tao are/were) will have their interests piqued by something, and then on their own volition learn everything they can about it. There isn't much prodding by the parents. For someone with an IQ of 140+, maybe doing calculus problems is more fun than video games.
  - acangiano 8y ago
    In the case of extreme outliers, I think you might be right. In the case of "regular" top performers, I think nurturing is underestimated by many (perhaps not us on HN).
  - l9k 8y ago
    The interest must come from the kid, but there are conditions that enable this interest. From a previously mentioned link in this thread [1], Tang's father is a bioengineer professor, which means: 1. Financial stability in the family, and it seems that both parents where emotionaly supportive 2. The father is knowledgeable in sciences, that means he can orient the learning and use his network 3. The father let his son work in his nanotechnology lab [1] http://www.uta.edu/utamagazine/archive-issues/2010-13/2012/12/cultivating-genius/index.html http://www.uta.edu/utamagazine/archive-issues/2010-13/2012/1...

pbh101 8y ago

I was around some people who did this growing up. In outlier cases like this it tends to get extremely obvious to anyone nearby, and then usually the onus is on the parents to push this process forward, keeping in mind what is best for the student holistically rather than solely educationally. Of course other situations are not as clear and the judgement call aspect becomes more pronounced, but at the same time the potential downsides are usually much smaller, i.e. skipping one grade is nowhere near the same thing as skipping three.

paulpauper 8y ago
this is someone who at the age 10 could have gone to college. That's how smart he is. One in 50 million IQ. I don't think parents are that involved, imho. This is the digital age. All you need in is an internet connection to learn the same material as everyone else has access to. This kid as a 10 year could have self-taught himself calculus online. if a 10-year old shows up to school knowing as much as a 20-year-old, then grades will be skipped..lots of them.

paulpauper 8y ago

probably really high IQ and knew all the material

acangiano 8y ago

Nature is important but people massively underestimate the nurturing component. Parents are most definitely key for these types of outcomes. If you're not familiar with the story already, read about the Polgar sisters. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/articles/200507/the-grandmaster-experiment https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/articles/200507/the-grand... To your question, my immediate answer was, "let them play outside". But it sounds dismissive of what you are asking. So the better answer is: provide them with the opportunity to learn, encourage their curiosity, praise them for their work not innate intelligence while still telling them that they are smart, create an environment that values and promotes education, create a program for them to follow when they show interest in a particular discipline, have great mentors help them develop, etc. The truth is, there is always going to be a compromise between having a care-free childhood and top performance from an early age. You can't really have both no matter how smart your kids are. Asian parents stereotypically tend to opt for the latter end of the spectrum with, on average, very successful outcomes.

paulpauper 8y ago
imho, I think ppl actually overestimate the role of parenting. Often extremely gifted children (as Tang and Tao are/were) will have their interests piqued by something, and then on their own volition learn everything they can about it. There isn't much prodding by the parents. For someone with an IQ of 140+, maybe doing calculus problems is more fun than video games.
- acangiano 8y ago
  In the case of extreme outliers, I think you might be right. In the case of "regular" top performers, I think nurturing is underestimated by many (perhaps not us on HN).
- l9k 8y ago
  The interest must come from the kid, but there are conditions that enable this interest. From a previously mentioned link in this thread [1], Tang's father is a bioengineer professor, which means: 1. Financial stability in the family, and it seems that both parents where emotionaly supportive 2. The father is knowledgeable in sciences, that means he can orient the learning and use his network 3. The father let his son work in his nanotechnology lab [1] http://www.uta.edu/utamagazine/archive-issues/2010-13/2012/12/cultivating-genius/index.html http://www.uta.edu/utamagazine/archive-issues/2010-13/2012/1...