6 ms·

Would this be more common if more parents were aware it was a possibility? At this risk of sounding arrogant, I'm fairly certain I could have kept up with at le

Would this be more common if more parents were aware it was a possibility? At this risk of sounding arrogant, I'm fairly certain I could have kept up with at least the average college student by the time I was 12 or 13. Can you even enroll in university without a high school diploma? I certainly might have if I had heard more stories like this.

coldtea 7y ago
>Would this be more common if more parents were aware it was a possibility? It should get less common, if more parents understand the developmental and psychological damage to the child.
- rootusrootus 7y ago
  Yeah I should hope so. If you spend some time around kids you notice that while there are a lot of average kids, there is no shortage of really bright ones that could totally be learning more than they are learning at a regular school. Mostly we don't kick them up to a higher grade, because it never really works out for the best. Probably because you forget most of the details of what you learn anyway unless it's a basic life skill or part of your career. What you get out of school is social experience and how to learn.
  - vkou 7y ago
    > What you get out of school is social experience and how to learn. My social experience in middle school was horrific, and school in general tried its best to beat any interest in learning out of me. If those are the stated goals of school, most of them do a piss-poor job at meeting them.
    - coldtea 7y ago
      The "horrific" part is also a preparation for adult life, which is not just roses and kind people. So that's part of the "social experience". Someone home schooled, especially if kept from friends too, would have a much bigger problem understanding adult life.
      - rootusrootus 7y ago
        While stipulating that there are exceptions to every rule, I have personal experience with some people who were home schooled and largely shielded from the outside world. Their young adult years have been pretty rough, as they try to learn enough to be safe and then successful with their lives.
- vkou 7y ago
  Devil's advocate: What about the developmental and psychological damage inflicted by some (Not all) school environments? I skipped a couple of grades, and started university at 16. By far the worst time that I had, in my psychological development, was in middle school, when I was among same-age peers. Children can be incredibly cruel to eachother.
  - coldtea 7y ago
    >Devil's advocate: What about the developmental and psychological damage inflicted by some (Not all) school environments? Since everybody gets that, that's the same as the "developmental and psychological damage inflicted" by society, or life in general. In other words, a necessary evil. And perhaps not even evil, just something to make people stronger for the real world, which is not all roses and love. Children might be incredibly cruel to each other, but the stakes are much lower. In adult life adults can be cruel to each other in much higher stakes (cheating on you, taking advantage of you, stealing from you, abusing you, beating you, looking down on you, and tons of other ways). And that doesn't stop in a few years, like school does. Those cruelties can go on till one dies...
- 6gvONxR4sf7o 7y ago
  Alternatively, if it gets more common, perhaps there would be space for more peer group socialization alongside the academic acceleration. If you teach vector calc to an entire group of 9 year olds, maybe they can develop as normal, as opposed to the potentially damaging solution of teaching it to a group of 18 year olds and one 9 year old.
  - runevault 7y ago
    This is the thought crossing my head. The best version of this is find a way for the young brilliant kids to have time together so they at least have some sort of peer group, instead of always being the weird little kid among college students or the like. Although it could still lead to some issues since ONLY dealing with brilliant people isn't the most real-world experience in the long run. There really needs to be some method for giving them the chance to excel to their maximum (without unfairly pushing them because we can) while also having a chance to experience more general social settings.
sabas123 7y ago
> Can you even enroll in university without a high school diploma? I certainly might have if I had heard more stories like this. He finished highschool a year earlier (he only did a single year for his bachelor's). And by law you must have a highschool diploma to start uni over here.
commandlinefan 7y ago
> Can you even enroll in university without a high school diploma? What a lot of us did (including myself and apparently a lot of other commenters in this thread) was took advantage of community college dual enrollment programs: if your middle- or high-school teacher approves it, and you can pass an entrance exam, they’ll let you take community college courses for credit part time even without a high school diploma. Well, if you’re home schooled, your “teachers”/parents are probably going to approve it, so as long as you can pass the entrance exam, you can start accumulating college credit as early as you care to. > I'm fairly certain I could have kept up with at least the average college student If you're on here, almost definitely ;)
Keverw 7y ago
Really nice achievement! I wish more parents were involved with their children's education, some just expect the government to educate their kids while they just work or stay at home. Some aren't even really aware of charter schools, which some are way better compared to the local public school. Got to be accepted, but at least it doesn't cost like private school since the funds are moved from the local city school to the charter school. There's a family who sold their house to full time RV, and their dad is a web developer, but him and his wife have already started teaching the kids to read and write even though not even at age for school yet, which they are homeschooling anyways - but kinda forced to if traveling full time. Looks like there's some company that sells you a package with the curriculum. I guess that doesn't work for every family, but I really love to see when parents are more involved, and get a bit jealous. I feel like that gives them a head start. Then some kids don't even go to preschool. I feel like the education system is one size fits all too. Kinda wish we had more school choices, and then not everyone has the same learning style. I remember seeing on the news once some school started as a experiment to teach via games. Forget what it's called. Some kids who are told they are ADD or ADHD, when really it's the style of educating that's the fault, so the lazy teachers tell their parents to put them on drugs so they are labeled as disabled just to get more funding for the school to pocket.

coldtea 7y ago

>Would this be more common if more parents were aware it was a possibility? It should get less common, if more parents understand the developmental and psychological damage to the child.

rootusrootus 7y ago
Yeah I should hope so. If you spend some time around kids you notice that while there are a lot of average kids, there is no shortage of really bright ones that could totally be learning more than they are learning at a regular school. Mostly we don't kick them up to a higher grade, because it never really works out for the best. Probably because you forget most of the details of what you learn anyway unless it's a basic life skill or part of your career. What you get out of school is social experience and how to learn.
- vkou 7y ago
  > What you get out of school is social experience and how to learn. My social experience in middle school was horrific, and school in general tried its best to beat any interest in learning out of me. If those are the stated goals of school, most of them do a piss-poor job at meeting them.
  - coldtea 7y ago
    The "horrific" part is also a preparation for adult life, which is not just roses and kind people. So that's part of the "social experience". Someone home schooled, especially if kept from friends too, would have a much bigger problem understanding adult life.
    - rootusrootus 7y ago
      While stipulating that there are exceptions to every rule, I have personal experience with some people who were home schooled and largely shielded from the outside world. Their young adult years have been pretty rough, as they try to learn enough to be safe and then successful with their lives.
vkou 7y ago
Devil's advocate: What about the developmental and psychological damage inflicted by some (Not all) school environments? I skipped a couple of grades, and started university at 16. By far the worst time that I had, in my psychological development, was in middle school, when I was among same-age peers. Children can be incredibly cruel to eachother.
- coldtea 7y ago
  >Devil's advocate: What about the developmental and psychological damage inflicted by some (Not all) school environments? Since everybody gets that, that's the same as the "developmental and psychological damage inflicted" by society, or life in general. In other words, a necessary evil. And perhaps not even evil, just something to make people stronger for the real world, which is not all roses and love. Children might be incredibly cruel to each other, but the stakes are much lower. In adult life adults can be cruel to each other in much higher stakes (cheating on you, taking advantage of you, stealing from you, abusing you, beating you, looking down on you, and tons of other ways). And that doesn't stop in a few years, like school does. Those cruelties can go on till one dies...
6gvONxR4sf7o 7y ago
Alternatively, if it gets more common, perhaps there would be space for more peer group socialization alongside the academic acceleration. If you teach vector calc to an entire group of 9 year olds, maybe they can develop as normal, as opposed to the potentially damaging solution of teaching it to a group of 18 year olds and one 9 year old.
- runevault 7y ago
  This is the thought crossing my head. The best version of this is find a way for the young brilliant kids to have time together so they at least have some sort of peer group, instead of always being the weird little kid among college students or the like. Although it could still lead to some issues since ONLY dealing with brilliant people isn't the most real-world experience in the long run. There really needs to be some method for giving them the chance to excel to their maximum (without unfairly pushing them because we can) while also having a chance to experience more general social settings.

sabas123 7y ago

> Can you even enroll in university without a high school diploma? I certainly might have if I had heard more stories like this. He finished highschool a year earlier (he only did a single year for his bachelor's). And by law you must have a highschool diploma to start uni over here.

commandlinefan 7y ago

> Can you even enroll in university without a high school diploma? What a lot of us did (including myself and apparently a lot of other commenters in this thread) was took advantage of community college dual enrollment programs: if your middle- or high-school teacher approves it, and you can pass an entrance exam, they’ll let you take community college courses for credit part time even without a high school diploma. Well, if you’re home schooled, your “teachers”/parents are probably going to approve it, so as long as you can pass the entrance exam, you can start accumulating college credit as early as you care to. > I'm fairly certain I could have kept up with at least the average college student If you're on here, almost definitely ;)

Keverw 7y ago

Really nice achievement! I wish more parents were involved with their children's education, some just expect the government to educate their kids while they just work or stay at home. Some aren't even really aware of charter schools, which some are way better compared to the local public school. Got to be accepted, but at least it doesn't cost like private school since the funds are moved from the local city school to the charter school. There's a family who sold their house to full time RV, and their dad is a web developer, but him and his wife have already started teaching the kids to read and write even though not even at age for school yet, which they are homeschooling anyways - but kinda forced to if traveling full time. Looks like there's some company that sells you a package with the curriculum. I guess that doesn't work for every family, but I really love to see when parents are more involved, and get a bit jealous. I feel like that gives them a head start. Then some kids don't even go to preschool. I feel like the education system is one size fits all too. Kinda wish we had more school choices, and then not everyone has the same learning style. I remember seeing on the news once some school started as a experiment to teach via games. Forget what it's called. Some kids who are told they are ADD or ADHD, when really it's the style of educating that's the fault, so the lazy teachers tell their parents to put them on drugs so they are labeled as disabled just to get more funding for the school to pocket.