7 ms·
Besides his age, the main reason for this story is probably the fact that he is a homeless teenager and that it is very rare that kids with such a background ex
by comodore_ 5y ago
Besides his age, the main reason for this story is probably the fact that he is a homeless teenager and that it is very rare that kids with such a background excel. He cannot be the only one who is obviously highly gifted, it is a tragedy that these children are deprived by the system to be sufficiently empowered and thus sustainably break the cycle of poverty.
This, and the fact that california is planning to eliminate or drastically reduce the gifted education program in calculus in the name of equity!, which essentially will deprive especially gifted poor kids of even the slightest chance to get noticed, makes me sad and incredibly angry at the same time.
- eBombzor 5y agoSource?
- rqcontrol 5y agoHe is not homeless, search for 250,000 in this very article.
- CarelessExpert 5y agoThe first sentence in the article is: > Once upon a time a 7-year-old refugee living in a homeless shelter sat down at a chess board in school and learned how to play. He may not be homeless now but he certainly was.
- ttz 5y agoIf you're gifted/have qualities that will enable you for success, I struggle to see how not taking advanced calculus will be to your detriment, or affect your ability to be noticed. Ramanujan read a bunch of textbooks. He certainly did not have the luxury of advanced calculus courses (which isn't even a good representation of research mathematics). He's one of the greatest mathematical geniuses of all time.
- rahimnathwani 5y agoSomeone with 1-in-1000 aptitude might be considered gifted. Ramanujan was more like 1 in a billion.
- kevinventullo 5y agoDo you honestly believe that two kids with the same raw talent, one growing up in the projects and one attending private school in upstate New York, have the same chances of being future Fields Medalists? The same principle applies at a smaller scale to the availability of advanced classes in high school or at any level. Ramanujan is considered exceptional precisely because of his background. He absolutely would have had more prominence and pushed the field much farther with the right resources at a young age.
- ttz 5y agoFair point. I was specifically comparing "regular" stream calculus vs a special "gifted" class (in the elitist, "my parents have more money" sense) ; I see now you were thinking more of "a subsidized opportunity for people in disadvantaged situations to be exposed to higher level mathematics", in which case, I agree with you.
- throwaway81523 5y agoHe's not a teenager, he's 10yo.