5 ms·

Speaking as someone whose school administrators wanted me to start university by 13 but whose parents objected and held me back, being the same age as my chrono

by smeej 5y ago

Speaking as someone whose school administrators wanted me to start university by 13 but whose parents objected and held me back, being the same age as my chronological peers was meaningless and did not help me relate to them. The odds that an 18-22yo traditional college student will overlook a 5-9 year age gap because you share a lot of interests and can have interesting conversations are much higher than the odds that another 13yo will overlook the fact that you have no shared interests at all because hey, you're the same age. I found it extremely difficult to make friends until I got out from under the limiting influence of my parents who didn't want their kid to be "weird." Now I have a whole bunch of weird friends who are fascinating, joyful dorks, so it's not hopeless either way, but I'd have loved to experience this much sooner.

data_spy 5y ago
Grass is always greener. You don't know the counterfactual and you would have likely been disappointed in your parents had they sent you to college early as well.
- smeej 5y ago
  I'll let other people, like the parent comment, speak to their experiences. He, at least, doesn't seem to think my grass was greener. I do think listening to any of the professional educators who unanimously and repeatedly told my parents it would have been better to accelerate my path through school would have been a good idea.
- yowlingcat 5y ago
  First of all, neither do /you/ know the counterfactual and so you have no bearing on whether or not this person "would have likely been disappointed in your parents had they sent you to college early as well." Do you have any experience with folks who went to secondary education early? Because I was miserable in high school bored out of my mind and left 1 year only and my only regret was not leaving even earlier like some of my peers did. Speaking platitudes like "the grass is always greener" may make you feel better but it doesn't line up with 25% of the profiles of students I've seen go to secondary education early (and I know a lot of them).
  - jnwatson 5y ago
    I had a similar experience: I started college at 17 and with little effort could have started at 16. I did hang out with a 15-year-old at college and he seemed to have a relatively normal college experience.
    - bruce511 5y ago
      Genuine question, cause I don't live in the US, is starting college at 17 unusual? Over here half of the cohort finishing high school are 17, so I expect a similar proportion starting college here are 17. Personally I had a 2 year gap between high school and university, so I went from being one of the youngest in my year to one of the oldest,which was kinda nice. Plus the time away taught me some self reliance so college was pretty easy to adjust to.
      - cperciva 5y ago
        Canadian here, but I think the US follows the same age-grade mapping. Kids usually enter Kindergarten in September of the calendar year in which they turn 5, i.e. those born January-August are 5 years old and those born September-December are still 4 years old. After that, grades 1-12 follow with a majority of post-secondary-education-bound students entering a few months later. So yes, in the modal case (advancing with the cohort) a student entering college will start at 17 years old if their birthday is late in the year.
      - jnwatson 5y ago
        In most US areas, grade cutoff is around August, so before college starts. Most students start college at 18.
bradlys 5y ago
> The odds that an 18-22yo traditional college student will overlook a 5-9 year age gap because you share a lot of interests and can have interesting conversations are much higher than the odds that another 13yo will overlook the fact that you have no shared interests at all because hey, you're the same age. I see both as same odds - mainly zero. A lot of people ITT who are like, “I’m so high IQ - I went to college when I was 13” like many of us out here didn’t have that option. (Rubs very much the same way of r/iamverysmart) It’s not as difficult as people make it sound. Most of your education growing up is a complete joke - it’s just babysitting. Exclaiming that you were some version of detective Conan is also quite cringe.
- garbagetime 5y ago
  It's always a bit cringe worthy when a person talks about how smart he is. But that doesn't make it wrong. You seem to have read it as some kind of bragging, but I see no reason to interpret it that way.
- renewiltord 5y ago
  Usually, it’s some moron on the Internet saying he was a “gifted kid” like it’s an achievement but you have independent verification that Colin Percival (cperciva - this topic starter) is smart. He’s a multi-time Putnam winner and the founder of Tarsnap. Also the source of one of those amusing HN exchanges where people think everyone else is run of the mill. You know the one.
  - cperciva 5y ago
    multi-time Putnam winner Alas, only once.
  - bradlys 5y ago
    He himself said he couldn’t associate with people who were lower than his IQ. I don’t give a shit what his accomplishments are - he clearly still has the same asinine mentality that any 13-year old has when they think they’re smart. Idk why people on HN assume this is the first time I’ve had to deal with a Putnam winner (or a fields medalist), a celebrity, a billionaire, etc. I live in SV after all. I’ve talked to all of these folks many times. I talk to this person no different than any of the other people I’ve talked to. They deserve no different when they say such things. I judge what they say and are actively doing - not what past accomplishments they have made in some unrelated field.
johnnyanmac 5y ago
>The odds that an 18-22yo traditional college student will overlook a 5-9 year age gap because you share a lot of interests and can have interesting conversations are much higher than the odds that another 13yo will overlook the fact that you have no shared interests at all because hey, you're the same age. I think the odds are honestly in better favor of the 13YO. if only because a 5 year age gap for an 18 YO is a magnitude different than a 5 year age gap for a 30 year old, or even a 24 year old. It may even be a legal risk depending on the profiling of each peer for the former. Of no fault of either party, just of the fault of decades of bad actors and a culture highlighting them. I have a lot of friends and coulleages like that now, but I can't imagine them even giving me the time of day if we met a decade prior and somehow all had identical interests.

by smeej 5y ago

data_spy 5y ago

Grass is always greener. You don't know the counterfactual and you would have likely been disappointed in your parents had they sent you to college early as well.

smeej 5y ago
I'll let other people, like the parent comment, speak to their experiences. He, at least, doesn't seem to think my grass was greener. I do think listening to any of the professional educators who unanimously and repeatedly told my parents it would have been better to accelerate my path through school would have been a good idea.
yowlingcat 5y ago
First of all, neither do /you/ know the counterfactual and so you have no bearing on whether or not this person "would have likely been disappointed in your parents had they sent you to college early as well." Do you have any experience with folks who went to secondary education early? Because I was miserable in high school bored out of my mind and left 1 year only and my only regret was not leaving even earlier like some of my peers did. Speaking platitudes like "the grass is always greener" may make you feel better but it doesn't line up with 25% of the profiles of students I've seen go to secondary education early (and I know a lot of them).
- jnwatson 5y ago
  I had a similar experience: I started college at 17 and with little effort could have started at 16. I did hang out with a 15-year-old at college and he seemed to have a relatively normal college experience.
  - bruce511 5y ago
    Genuine question, cause I don't live in the US, is starting college at 17 unusual? Over here half of the cohort finishing high school are 17, so I expect a similar proportion starting college here are 17. Personally I had a 2 year gap between high school and university, so I went from being one of the youngest in my year to one of the oldest,which was kinda nice. Plus the time away taught me some self reliance so college was pretty easy to adjust to.
    - cperciva 5y ago
      Canadian here, but I think the US follows the same age-grade mapping. Kids usually enter Kindergarten in September of the calendar year in which they turn 5, i.e. those born January-August are 5 years old and those born September-December are still 4 years old. After that, grades 1-12 follow with a majority of post-secondary-education-bound students entering a few months later. So yes, in the modal case (advancing with the cohort) a student entering college will start at 17 years old if their birthday is late in the year.
    - jnwatson 5y ago
      In most US areas, grade cutoff is around August, so before college starts. Most students start college at 18.

bradlys 5y ago

> The odds that an 18-22yo traditional college student will overlook a 5-9 year age gap because you share a lot of interests and can have interesting conversations are much higher than the odds that another 13yo will overlook the fact that you have no shared interests at all because hey, you're the same age. I see both as same odds - mainly zero. A lot of people ITT who are like, “I’m so high IQ - I went to college when I was 13” like many of us out here didn’t have that option. (Rubs very much the same way of r/iamverysmart) It’s not as difficult as people make it sound. Most of your education growing up is a complete joke - it’s just babysitting. Exclaiming that you were some version of detective Conan is also quite cringe.

garbagetime 5y ago
It's always a bit cringe worthy when a person talks about how smart he is. But that doesn't make it wrong. You seem to have read it as some kind of bragging, but I see no reason to interpret it that way.
renewiltord 5y ago
Usually, it’s some moron on the Internet saying he was a “gifted kid” like it’s an achievement but you have independent verification that Colin Percival (cperciva - this topic starter) is smart. He’s a multi-time Putnam winner and the founder of Tarsnap. Also the source of one of those amusing HN exchanges where people think everyone else is run of the mill. You know the one.
- cperciva 5y ago
  multi-time Putnam winner Alas, only once.
- bradlys 5y ago
  He himself said he couldn’t associate with people who were lower than his IQ. I don’t give a shit what his accomplishments are - he clearly still has the same asinine mentality that any 13-year old has when they think they’re smart. Idk why people on HN assume this is the first time I’ve had to deal with a Putnam winner (or a fields medalist), a celebrity, a billionaire, etc. I live in SV after all. I’ve talked to all of these folks many times. I talk to this person no different than any of the other people I’ve talked to. They deserve no different when they say such things. I judge what they say and are actively doing - not what past accomplishments they have made in some unrelated field.

johnnyanmac 5y ago

>The odds that an 18-22yo traditional college student will overlook a 5-9 year age gap because you share a lot of interests and can have interesting conversations are much higher than the odds that another 13yo will overlook the fact that you have no shared interests at all because hey, you're the same age. I think the odds are honestly in better favor of the 13YO. if only because a 5 year age gap for an 18 YO is a magnitude different than a 5 year age gap for a 30 year old, or even a 24 year old. It may even be a legal risk depending on the profiling of each peer for the former. Of no fault of either party, just of the fault of decades of bad actors and a culture highlighting them. I have a lot of friends and coulleages like that now, but I can't imagine them even giving me the time of day if we met a decade prior and somehow all had identical interests.