>I don't see why we should be applauding him for not doing the assignment... For the same reason he should be applauded for skipping school to work on his side

>I don't see why we should be applauding him for not doing the assignment... For the same reason he should be applauded for skipping school to work on his side projects: because breaking the rules to do something awesome is good. If he had done the stupid popsicle assignment, he'd still be in school working towards mediocrity. What's the point of that? The only point of the popsicle assignment was to give students something non-threatening to cut their teeth on. It has absolutely zero value outside of that. Clearly, he didn't need coddling, so he took on a bigger challenge -- and succeeded. That's exactly the type of attitude we should applaud.