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13 year old prodigies, and all that

daenku32

Master Poster
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Prodigy, 13, claims age discrimination by UConn
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100325/ap_on_re_us/us_prodigy_study_abroad

The short: he is in College and wants to go to S.Africa in the summer as part of school field program. College said: "nah, you're too young." Mayhem ensues..

I'm really less interested in why he wants to go to S.Africa, and more about what has motivated him to put so much time into school. I seriously doubt his schedule resembles at all that of a regular kid his age.

This kid needs to be studied.
 
Did I misunderstand, or did you just call a 13-year-old a "no-talent assclown"?

- BKT
 
BKThorp said:
Did I misunderstand, or did you just call a 13-year-old a "no-talent assclown"?

- BKT
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No, you understood it just about right.

Strictly speaking, I said a 13-year-old is made up, in part, of no-talent assclownery. In general the ratio of "NTAC" to "mature adult" diminishes as a person's age and experience increase (hence the number of social privileges and responsibilities we reserve for those who have more than thirteen years' worth of age and experience).

One of the downsides of being 13 years old is not yet fully realizing just how much of a no-talent assclown they still are. Indeed, at 13 it's likely that the concept of immaturity and maturity hasn't fully occurred to them yet (with older teenagers it's even worse: they've figured out the concept, but assume that they're immune).

Being all kinds of book-smart doesn't change the fact that this kid still only has 13 years' worth of maturity and experience. Taking college-level classes doesn't have any bearing on his ability to judge wisely or well. Being 13 years old, on the other hand...
 
One of the more delightful characters on the electric tv box is Sheldon Cooper, on "The Big Bang Theory".
He's the archtype of the early bloomer.. knows everything, but has zero common sense and no social skills at all.
 
I was accepted to University of Michigan when I was twelve based on SAT scores alone (taken as a part of http://www.ctd.northwestern.edu/numats/, which I think was called just MTS at the time). I suppose I could have taken the GED then actually gone, but I was far too busy fishing and playing video games.

My wife did go to college at 14, and I get the impression that the experience was far less enjoyable than it would have been if she had waited.
 
He's 13. He's lucky if he doesn't smell bad and get inappropriate erections. ;)

How closely watched are people studying abroad? I assume they are expected to act as adults with little supervision. That's where the extra years of maturity can help.

Though it's no guarantee.
 
dropzone said:
How closely watched are people studying abroad? I assume they are expected to act as adults with little supervision. That's where the extra years of maturity can help.

Though it's no guarantee.
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Pretty much this. The University would basically have to hire a full time babysitter for him; while he could certainly obtain some benefits, it's unlikely that a child could fully achieve the sort of cultural experience that's intended by college study-abroad programs. Either he could wait or proceed in another direction. Perhaps he could spend the downtime studying humility.
 
That.

Boys 13yr=old are idiots, or idiot-savants. Too many here recognize that one difference may include the former but exclude the last. I went through the whole, "His IQ is 145. He should ...." bullsh*t, but kept wasting a year at "Advanced, but keep your hardons to youself to toss aside the BS.
 
Checkmite said:
Pretty much this. The University would basically have to hire a full time babysitter for him; while he could certainly obtain some benefits, it's unlikely that a child could fully achieve the sort of cultural experience that's intended by college study-abroad programs. Either he could wait or proceed in another direction. Perhaps he could spend the downtime studying humility.
Click to expand...

But if he really wants to do this, I think he should be able to exercise that talent. And what do you think he would do wrong, exactly?
 
I've known 14 year olds that I'd trust to run their own life. I've known 14 year old carers who run their own live and those of the people they're looking after.

I know a surprising number of people of the age of majority, some of whom are quite intelligent, that I wouldn't trust to put their shoes on the wrong way around and whom I certainly wouldn't trust alone in a foreign country.

Age is no guarantee of maturity. Youth is no guarantee of immaturity.
 
Checkmite said:
Pretty much this. The University would basically have to hire a full time babysitter for him; while he could certainly obtain some benefits, it's unlikely that a child could fully achieve the sort of cultural experience that's intended by college study-abroad programs. Either he could wait or proceed in another direction. Perhaps he could spend the downtime studying humility.
Click to expand...

I was about to agree, but then his University let him enroll in a degree that would require him to go abroad. They should have thought about that before admitting him in the first place, maybe?
 
Rasmus said:
I was about to agree, but then his University let him enroll in a degree that would require him to go abroad. They should have thought about that before admitting him in the first place, maybe?
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Nothing about any of the majors of study described in the article requires a trip abroad. He doesn't have to; he just wants to.
 
Checkmite said:
Nothing about any of the majors of study described in the article requires a trip abroad. He doesn't have to; he just wants to.
Click to expand...

But he's been knocked off course by the university's rejection of his request to take a class that includes summer field work in South Africa.
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It's part of one of the courses that he can take as part of his degree. It's not a separate trip he does during his vacation, it is coursework. If there was going to be an issue with his age with some of the courses offered to students taking his degree, the University should have considered that before letting him enroll. I don't think it matters that there are other courses he could take. (I am very tempted to point out that it's notr okay to force black people to the back of the bus, even though it will take them to their stop just the same.)
 
Rasmus said:
It's part of one of the courses that he can take as part of his degree. It's not a separate trip he does during his vacation, it is coursework. If there was going to be an issue with his age with some of the courses offered to students taking his degree, the University should have considered that before letting him enroll. I don't think it matters that there are other courses he could take. (I am very tempted to point out that it's notr okay to force black people to the back of the bus, even though it will take them to their stop just the same.)
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It's not quite the same thing. Say one can take calculus as a math credit for a psychology degree, but not everyone meets the prerequisites for calculus, nor can complete them in time; so a statistics and probability or technical mathematics course will serve just as fine for a math credit as well. In fact, calculus is an accepted math credit for most courses of study, even ones that it's not required for - by your standards, no university should ever admit any student not instantly ready to hop into a calculus class, even if he's taking an associates in still photography.
 
Checkmite said:
No; but it is a pretty good estimate; good enough for an organization that has to draw lines somewhere.
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It's a fair indication of how far one's intelligence has progressed, but the institution manage to tweak the lines in that case.
 
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