Should child prodigies attend college so early?

[ηєω ƒяσηтιєя]

I have always found it weird when I hear about child prodigies being accepted into colleges. They are (mostly) young kids that are going to be surrounded by adults and in an environment that is not really suitable for children.

Yeah, they may be "mature" despite being kids, but they are still kids. Also, I feel as though removing them from interacting with other kids their age is not great for their development. Instead of college, maybe there can be educational centers that have college accreditation where they can attend with other child prodigies until they are 17 or 18. From that point, they can attend college if they want to and are accepted into a college.

Thoughts?

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

Yeah, I think this is reasonable. Allow them to test out of certain courses and take college-credit courses in that area instead. Speedrunning education seems like a bad idea.

[DaleCooper]

Yes. Stop arbitrarily holding smart students back. Maybe he'll encounter something "inappropriate" but regardless I'm sure that some brilliant genius 10-year-old would be much better off going to a college physics class than he would sitting in a failing public school watching PragerU for Kids videos. If anything, the college environment and fellow students would be a much better influence than the public school crowd.

[Del Tachi]

I wouldn't want to ship my 14-year-old off to college.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

Hard no

[Sol]

How common is this? This feels like the kind of thing that happens more on TV than in reality.

[ηєω ƒяσηтιєя]

How common is this? This feels like the kind of thing that happens more on TV than in reality.

It's common enough. It definitely happens in real life.


Here are just 2 examples:

1. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/12-year-old-graduates-college-california-setting-school-record-rcna86418

2. https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/12-year-old-high-school-senior-long-island/

[wnwnwn]

No.
Let kids develop their common sense first.
Or do you want a young surgeon whose understandind of society is based on some random books operating you?

[Christian Man]

Sure, they’d just be bored in school and they’d be able to get a head start in their field, gaining more experience at a younger age and opening more opportunities for networking and innovation.

[Ferguson97]

Hard no.

The benefits of giving them a normal childhood and allowing them to socialize properly will far outweigh any benefits to going to college a few years early, if there even are any.

[The Right Honourable Martin Brian Mulroney PC CC GOQ]

You didn't specify how early. Like if we're talking about an exceptionally gifted 15 or even 14 year old, that's one thing. Whole different ballgame with kids younger than that though.

[dead0man]

they should be able to, if they can find a college to agree (which probably isn't hard).  But I wouldn't suggest it, especially not in a "going away to college" situation.

IMHO a better question is, should younger students be allowed to GED out of HS early if they want? (fior no specific reason, but primarily to let them go into trade schools earlier.  If we need nurses,public school teachers and HVAC repairers, let 'em get at sooner than later.  Make it harder and call it GED+ or whatever (the current GED test is a sad joke).

[VBM]

Hard no.

The benefits of giving them a normal childhood and allowing them to socialize properly will far outweigh any benefits to going to college a few years early, if there even are any.

So you agree that children are too immature to make serious, irreversible, life-altering decisions?

[GregTheGreat657]

They should be able to, as long as their college of choice is willing to accommodate how young they are, and that parents are ok with it

[GM Team Member and Acting PPT WB]

as someone who had to fight to do something far less (skipping a grade), yes. I was bored out of my skull in that situation and caused distractions which hurt other students' learning. I can't imagine how it is for a kid who's smart enough to get through college at that age.

[DaleCooper]

Hard no.

The benefits of giving them a normal childhood and allowing them to socialize properly will far outweigh any benefits to going to college a few years early, if there even are any.

There are few, if any, benefits to having a "normal childhood" these days, lmao.

[Ferguson97]

Hard no.

The benefits of giving them a normal childhood and allowing them to socialize properly will far outweigh any benefits to going to college a few years early, if there even are any.

So you agree that children are too immature to make serious, irreversible, life-altering decisions?

Don't pull a muscle reaching so hard.

The issue isn't them making a decision, it's the fact that they won't be gaining social development from interacting with their peers.

[John Dule]

The cruelest and most intellectually stunting thing you can do to a child is to make him waste his time in classes for which he’s too smart.

[All Along The Watchtower]

Pfft, "college"

[VBM]

The cruelest and most intellectually stunting thing you can do to a child is to make him waste his time in classes for which he’s too smart.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but haven’t many progressives also pushed for AP classes to be banned so that the smart kids aren’t “segregated” from the other kids?