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Homeschooled with MIT courses at 5, accepted to MIT at 15

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Re: Homeschooled with MIT courses at 5, accepted to MIT at 15

#11

Post by evook »

jasode wrote: post #3
dagw wrote: post #2

It would be interested to check in with him at 35 to see where he ended up compared to other 'normal' 35 year old MIT grads. Basically does pushing your kid like that from such and early age lead to any significant long term advantages.

>pushing your kid like that I dunno about this... we're not intimate with his family so it seems a little unfair to characterize his parents as "pushing him". For all we know, the opposite may have happened and his parents were "holding him back" and trying to prevent a precocious teen from rushing into MIT at age 14 instead of 15. As far as the article's text reveals, it says his parents were responsive and not push…

Yeah for sure... I attended a school for gifted kids. Those who where a lot younger than the rest of us where always pushed by their parents and their parents always told they where not pushing.

And that is a first hand experience watching 42 gifted smart young children pushed in our education system and over their interessents on behalf of their parents. I attended this school for 6 years.

It was a pain, and as if school wasn't boring enough ( school is mandatory where I live ) you had to consider every word you wanted to say as a 16/17/18 year old when there where 9/10/11 year old depressed and ADHDish, but extremely smart kids around you the whole time.

In the end I am a hundred percent sure every kid can study MIT classes at every age. Most of the stuff is rational trivia. Also beeing gifted has nothing to do with your grades or your ability to follow classes or lectures. Because that's something your parents could've pushed on you, but for sure you are allowed to be happy that they didn't.

Re: Homeschooled with MIT courses at 5, accepted to MIT at 15

#12

Post by [deleted] »

jasode wrote: post #3
dagw wrote: post #2

It would be interested to check in with him at 35 to see where he ended up compared to other 'normal' 35 year old MIT grads. Basically does pushing your kid like that from such and early age lead to any significant long term advantages.

>pushing your kid like that I dunno about this... we're not intimate with his family so it seems a little unfair to characterize his parents as "pushing him". For all we know, the opposite may have happened and his parents were "holding him back" and trying to prevent a precocious teen from rushing into MIT at age 14 instead of 15. As far as the article's text reveals, it says his parents were responsive and not push…

[deleted]

Re: Homeschooled with MIT courses at 5, accepted to MIT at 15

#13

Post by codingdave »

allendoerfer wrote: post #6

As long as he did not exclusively learn technical stuff but also got a humanistic education, which we do not know, and enjoyed his childhood, which I think he did, because you cannot perform like that without enjoying it, I think this is pretty amazing parenting. You could find other reasons to nitpick (Did he do sports? Did he develop social competences by interacting with other kids?), but even if these things are…

I'm not even sure it matters how broad his education was, if (as you said) he has been happy with his life, but also as long as he is adaptable enough to switch directions if he becomes unhappy with his direction later in life.

Many of us old folk change direction over the years. The key to a happy life in the long run is not to know everything when you are young, or to have picked the right direction from the start, but to recognize when your direction is no longer fulfilling, and to know when and how to change when you are old.

Re: Homeschooled with MIT courses at 5, accepted to MIT at 15

#14

Post by Cyph0n »

allendoerfer wrote: post #6

As long as he did not exclusively learn technical stuff but also got a humanistic education, which we do not know, and enjoyed his childhood, which I think he did, because you cannot perform like that without enjoying it, I think this is pretty amazing parenting. You could find other reasons to nitpick (Did he do sports? Did he develop social competences by interacting with other kids?), but even if these things are…

Why is exclusively technical education bad? Who cares if he doesn't know much about politics, art, or geography? All that matters is that he loves what he's doing.

Re: Homeschooled with MIT courses at 5, accepted to MIT at 15

#15

Post by erebus_rex »

Some commenters are afraid this kid was pushed way too hard and did not have time to learn proper social skills, play sports, get a holistic education in the humanities.

This all might be true but the article makes it very clear how precocious this kid is. I don't think his parents were trying to push him. If anything they seemed to struggle to get him the things that he needed to succeed.

Some people are just so laser focused on their desires that you just have to let them do their thing. I'm sure if he wants to play sports or learn history, he'll excel at it too.

Re: Homeschooled with MIT courses at 5, accepted to MIT at 15

#16

Post by Spearchucker »

littletimmy wrote: post #9

I don't know man, I think there's something to be said about having a childhood. Being from India myself, I know the tremendous pressure parents put on kids to succeed. I hope that this kid wasn't subject to the same.

Agree with you. My wife and I are already arguing over the future of our 3-year-old. She wants him to learn to read and write. I want him to play, have time to be a boy, get in trouble, kiss a girl, and have a care-free childhood.

We're so obsessed with money, and forget all about the one currency that really matters. Time. Time to live.

I'd rather he were average academically, and experience life exceptionally.

Re: Homeschooled with MIT courses at 5, accepted to MIT at 15

#17

Post by agumonkey »

erebus_rex wrote: post #15

Some commenters are afraid this kid was pushed way too hard and did not have time to learn proper social skills, play sports, get a holistic education in the humanities. This all might be true but the article makes it very clear how precocious this kid is. I don't think his parents were trying to push him. If anything they seemed to struggle to get him the things that he needed to succeed. Some people are just so las…

If that's all his desires then good for him. I hope he doesn't corner himself too much and experience other parts of life nonetheless. Very important.

Re: Homeschooled with MIT courses at 5, accepted to MIT at 15

#18

Post by ww2 »

evook wrote: post #11
jasode wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>pushing your kid like that I dunno about this... we're not intimate with his family so it seems a little unfair to characterize his parents as "pushing him". For all we know, the opposite may have happened and his parents were "holding him back" and trying to prevent a precocious teen from rushing into MIT at age 14 instead of 15. As far as the article's text reveals, it says his parents were responsive and not push…

Yeah for sure... I attended a school for gifted kids. Those who where a lot younger than the rest of us where always pushed by their parents and their parents always told they where not pushing. And that is a first hand experience watching 42 gifted smart young children pushed in our education system and over their interessents on behalf of their parents. I attended this school for 6 years. It was a pain, and as if s…

"Most of the stuff is rational trivia" --- rational trivia, I like the word.

Re: Homeschooled with MIT courses at 5, accepted to MIT at 15

#19

Post by eitally »

allendoerfer wrote: post #6

As long as he did not exclusively learn technical stuff but also got a humanistic education, which we do not know, and enjoyed his childhood, which I think he did, because you cannot perform like that without enjoying it, I think this is pretty amazing parenting. You could find other reasons to nitpick (Did he do sports? Did he develop social competences by interacting with other kids?), but even if these things are…

The thing to remember is that we're all unique, and there probably are a tiny minority of people for whom this is an ideal path, so it's best not to judge until/unless we know the child & family personally. The fat part of the curve absolutely benefit from a varied and diverse childhood & adolescence ... although I'd argue we've [in the US] slowed formal education too far and there's ample room for a) faster academic education and b) a dedicated vocational trades track.

Re: Homeschooled with MIT courses at 5, accepted to MIT at 15

#20

Post by DanBC »

Spearchucker wrote: post #16
littletimmy wrote: post #9

I don't know man, I think there's something to be said about having a childhood. Being from India myself, I know the tremendous pressure parents put on kids to succeed. I hope that this kid wasn't subject to the same.

Agree with you. My wife and I are already arguing over the future of our 3-year-old. She wants him to learn to read and write. I want him to play, have time to be a boy, get in trouble, kiss a girl, and have a care-free childhood. We're so obsessed with money, and forget all about the one currency that really matters. Time. Time to live . I'd rather he were average academically, and experience life exceptionally.

You can combine the two.

Paint letters onto toy cars, paint a car park with letters in the spaces.

Or paint letters onto rocks, and use a toy dump truck to load them up and move them around.

Use synthetic phonics and sound out the letters when the cars are parked or the rocks are collected.

(but in general I agree with you)

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