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we need to identify the factors that enabled this awesome kid to have the background knowledge, tools, environment etc and see how we can replicate them to find other such diamonds in the wild...
This is what happens when you give children the tools to succeed by teaching them math and science in ways that directly relate to their world view. Obviously, this kid is very bright, but giving kids the tools to understand how the ideas they're learning can be applied in the real world is so satisfying. They aren't blinded by previous failures, or the current market, or what can and can't be done.
Maybe. It’s more like it’s what a kid’s parents do when kids can no longer be kids and are driven to start working on their college applications earlier and earlier. There’s more to life than getting into MIT.
On the other hand, if the kid is 'coached' to look/identify, as you say, it is a sad state of affairs when kids are pushed into adulthood too soon...
We have seen this for more than a decade also with the marketing practices around sexualization of fashion for younger and younger kids...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Does it matter? Watching everything through the myopic lens of "privilege" is wrong. A kid can have an idea and parents can help. For now, the set of {kids, parents} that can do that is limited. But technology changes and becomes more accessible. What matters is the new things that become not just possible but easy and cheap. For a previously "costly" problem that in 2012 would involve a 5 MP digital pictures + geota…
I didn't take OP as a commentary on privilege, more if the parents were already working in this field/area, vs the "boy genius" narrative
we need to identify the factors that enabled this awesome kid to have the background knowledge, tools, environment etc and see how we can replicate them to find other such diamonds in the wild...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Maybe. It’s more like it’s what a kid’s parents do when kids can no longer be kids and are driven to start working on their college applications earlier and earlier. There’s more to life than getting into MIT.
If the kid was innately driven to do this, a big win for the kid and for humanity... On the other hand, if the kid is 'coached' to look/identify, as you say, it is a sad state of affairs when kids are pushed into adulthood too soon... We have seen this for more than a decade also with the marketing practices around sexualization of fashion for younger and younger kids...
Does anyone else approach these "teen invents x" or "wiz kid middle schooler discovers y" articles with extreme skepticism? About half the time the invention turns out to be bogus or trivial, and in the other half it comes to light the parents were behind it.
Does anyone else approach these "teen invents x" or "wiz kid middle schooler discovers y" articles with extreme skepticism? About half the time the invention turns out to be bogus or trivial, and in the other half it comes to light the parents were behind it.
Also I noticed that they typically employ a very common pattern in which the headline makes a truly big claim (e.g. "10 year old invents cheap way to purify any water source"), then afterwards it turns out that this claim is far from accurate (e.g. the child did not invent it himself, had massive help and while the solution technically works it is in not feasible at all in the way the headline suggests).
Once it is noticed that the claim is false in the way it is presented the article then gets defended by pointing out that a child that young coming into contact with such a project is still impressive, which is again technically true but ultimately comes off as a dishonest deflection.
Does anyone else approach these "teen invents x" or "wiz kid middle schooler discovers y" articles with extreme skepticism? About half the time the invention turns out to be bogus or trivial, and in the other half it comes to light the parents were behind it.
we need to identify the factors that enabled this awesome kid to have the background knowledge, tools, environment etc and see how we can replicate them to find other such diamonds in the wild...
To what end? Our world is not short of this kind of talent, at any age. Those that have these abilities will get there, in time. So maybe it would be better at that age to teach them to paint, throw a baseball, fly fish, travel, etc.
I was merely saying that the knowledge and facilities to paint, to play baseball or program should be accessible, and kids must be exposed to the fact that they exist... then, the kids pick per their inclination?