What’s your take on sending gifted kids to undergrad programs. I’m not talking about some courses from one’s local community college while doing regular high school. I mean full four year university level programs. Are there any studies about such cases? What’s best, make them run or let them stroll?
In FL, they have a program going for HS kids to apply to take their courses at a local U. Less than 10% are admitted to this program, but it seems successful. Other kids, who wish to study Latin, or advanced math courses, can take 2-3 classes at the local U. The latter policy has been in practice for years. The former is more recent.
I don’t understand your question. Do you mean sending students much younger than 17/18 to undergrad?
Maybe I misunderstood the question but your son won’t be the only gifted freshman at his university like he may have been in high school.
As a young adult, it is probably time for him to decide on his pace of learning and course load and time for you to step aside and not make him run or let him stroll.
If you have to “make” them run, then it isn’t suitable for them.
I have another alternative: let them gambol about, running when they feel like it, and lying on their back contemplating the clouds when they feel like it.
There are schools that specialize in early college. Check out Simon’s Rock at Bard.
It depends on the student.
I am ready to send mine whenever she will want to go. What’s best depends on 1. if they want to do it, then 2. if they are mature enough to do it.
Unless the kid is a prodigy, then what’s the big rush???
There’s a lot of “social baggage” at college that I’d rather not expose my kids to, any earlier than necessary.
The OP’s question is similar to “Can my vehicle go off-road?”
What kind of vehicle? Truck? SUV? Car? ATV? Dirt bike? 2-wheel drive? 4-wheel drive?
What’s the vehicle’s ground clearance?
What kind of off-road? Mountain? Swamp? Desert? Beach?
The only possible answer is: “It depends.”
The wording of your question suggests that, at least in the case you are talking about, if the student goes to college early, it’s because someone else “made” that student do it.
That sounds like a good argument for not doing it.
Students who go to college early – even a year early in some instances – may have a difficult time fitting in socially and/or adjusting to the independence of college life. If the student truly, deeply wanted to go to college a year or two early for academic reasons and was willing to take the risk of an unhappy experience, that would be one thing. But if the student isn’t pushing for it, why do it?
We did consider Simon’s Rock for our daughter during her sophomore year in high school. That may have been a good choice for her, but six years later, I still don’t know. I only know that the very normal path she took instead has worked out well for her.
I totally agree that it depends on the kid. People who think parents “push” their gifted kids don’t have much experience with one.
Case-by-case basis.
All I can say after reading the Cornell thread is that I’m so happy with the gifted program in our district. it’s really allowed my daughter to move ahead where she needs to, and to stay with kids her own age and just have an all-around greathe experience so far.
If you are considering Simons Rock for a younger student…please go and visit the place for more than an hour. It is VERY different from most colleges…and the students are a unique group.
And not all of them are gifted. Some just don’t want to be in regular HS anymore.
We love not all,that far from the place…and have known more than a handful of folks who,either considered going or went.
It’s not for everyone.
I know a highly gifted student who went to UCLA at barely 16 and – flunked out. Turned out UCLA expected her to, you know, turn in work and attend class, not just pass exams. Because she was tall, a lot of freshmen thought she was their age, and she certainly took advantage of the social opportunities. Ooops.
Friends have two precocious daughters but opted to have them graduate early and do a year abroad with Rotary before starting college at almost 17. Worked out beautifully.
It’s such an individual situation. So much depends on the student and available opportunities.
I’m talking about kids under 15 years of age going to universities, like recent news of 12 year old going to Cornell or 13 year old to UCB.
To me it seems that they have very driven parents as even a gifted 12 year old is not mature enough to make these decisions. I wonder how these kids look back at their lives, once they are grown ups.
^^Ok, so the context would have been helpful in your original post.
@WorryHurry411 I did not read the Cornell article here. I did read a discussion about the article on a gifted homeschool forum.
My response to your question for our family is that we don’t graduate our kids early, and we let them accelerate at their own pace under their own steam. But, that is easy for me to say bc with my advanced kids we have been able to manage to keep them challenged and thriving at home while taking classes outside of our home that they want. It has never been the case that it was impossible for them to thrive in our home environment. If that became the case, which I can imagine for those few rare kids, we would probably need to reevaluate our educational choices. But for our advanced kids, who are no where near as advanced as the student in the Cornell article, the way we do things has worked.
Homeschooling has allowed them to progress without artificially imposed boundaries. I have had a high schooler taking 300 level physics and math classes. But those are doable with local universities allowing younger students to dual enroll.
Fwiw, I can’t tell if you know what it is like to have kids who are running forward and you as a parent are chasing them from behind. I have 2 kids who left me in the dust by middle school. It had absolutely nothing to do with me. My ds fell in love with physics. I know absolutely nothing about physics. He surpassed my math skills when he was an 8th grader. All I did was find him the resources to allow him progress at his own pace and study the subjects he loved.
As a parent I have applied the brakes and told them no. My ds wanted to triple up on sciences and double pace math. I told him both no bc I wanted him to spend more time just hanging out with friends and being a teenager. But, there is no way I could have or would have wanted to make him take “typical high school” coursework bc he would have been bored to tears. At home we get creative and explore a lot of atypical courses like philosophy. (We use a lot of coursera, Opencourseware, and Great Courses resources.). But there is a limit to what even that can achieve.
Fwiw, my kids are not like the kid in the article, but even they have have had a hard time finding other kids with similar interests. They have to socialize in ways that others can relate to, not necessarily the way they actually relate. I don’t know how to say that in a way that makes sense if you have never experienced it. My ds was taking college classes while all of his friends were taking classes he had taken in middle school. Academic interests sort of became subjects that just weren’t discussed. Their friendships were based on completely other interests. It can make it hard sometimes.
For kids like the one in the article who are so far advanced, forming friendships are even that much harder. There really is no normal option in just about any direction. As parents, you just try to do the best you can. When there is no really good option, you search for the best least worst option.
There isn’t magic maturity level that once met, a student is completely college ready. I’ts complex decision. College freshmen at average age often are not mature enough to make decisions, but decide to go to college nonetheless since everybody around them do. The 12 yo would be at least making an active choice of his own.
When mine makes major decisions like that, she knows that she is not mature, or experienced enough to make such important decisions on her own. So she seeks my advises, such as, “do you think I can do this well?” “what would you do for this?” I am in a position of giving her necessary advises, because I have better idea on what she is facing, thanks to my life experience. I also know where to look for when I don’t have the information.
But in the most of the time, my advise ends by giving more pros and cons on each option. Often the choices she faces are both feasible. Sometimes one looks better but the other seems also acceptable. Sometimes I can’t tell what would be the better decision. It’s her life. So I insist that she makes the call. We do it often. And she gets better and better over the time. Good decision making skills are also learnt, and not just given. They need the practice.
Even last night, I helped her to decide a few school stuffs. Would she want to take recommended but not mandatory flue shots at her boarding high school, based on all the cons and pros for her personal health and responsibility to the groups? Since her school just announced that it will have AP Computer Science Principle next year, does she still want to take regular Computer Science this year or take APCSP next year instead, and take something else this year?
My suggestion for Theater was quickly dismissed. But she wanted to know what would be likely difficulty of AP Micro Economics based on my personal experience of taking and my perception on her ability, when it is offered as a year long course without Macro combined? She takes time to think over with given variables, and makes own decisions even though there still is uncertainty.
Conclusion; combined with personal maturity, constantly practiced decision making skills, and safeguard and help of parents for when things go wrong, a 12 yo may be mature enough to make a decision to start college earlier. I wonder how they will look back later too. So I asked many adults who did it. They were mostly happy and supportive. Even VPs at her community colleges were supportive one of them citing that she has experiences for such kids. And I have reason not to believe that she won’t feel the same.
People are different whether they are gifted or not. Different gifted kids need different treatment.
My youngest likes to do lots of stuff. He thrives when he has schoolwork PLUS all the other stuff he wants to do. He takes a normal CC like academic load (5APs plus Lit Mag), works a PT job, coaches lacrosse, is an officer of Model UN and Lit Mag. That is what he likes. Some other kids might prefer vastly advanced academics without all the other activities. I don’t think either one is the one true way to deal with a gifted teen.