
A 12-year-old is off to the Ivy League - ALee
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2016/08/15/a-12-year-old-is-off-to-the-ivy-league-its-a-challenge-to-keep-him-challenged-his-dad-says/
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schoen
Unexpected random problem from the article: he couldn't apply to college
online because of COPPA.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children%27s_Online_Privacy_Pr...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children%27s_Online_Privacy_Protection_Act)

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dx034
Is it really worth it though? There are so many opportunities to learn online,
should a child like that not rather spend time with children at the same age
and get the knowledge via online courses/remote learning? Can't imagine that
you can have a proper childhood if everyone you interact with is >6 years
older..

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rlpb
> should a child like that not rather spend time with children at the same age

I doubt a child as gifted as this would have a "normal" time spent with other
children of the same age.

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SCAQTony
More the reason to put him with children his own age for Jeremy would have to
learn new skills on how to navigate with kids below his maturity and
intelligence. YMMV

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dismantlethesun
It's interesting that with every other kind of education, we take a hands-on
approach to teaching children, yet with social skills its akin to 'sink or
swim'. We simply put children in close association with each other, then
monitor them to prevent the worst excesses.

Social skills can be taught. From reading individuals, to reading a crowd, to
speaking with the proper poise for a certain scenario... these skills are
directly teachable. We don't have to rely on hoping that they'll be re-
invented by every child who happens to find themselves in an appropriate
circumstance.

I'd suggest a renaissance style education, of the sort given to those in the
gentleman's class. Teach science, teach maths, teach memorisation and the
such, but also _directly_ teach children how to function in society and how to
grease its wheels to suit their desires.

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leakybit
Another story about a child "genius" that you'll never hear about in the
future.

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force_reboot
While I don't know if this is the right path for the kid, or if he really is a
genius (from the article he seems very smart) your comment comes across as
mean spirited.

Do you not believe in the existence of genius, or that people vary in
intelligence? If not, why do you doubt his intelligence? Terrence Tao is an
example of a child prodigy who became a famous mathematician, although I would
say winning gold in the International Mathematics Olympiad is a more objective
standard than admission to Cornell.

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ktta
I think he/she means to say we never know what they are doing later in life
most of the time. I assume you've seen stories about kids who are very
intelligent and there would've been news about child prodigies every year
since decades so why don't we hear about the ones who are adults today?

My take is that there are those child prodigies making great scientific
progress but we don't hear about them because they want to keep their past
private.

Although I agree the quotes kinda give a doubtful vibe to the child's prodigy,
which I definitely disagree with.

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magic_beans
I think the real issue is that once child prodigies turn into adult prodigies,
their stories are much less interesting. Of course the WP is going to write a
story about a 12 year-old genius, but readers won't be so interested in a 24
year-old wunderkind.

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Symbiote
There was a 13/14 year old in my maths class at Imperial College London. I
can't find a reference, but there's a current student that age: [1]

The boy was American, and I understood no American university had been willing
to enroll someone so young, so the family had moved to London.

[1] [http://www.antonmurray.com/the-worlds-youngest-investment-
ba...](http://www.antonmurray.com/the-worlds-youngest-investment-banker/)

