[Newsbot]

Title: Windsor whiz kid, 10, kept out of high school
Category: Misc CDN
Posted By: QBall
Date: 2010-08-23 07:18:35
Canadian

[Bacardi4206]

I say that's bullshit, give him a shot at high-school. They are holding him back because they are worried about his friends? That's ridiculous. He has a chance to graduate high-school faster than normal people, he can be out working his way to university much sooner and by the end of that can be earning some degrees faster and doing what I am sure he would love most. Also getting a jump start on making his fortune. They would delay his progress for friends that he can easily make. I agree that it's important he has friends, typicall his own age or maybe a tad older. However to delay his acedemic progress? You'd think a school would have that as a priority being there job is suppose to be acedmic progress not a place for kids to make friends.

[Brenda]

What they are concerned about (this is what I was told...) is his emotional well being.
Apparently, kids need to "socialize" with kids their own age, regardless whether those kids are at the same level of intelligence or not.
I totally disagree with that, btw, because they can socialize with whomever they want outside of school. I don't think it is a good thing to hold kids back in school and have them bored as hell, but that is what they do. What happens is that your kid gets reluctant to go to school, hates it, and will quit all together. I don't think THAT is good for a child's emotional well being.

But hey, I am just a mom of an intelligent child that is bored as hell in school, so what do I know?

[andyt]

This kid quite possibly has trouble socializing with his age peers as well, since he's so much smarter than them. And what sense does it make to turn him off to learning by making him take material he already knows - that could just turn him anti-social, and then look out. Better to put emotional supports in for him while he goes to a school that meets his academic needs.

[Mustang1]

The school board is indeed correct in their assessment. Socialization is of primary importance for both reaching his emotional AND intellectual potential. That said, there are numerous programs (this isn't the first exceptional student in the board's history) that are offered by boards and universities that would allow him to pursue advanced academics while maintaining a normal age peer group. I'm surprised that wasn't mentioned in the article, but then that's a solution that doesn't sell controversy.

[Brenda]

My experience with the school here, is that it totally depends on the teacher. Last years teacher saw what she was all about and gave her work that she actually had to work for, while the year prior nothing was done, I mentioned it, but the teacher thought I was just "another mom who thought her kid was special".
The fact she was top of her class in her first year here, in a different language, and stayed on that level should have said something...

Also, she doesn't really "get" her classmates. They are just "different". The friends she has are all older and of the same level of intelligence as her.

[BartSimpson]

$1:

"Our belief is that we do not accelerate students," Pyke said.

That's okay, most of the public thinks that's your belief, too.

[ASLplease]

education does not equal intelligence

[ShepherdsDog]

This kid's intelligence isn't the result of the education system, but in order to benefit from your education, you do need to be intelligent..

However, as other posters have already pointed out, this child needs to know how to develop social ties as well. Mental and social development do not always progress at the same rate. Some of the smartest people I've met, have no idea how to interact with other people, because they were pushed through highschool and university at an early age. They were unable to 'connect' with their intellectual peers. Children no matter how smart they are still need to be in an environment that meets their social and emotional needs as well as their intellectual ones. They learn key coping skills....if the system hasn't eroded those too far.

[Dragom]

Wait, I was supposed to be interacting with those people I was navigating around in the school hallways for those 13 years?

[QBall]

Bacardi4206 Bacardi4206:

Also getting a jump start on making his fortune.

How many of the top 100 richest people in the world are people like this kid who were child geniuses? Forget the world, how about the top 100 richest in Canada? Kids like this end up isolating themselves from the world and doing their own research in a lab somewhere because they do not develop the social skills to deal with people. The richest people around are people who can deal with people and negotiate with them, not the people who could do high school math at age 10. Parents think they're giving their kids an advantage by trying to hyper-focus on book smarts but they end up doing more harm than good.

[Brenda]

$1:

Parents think they're giving their kids an advantage by trying to hyper-focus on book smarts but they end up doing more harm than good.

Huh?
Where did you get that (bullshit) idea from?

Just because there are some parents who do not see their kids for who they are (more intelligent than they really are, thus pushing them in school, or pageant moms, or kids who are drilled in sports while they really want to play with their peers), does not mean every parent with an above average intelligent kid is that way.

All we normal parents want, is see our children happy. Holding them back in school, forcing them to do "stupid work" they knew 2 years ago, just so they are not a burden to the teacher, is not doing kids any good. That has nothing to do with pushing book smarts on a kid, but with seeing your kid go from a happy youngster to a bored, suicidal, unhappy kid that has no goal in life and is not challenged.

That said, I don't think I would want my 10 year old in high school. I think Mustangs solution is a fantastic one, and should be carried out in elementary school for those who need it.
The "slower" kids get a special ed teacher, so they don't flunk grades and stay with their peers, why don't above average kids?

[andyt]

QBall QBall:

Bacardi4206 Bacardi4206:

Also getting a jump start on making his fortune.

How many of the top 100 richest people in the world are people like this kid who were child geniuses? Forget the world, how about the top 100 richest in Canada? Kids like this end up isolating themselves from the world and doing their own research in a lab somewhere because they do not develop the social skills to deal with people. The richest people around are people who can deal with people and negotiate with them, not the people who could do high school math at age 10. Parents think they're giving their kids an advantage by trying to hyper-focus on book smarts but they end up doing more harm than good.

Those richest people might not be so rich if they didn't have the inventions of the kids isolated in a lab somewhere. Can't just have a world of super salesmen without anything to sell. This kid's intelligence is always going to make him a bit of an oddball unless he's with intellectual peers. To make him stultify repeating material he already knows is just cruel.

As somebody has pointed out, there are programs for kids like this - you would think Windsor would be big enough to have one. Maybe the educational system there is still focused on just putting out good assembly line workers

[PublicAnimalNo9]

This is utterly ridiculous. Our school system won't hold back students that would DEFINITELY benefit from repeating a grade cuz they don't wanna hurt their precious self esteem, and yet they expect this exceptionally bright kid to repeat the same grades he completed already?? Great system.
Now, I sure don't think your typical high school environment would be good for a 10 yr old, but you'd think there'd be programs available for gifted kids that have completed the elementary cirriculum early.